32 going on Forever

(Photo by Barbara Heckman) Today is my parents 32nd Wedding Anniversary!  After just celebrating my 1st anniversary, I find it hard to imagine celebrating 32 but I also now understand how quickly it can fly by.

When I was little, I was very sensitive to people fighting in our house (overly sensitive).  Any time someone was having an argument, even if it wasn't that heated, I would go to my room and hide in the closet and cry. Even if it didn't involve me.  I still hate to argue at all.  I remember one evening my parents had an argument, and I proceeded to my closet in the usual fashion.  I have no idea what it was about.  But as I sat there crying, the door to my closet creeped open and both my parents faces were silhouetted by the light from my room.  They both pulled me out into their arms and comforted me.  "What's wrong sweetie?" My Mother asked.  I swallowed down the hot tears as I got the courage to ask a question I was deeply afraid of.  "Are you going to get a divorce?"  Both their faces were shocked.  I had obviously learned that word at school because it was never said in our house.  I explained that I had heard at school that other kid's parents had fought and then they had gotten a divorce.  They both held me tighter.  My Dad said, "No sweetie, your Mother and I love each other very much.  Even when we fight.  We're going to be together for a very very long time."  The seriousness and meaning behind that statement reassured me, and I have never forgotten it.

I'm not going to get into whether divorce is wrong or right.  I think at times divorce can be a necessary procedure, and can end up being the best things for families.  But divorce was never an option for my parents from the start.  Their marriage I'm sure has not always been easy, they have had wonderful days and very hard days, but they put their hearts and their hard work into their marriage, every day.  My Father was the minister at Speed Racer and I's wedding, and I remember him saying,"Some people say that once you get married the work is done, but that's not so.  It's like saying you're done building once you've gotten a building permit.  Building a marriage is only as good as what you put into it...when you have bad days, remember this day, and the love you share at this moment."

My Grandmother also used to say, "Never get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life."

It seems that my parents treated each day as their wedding day and honeymoon, each day was special.  And they have never forgotten to make a life together.  Their 32 years together is a testament to their devotion, and something we can all strive for.

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad, thank you for setting such a great example of marriage these past 32 years, I hope you have many more happy years together.

Kitty Post

Yesterday I received and email from our vet's office saying that this month is Sookie and Brisco's 1st Birthday.  We adopted them in late September (for my birthday) so we haven't officially had them for a year.  But of course the email coerced me into going through adorable kitten pictures from the past year.  And now I am going to share them with you!  I don't know about where you are, but it's pretty gloomy here, so everyone needs an adorable kitten moment.  Enjoy, and feel free to awww out loud.

Sookie was (still is) so tiny!

Must...get...blue...mousey.

There you have it, adorable kitty post.  I never thought I would be one of those people who would blog about their pets, but it's happened.  I've crossed that line and I'm not ashamed.  Happy Birthday Month to Sookie and Briscoe.

Momma and Me

My Mother and I are incredibly similar.  We both wrinkle our noses in the same way when we laugh, we both have uncontrollable laughter once you get us going, we have the same shaped lips, we have the same hands, we have the same lanky legs, we both cry at silly things, we both are stubborn, we both get so involved in projects we forget to eat or do anything else, we both love the mountains and the outdoors, and we are both strong.  We each grew up tom boys, with my Mom she played in the creek behind her house, and took trips to the mountains; while for me I tried to keep up with my brothers and race the other girls.  I think it took both of us awhile to grow into our more feminine sides, although Mom swears I went through a prissy streak. I'm not quite sure what she's talking about.

We are different in many ways as well.  I got my Father's coloring: tanning skin and light hair, I have a nose we're not sure who it came from, and I have a streak of rebelliousness that is just pure me.  That streak caused me years of apologizing to my mother for being thirteen.  Thirteen is just never a good year.  My Mother has a beautiful singing voice that is the closest to what heaven sounds like that I can imagine.  It's one of my favorite sounds in the entire world.  I just have an ok voice, I can carry a tune...mostly.  But for all our differences, we always take comfort in our similarities.

My sophomore year of college I found these pictures of my Mother and decided to take some comparison shots.  I had them framed and they still sit in my Mother's living room.  My Aunt saw them one day and could not tell the difference between us.

It's rare for us to go more than a week without talking, but I still miss her.  Now that I'm older and living on my own, I think of her more often.  I'll be in the middle of a project and think, "How did Mom do this? How did Mom figure this out?  Why can't I do this if Mom did it?"  And I don't even have kids yet to ask those sorts of questions.

