May in Review

May started out busy right off the bat! 

Starting the first weekend of May, we were in Lville, for one reason or another, for 6 weekends straight!  (And this started the very next weekend after we traveled to Illinois for Brandon's marathon).  But, I can't complain - we're really getting to do a lot of fun things and see a lot of people in the process.

Weekend of May 4-6, 2012:

Friday May 4, we were those people who had bought tickets to opening night of the movie "The Avengers" in 3D....and it did not disappoint!

Saturday May 5, I drove in to Lville that morning to not only celebrate, but to help be a part of the Surprise for my sweet friend, Gina.  She turned the big 4-0!  (You may remember her from my wedding blogpost).  Gina met me, Jenn and Shannon at my parents place and, thinking it was just a foursome, we really surprised her when we showed up at Lynn's Paradise Cafe to a table full of Gina's friends and her Momma (her Momma even had to lie to her to avoid getting caught!)

 Lynn's is a fun little local place, but has been featured on The Food Network more than once.

Here's everybody at the table (it's a little back-lit)

From Left-Right:

Tiffany, Leslie, Sarah, Tammy, Me, Shannon, Jenn, Gina and Joyce (Gina's Mom)

Opening presents:

This was my meal and it was every bit as delicious as it looks.  My mouth is watering on my keyboard as I type just from thinking of how delicious it was.  I think it was called Bourbon French Toast.  I highly recommend it - but spring for the side of bacon, you'll need the savory to cut the sweet!

Gina, Shannon, Me and Jenn (we have so many of these self-portraits - I have Go-Go-Gadget arms!). Love these girls!!!

And the entire group again, this time outside Lynn's.  This picture is courtesy of Tammy (far right).

The other half of Gina's surprise was that we went to see The Avenger's in 3D!!  Yes, that's how much I love Gina (and The Avenger's) that I would see it twice in as many days!

I think Gina had a GREAT birthday....and although nobody likes turning the big 4-0, I think she did so in style, surrounded by those that love her.

After the surprise party, Brandon and I drove into C-ville to spend the night with his parents.

Sunday, May 6 - Brandon's paternal Mammaw turned 80!!  (and there were a few kiddos who had birthdays around the same time too, so we celebrated all of them!) 

We had a nice family picnic and talked and laughed.

Brandon and his Mammaw (Brandon can do *no* wrong in her eyes!).  And she asks *every* time we see her now if we have a baby on the way yet!  :)  (The answer is no, just for those wondering).  ;)

Weekend of May 11-13, 2012:

Friday May 9 - My cousin, Benjamin, was playing ball nearby again.  This time we didn't have to go to the next county over - this time he was playing right in Lex.

Saturday May 10 - We headed back to the Ville because my cousin, Jamie, was graduating from the Ville! 

L-R: Brandon, Me, My Momma, My Mamaw, My Daddy, Jamie and his parents Uncle Jeff and Aunt Paula

Unfortunately we didn't make it to the actual ceremony, but we go to say Congrats as he left for it.  Weeks before we knew this was Jamie's graduation day, we had bought tickets (with my parents) for the Reds baseball game in Cincy.  Well, then we found out it was Jamie's graduation day.  We came in town with all intentions of going to the ceremony, but due to several locations of closed roads/interstates from construction, it would have been almost impossible to see him actually graduate (walk across the stage) and then still get to Cincy in time for the game.  I was really disappointed that we didn't go.  Jamie has been like a little brother to me.  He's been at all my major life events and celebrated with me.  He's been a friend, not just a cousin.  So, the decision was really hard for me, but he was actually okay with it (he would have chosen baseball over a boring ceremony too he said!)

So after wishing him well, we went to my parents house to change into our Reds gear and then we hit the road, arriving in plenty of time for the game.

The main reason we had chosen this particular day to go, was because it was Joey Votto Bobblehead night!  And my Daddy (aka Pawpaw to his grandkids) was bound & determined to get two of those Bobbleheads - one for each Grandson.  We all got one, which totaled 4, and they were divied out accordingly.  Doesn't he look proud?  My nephew, The Tank, is a HUGE Reds fan and getting this made his day.

Since we were there well before the start of the game, we got to take in batting practice.  We were sitting in left field.  One ball came soaring into the stands a few rows behind us and hit a lady right in her forehead!  My mom is a nurse, so she leapt into action - literally!!  She jumped over chairs and railings to get to the lady.  Mom cared for the lady until the paramedics came.  All-in-all, the lady ended up okay.  She was bummed that she missed most of the game and that her nachos (which we were guarding) were cold when she came back to her seat.  Later, we saw this sign in front of us:

We had *great* seats and really enjoyed the game and being with my parents.

Dad and Brandon were very intent on the game (Brandon has discovered a new love for scoring baseball games and my Dad is a wealth of knowledge in this area), while Mom and I were content walking around and eating ice cream!

We had such a blast!!

Weekend of May 18-20, 2012:


Saturday, May 19:  Guess what?  We traveled back to the Ville!  This time, it was for my cousin Jamie's graduation party.  They did make sure to plan this when we could actually attend though, which I really appreciated.

The party was at the Activities Center of my home church.

I'm not really sure what's going on in this picture, but it makes me laugh.

L-R: Jamie, Mom, Dad, Hubby & Uncle Jeff

Me and Bud (that's what I call him)

These are my cousin Jen's two girls, M & A....they brought these fun racer things.

And they even pushed me and Jen around on them in the adjoining gym where the party was held (those things flew!)

Of course no party with my Dad's family is complete without a little Wiffle Ball action, so we played that in the gym too.

My team lost, but we tried hard

Weekend of May 25-27, 2012:

Friday, May 25:  One year from the Friday of our Rehearsal Dinner (which was May 27 last year - leap year!), we were, yet again, heading back to the Ville.....so we stopped in Sville on the way, where our wedding was!  We hadn't been there since the wedding and it was fun and nostalgic.  I even forcibly made coerced Brandon to dance with me to our wedding song (The Way You Look Tonight) that I played through my phone.  The barn sure looked different on the inside than it did the first time we danced there together, but still sweet and meaningful just the same.

Behind us in this shot is where our ceremony took place.

The reason we were heading to the Ville on this particular weekend was to catch a flight the next day to San Francisco for a week!  We decided to take a fun trip for our anniversary and we both had earned free Southwest flights, so San Fran it was (cause that's about the farthest place we could fly on our free tickets!).

This is us on our One Year anniversary in San Francisco - I even wore my yellow wedding shoes and the shirt I wore the morning of our wedding while I got ready.  Pardon the slight angle to the picture, the camera was propped up on the hotel bed and taken with a timer.

More about our trip to San Fran coming soon.  :)

April in Review

Holy Cannoli!  I can't believe I haven't blogged since Easter!  Since I've gone back to work, I've found it a lot harder to keep up with writing my blog.  However, I'm hoping that I can get back on track. 

So, I figured I'd do reviews of each of the last 4 months to get caught up as quickly as possible (breaking my promise to only do short posts!).

Here's the highlights from April (since Easter):
(Click on any picture to enlarge)

Thursday April 12, 2012 - We went to the Nashville, TN Red Carpet Premiere of the movie Blue Like Jazz!

Blue Like Jazz was originally a book written by Donald Miller.  There was a screenplay written from the book, but there wasn't enough funding to actually make the movie.  So, a few guys got together and decided to use a campaign website called Kickstarter to see if fans of the book would donate money to get the movie going.  The amount that was raised was over and beyond what was needed.

We donated to the movie and, depending on the amount each person (or people) donated, there were various perks....such as being invited to the premiere.  The actual premiere was in Portland, OR on April 10, but we couldn't really make it to that one with it being across the country and all.  So we were very excited when they offered another one in Nashville, since it was so much closer to home and didn't require a plane ticket.

It was still about a 3 and a half hour road trip....on a Thursday evening....when we both had to work on Friday.  But, we did it cause, really, when will we ever get to go to another Red Carpet Movie Premiere in our lives?

Brandon is always so sweet to chauffeur me everywhere we go together.  Seriously - I think I've driven us both only a handful of times.  That gave me space and time to make sure my Shirley Temple curls stayed in tact until the final moment before the premiere and to put on my make-up (I went a little fancier than my normal 5 minute application of foundation and blush).

Brandon always teases me about the "nest" I make in the floorboard around my feet when we travel.  I take magazines or newspaper articles I haven't had a chance to read, since road trips usually offer many hours of reading time.  And on this particular trip, I took all my many to-do lists to combine them back down to one major list (I make more than one to-do list in any given day and eventually they must be combined as not to forget an item).  My legs are in there somewhere too:

I was so excited when we passed this guy:

Brandon would never believe me when I would talk about Dinosaur World and how there is a huge dinosaur on the side of I-65.  Finally - real live fake proof!

We arrived in the Nashville area where the premiere would be and ducked into a nearby mall so I could change into my dress and tousle my curls.  The event had a "Cocktail Attire" dress code.  I had found a great deal at Penney's on a fun magenta dress and already had the purse and wrap.  We got a tie at Sears for Brandon to match.  He went sans jacket, but wore the vest, so as to still be dressy, but a little casual - doesn't he look debonair?

After getting all dolled up, we went to the local Cheesecake Factory for a quick dinner.

After dinner, we made our way around the corner to the movie theater - the only movie playing that night was Blue Like Jazz and the only people in the theater were the Premiere-Goers.