My Mom was a stay at home Mom, and it was a full-time job.  My Father was equally hardworking so they both had full-time jobs and got a lot done.  But being around Mom so much when I was little was a huge influence, and that influence affects me today.  If my Father was busy, then my Mother would do the handy jobs, and vice versa.  They were partners in every aspect of our lives.   Speed Racer and I both work from home, and that has been a challenge in itself.  But we also view it as a partnership, and I know that things are easier because we can do them together.  It was the same for my parents.  I know that my Mother would not have be the same person without my Father.

Even though I find as I get older that I am more and more like my Mother, I also worry that I won't be enough like her.  What if I don't learn her patients?  What if I don't show love through everything like she does?  What if I can't make custom Halloween costumes?  And although I know she is reading this right now and rolling her eyes, it's true...I worry about these things.  I know that I will find my way, that I will do things differently than she did, but my Mother has been the best mother possible.  I can only hope, that I become more like her each day.

Happiness

"I hear that style is all the rage in Greece right now," Speed Racer said with a smile twitching across his lips.  I let out a wail of exasperation and the smile on his lips ripped open into a huge laugh.  I turned back to my reflection in the mirror.  I looked like a mummy.  I had gauze wrapped around various parts of my body, with tiny pieces of tape trying to keep them together.  I frowned, and that just sent Speed Racer over the edge. Pretty soon he was going to be on his hands and knees laughing too hard to breathe.  "It's not funny," I said, trying to keep a genuine pout on my face, but I couldn't help but laugh too.  I was covered, head to toe, in poison oak...on our anniversary. On Friday when I was thinking about this post, I thought I would make it another of our "How Did I get Here" series, and it would be a romantic post about Speed Racer and I's anniversary and undying love for each other.  And while that post still may appear later in the week...right now I am itching so bad and laughing that I just can't bring myself to do it.

The problem started last Saturday when I decided that our front flower beds needed to be cleaned out.  Speed Racer was out claiming car parts, and I thought what a great wifey it would make me look like if I tackled it and got it done by the time he got back.  It went just fine until I got to our maple tree.

I hit that thing like a hurricane from hell...pulling weeds this way and that...until I realized what I held was poison oak.  I had gloves on, thank God, but it was too late the damage was done.  At that moment I had a choice, and I'm going to admit folks, I chose wrong.  I got this trait from my Mom that once I start working on a project, I have to finish it, even if I should stop.  So instead of stopping and cleaning up, I tried to just power through until I had it done and could then go clean up.

Once I had finished I rushed into our downstairs laundry room and tore off my clothes, dumping them in the washing machine with some very hot water.  I raced up stairs to the bathroom and doused myself in rubbing alcohol.  I took a hot shower scrubbing every part of me with soap several times.  By the end of the day, I had no bumps...I had come in victorious, or so I thought until Friday.

Friday rolled around and little bumps started to pop up on my skin.  At first I thought I had just gotten some bug bites while I was outside the night before.  Then those bumps, turned into blisters, weeping, burning, itching, wish you could cut off that appendage blisters.  I tried to play it cool, it was just one spot after all, right? Right?  Wrong.  Pretty soon I had clusters of these on my legs, then on my abdomen, then on my side,  then on my chest, then on my elbow spreading up to my wrist.  It would be ok, I told myself.  It would go away soon, I covered it up with band aids.  But that just made it worse.  The adhesive on the band aids just angered the sensitive skin in the area, so now I had blisters and raw angry skin.

I finally gave in and showed Speed Racer.  He looked at me like I had the plague, like I was an infected Zombie.  He began to avoid all physical contact for fear of becoming infected.  Perfect, just what I wanted on our anniversary.

Saturday, I woke up mummified, but feeling ok.  Speed Racer was not in the bed next to me, and as I started to get up the door opened and he came in with a breakfast tray.  French toast, cherries, strawberries, syrup, and home-made whip cream...the man knows how to do breakfast right.  We decided we hit the road and try to find something fun and relaxing to do.  I could go into this part of our anniversary but really it involves several main aspects for you to get the gist of the afternoon: it was hot, there were lots of people, a semi purposefully tried to hit us, wherever we went we were in traffic for hours.  We tried to make it fun, but no matter where we went, we were fun blocked.  It wasn't our fault.  The best part of the day was the breakfast in bed, and then a cute little lunch place we found that had a screened in porch overlooking the smokies.  So we decided we needed a do over...Sunday would be our do over.

Sunday turned out great, Speed Racer got a few things done around the house.  We went down to the Crown and Goose, our favorite brunch spot.  Came back, took a fun ride in the Triumph Spitfire and got a slushy.  Then had some friends over for grilling out.  It was a pretty perfect day.  As the night was winding down, Speed Racer surprised me by sneaking out to get one of my favorite deserts, fantastic Carrot Cake, from a local restaurant.  We did the dishes while we listened to the playlist from our wedding, dancing and singing along the whole time.

The night ended perfectly as we lay in bed, and Speed Racer leaned over, trying not to touch my poison oak infested body, and kissed me gently, telling me how much he loved me, even if I looked horribly grotesque with blisters all over my body.  Ah, Amore.  It really can't get any better than that.

Marriage, that dream within a dream.

This weekend is our anniversary weekend!  It has officially been a year since Speed Racer and I tied the knot.  I was feeling particularly excited about it yesterday.  I was working on our wedding album, we were listening to our wedding mix, and then Speed Racer (to show how much he loved me and how excited he was for our anniversary) sent me this photo: (Photo by C.P.Storm and can be found on flickr HERE)

Isn't he sweet?  In all seriousness though, it's pictures like these that make me love him more and more because laughter is such a huge part of our marriage.  We've got big plans to kick back and relax, so stay tuned for more anniversary updates on Monday.  Have a fabulous weekend.

Dish-o-the-week: Lasagna!

I realized after I started taking pictures while I was baking the lasagna last night, that really I've been posting a food a week.  And yes, they have all been from the Pioneer Woman Cookbook.  Before you start having visions of Julie and Julia, I just want to put out there that this is not my fault.  I like to use new cookbooks I have (if I can, sometimes the ingredients are ridiculous and expensive) and this one is really fun, easy to do, and lets just say it, darn delicious.  I am also not the cook in this household, Speed Racer is.  I can bake all day long and turn out delicious fatty things, but cooking, I get a little flustered with.  With that in mind, I'm looking at this as practice cooking...so I don't live on Mac and Cheese when Speed Racer is gone, even though I would love to.  So we're just gonna go with it for now, maybe there will be a recipe next week from a different cookbook, who knows.  And as always, you can check out her full, mouth water recipes at www.thepioneerwoman.com.  To the Lasagna!! I didn't realize that I have never cooked lasagna before.  Everyone's made lasagna right? No, not me.  So I did not realize how long it would take.   Really long, that's the answer, really long.  I also didn't realize how hard it would be to take pictures without Speed Racer around, it was tricky.

Rule numero uno, don't be afraid of meat.  Is that ok to say on the interweb?

Or the garlic...delicious delicious garlic.

Definitely a good idea to put your noodles on the aluminum foil.  I tried some that way and some without, and the without ones were really sticky and hard to manage.

I'm getting hungry again.  You let the tomato's and meat simmer for 45 minutes, which is just pure torture.

I am not a cottage cheese fan, but I do love it in lasagna.

Mmmm, cheesy.

Let the layering begin.

This was my attempt at an action shot, with the not kind of lens for that sort of thing, on.

At this point I was starving, 35 minutes in the oven and I was famished.  So what did I do?  I dug in as soon as it was out of the oven and burned my mouth.  Start this lasagna early, or have a snack ready while you wait.

The kitties concur.

How Did I get Here? Part VI

So I know what you're thinking...how many more of these "How Did I get Here" series are there?  And where is here? When is it going to END?!  Hopefully very soon.  Not to worry, this is not the Rocky Series.  Although who can deny that theme song? You're singing it now...I know you are. After our friends Mr. and Mrs. Hokie got hitched, our other friends Mr. and Mrs. Miami got engaged and had a date set for May.  Mrs. Miami is my friend Renee, she has her own blog so her identity is no secret.  But I love nicknames, they're fun, and different and we all need a little mystery in our lives, right? Right.  Maybe they should be called Mr. and Mrs. Atlanta since that's where they are moving to, but more on that HERE.  But it's my blog and I do what I want to...daggum it.  Mr. and Mrs. Miami recruited me to be their photographer for their wedding and I was thrilled!  Mrs. Miami and I happen to be engaged at the same time, so we were able to help plan or rather vent about the frustrations of planning a wedding.  The day of the wedding finally came and Speed Racer and I packed the very VERY tiny car we were taking up to Maryland, and hit the road.  “If you want to know if you love someone, take a road trip. If you want to know if you can marry them, do it in a roadster.” ~Unknown  That pretty much sums that up.

We arrived in Maryland a little road weary, but ready to go.  The festivities began, starting with the rehearsal dinner.

The Lighthouse in the background is the lighthouse where they would be hitched the next day.  Luckily the weather held out, and we started the morning off bright and early.