This picture is courtesy of Williamson Social Magazine (we were at least in their online version, not sure if we made the cut for the print version):

At last it was time for the "stars" to arrive.  They rode up in - some inside and some on the hood of - the car used in several scenes in the movie.  Pardon the backs of heads in this shot, I was doing my best to hold my camera up in the air and snap a picture very hope-fully.  Far left is Donald Miller (write of BLJ), not sure who the next two guys are, the second from right is Marshall Allman - the star of the movie, and then Steve Taylor - the screenplay writer - is on the far right.  The Rabbit & Robot in front of them are hard to explain unless you've seen the movie (or read the book), but they are iconic characters/metaphors from the book mainly....which sounds weird, since it's not any kind of a sci-fi book /movie.  I digress.....

After the stars arrived, it was time to walk the Red Carpet!  There were no paparazzi asking "who" we were wearing though.  How disappointing.  Not like I would have known anyway - can you imagine Brandon trying to look at the tag on my dress so I could answer them?  ;) "That Jaclyn Smith really knows what she's doin'!"  (Props if you guessed the movie that's quoted from correctly!)

Striking a pose in front of the BLJ backdrop:

Another perk of donating to the movie was that our names would be listed as "Associate Producers" when the movie credits rolled (don't get too excited, we were two of thousands - but still, pretty cool, right?). 

I blurred our last names for privacy.  We, of course, share a last name now, but when we donated to the movie, we were actually just dating, not even engaged yet.  So we decided it would be a tribute to that time in our lives to leave our names in the credits as they were when we donated.

We enjoyed the movie.  I hesitate to give my review of it as to not put my opinion into someone else's head before they've seen it.  I will say that very conservative Christians probably won't like it.  It has some language and references drug use and excessive drinking......but this movie wasn't made for the "Already Christian" audience.  It was made to start conversations between the "Already Christians" and the "Seeking".

After the movie, there was a Q&A time with the star of the movie, the screenplay writer and the writer of the book.

Before heading back home (yup, we made the 3.5 hour drive back that night - arrived home about 2am-ish) we stopped for a photo op of Brandon and the BLJ car.

Wednesday April 18, 2012 - The Monkey Tail

Brandon decided it was about time to shave his winter beard.  His big marathon was coming up and it could very well shave a few seconds off his time (that was the joke).  But he decided to have fun and shave it off in segments.

Here's a before:

And then the shaving began:

The first design he shaved is called The Monkey Tail - it's where the hair comes down from one side burn, wraps under and around the chin and up around the upper lip - to resemble a Monkey Tail (if the monkey was sitting atop his head and his tail hung down and wrapped around in this manner).

The pictures don't do it justice - it was hard to photograph!  We even tried getting one side reflected in the mirror.

Here's one head-on:

After the Monkey Tail came the 80's 'stache & Brandon bore a striking resemblance to Ryan Gosling's "Lars" character:

Friday - April 20, 2012 - Cousin Benjamin's Baseball Game

My parents came in town to visit one evening and we all ventured to the next county over to watch my cousin, Benjamin, play baseball.  My grandparents were there too! 

Benjamin was a freshman this past year and played both JV and Varsity!

My Granny and My Mom

My Granpa and My Dad

My Dad and My Hubby

What a goof!

Friday - Sunday, April 27-19, 2012 - Brandon's Illinois Marathon

After completing both the Half & Full Marathons in 3 others states in previous years, Brandon decided to round it out to an even four.  He already had the Christie Clinic Half Marathon under his belt, so the only thing left was the full.

Here we are at the starting line of the Christie Clinic Marathon in Champaign/Urbana, Illinois - I was a spectator, of course.

He's ready to go!

I was able to see Brandon a couple different times during the race.  Here he is around mile 2....smiling and flashing "I Love You" in sign language (something my family does often, especially when someone leaves).

I also got a Thumb's-Up from him.  I'd say if it's mile 2 of 26.2 total and I didn't get a Thumb's-Up I'd be a little worried.

I saw him again between miles 12 & 13.  This is the spot where the half-marathoners head towards the finish line, while the full-marathoners break off to run just as much as they've already run again.

Brandon was still looking pretty good at this point, although he admits that this is one of the hardest parts of the race....as the halfer's go one way and the full's go another, he said it gets a lot quieter and lonelier....not as many folks cheering along the sidelines and not as many runners.

Because of blocked roads and not knowing the city well, I wouldn't be able to try to see him again til the end of the race.  So, the next place I'd see him would be almost 2 hours later at the Finish Line.

Just under 4 hours after the race began, he rounded the turn to come into the University of Illinois' Football Stadium (how cool is it that the Finish Line is at the 50 yard line??)

He came in a shade under 4 hours - he almost beat his best time for a marathon....missed it by just a smidge.

He sure earned that race medal!!!

Taking a break at the after-race fair.

I let him pick where to eat that night, since I figure he deserved at least that much for all his hard work.  He picked Indian cuisine and I happily obliged.

We got to meet up with a couple of Brandon's old ministry friends while we were there too - sadly, I didn't take a single picture of that reunion.  But we had a great time talking and catching up with them.

On the way home, we were able to stream the Reds game through Brandon's phone....but we had to share ear phones to listen.  You do whatcha gotta do.

All-in-all, it was a great weekend and a great April for that matter!