This is Little Miss, she is Mr. and Mrs. Miami's gorgeous baby girl, and she got to be flower girl for the day.

They're friends with Mr. and Mrs. Hokie too.

Love, the purple shoes!

These parasols were adorable!  They were so much fun for everyone to play with, not to mention get out of the sun, and made for fantastic pictures.

Sorry Mr. Miami, but this is my favorite picture out of the entire day.  I love it.  I want to hang it on my wall.  Is that too weird?

So apparently in the Greek Tradition, if you put the names of your bridesmaids or single lady friends on the bottom of your shoes on your wedding day, and they wear off, then they will be getting married.  Kind of an alternate version of throwing the bouquet, at this point in the day (2 weeks before my wedding) I was still 50/50.

Photographer's Note:  I was on a moving dock in order to get this shot.  I had visions of my falling off and drowning with all the camera gear.  But it was worth it, I love this shot too.  I also want to hang it on my wall.

Thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Miami for letting me be a part of your big day, and helping me learn and grow as a photographer!    After a long day of shooting in the hot sun, Speed Racer and I, with Mr. and Mrs. Hokie in tow, headed back down south.

Post from the Past: Warnie and Olie

In December my brother Warnie and (my now sister-in-law) Olie got married.  It was a beautiful ceremony (I'm sure there will be a post later) and we had a great time.  But before that, I had the privilege of assisting my brother in his scheme to propose to this beautiful lady.  We had it all planned out, they were going to come up and stay with me before they headed to their college town the next day for a "museum exhibit."  While they were at the exhibit I would sneak down, and with the assistance of my lovely friend The Twin, set up the romantic scene.  It was fool proof.  Almost.  It was suppose to rain all day.  Warnie was thinking about calling things off, and trying to do it another time, but I could tell he was disappointed.  I mean guys have a lot of pressure with these things!  So I pulled a couple strings and told Warnie not to worry, it would be magical.  And it was.

The tent was the real saving grace.  Luckily my previous employer let me borrow it, even though I'm sure he thought I was crazy.  There was also a terrible wreck, so we thought we were going to be late.  But it all worked out.  Let me add that this was all Warnie's idea, I'm not taking any credit at all, I just set everything up.  But I was so excited to be a part of that moment.  His love and devotion for her is absolutely moving.  I am blessed to have Olie as my sister.  She makes me laugh, she puts up with my craziness, and she is one of the most caring people I know.  I really lucked out with both my sister-in-laws, which is great since I never had sisters.

Thank you Warnie and Olie for letting me be a part of that day, and then posting about it...without asking first.  I love you both very much.

Dam Blog Post

Last night Speed Racer and I were feeling a little antsy in our pantsy after a lazy afternoon.  We had managed to go on a nice 23 mile bike ride in the morning before the rain started.  But after that were trapped inside, and quite frankly, took advantage of it with a long Sunday afternoon nap.  After dinner with some friends, the clouds cleared up and we hit the highway. To Norris Dam.

We really got there at the perfect time of day.  The rain had cooled everything off, leaving a slight mist on the water.  It was gorgeous.

This is one of our favorite "date nights."  We just get in the car and drive somewhere.  We've been doing this since either of us could drive and it's great because it's cheap, and relaxing, and just the two of us.

The two of us AND my CAMERA!

Unfortunately for Speed Racer...but he's very nice and lets me take picture of him...except when he decides to start moving around, to be mean.

Of course we were lucky to get a hot press car to ride around in too.

It was a wonderful night, and a great way to start the week.

The Darkroom Saga

As most of you know we are slowly but surely updating our house.  We are not even close to starting on the downstairs portion, but I decided to tackle the downstairs bathroom that will eventually be my darkroom.  It's a tiny room, but perfect for a starter darkroom.  And let's face it...any darkroom is better than no darkroom at all.  So my goals were to draw out an eventual layout for the darkroom, clean out things we didn't need, organize the camera gear, and possibly start some demolition.

So here is the basic layout.  I know, I'm fabulous at drawing.

This is what we're starting with, and this is actually after I have cleaned it up some.  And by cleaned it up I mean moved everything out into the other room.

As you can see.

Including the surfboard that was in there.

So after 12 hours of cleaning I decided it was time to show off my cute new haircut.  Just kidding...about the 12 hours, not the haircut.

Can you tell I'm easily distracted when it comes to cleaning?

After awhile I got it looking organized and cleaned out.

I was all ready to start demolition, but Speed Racer came down to see my handiwork, and didn't think it was such a good idea to get carried away with it right at that moment.  He took my sledgehammer away.  But he's very right.  It's so easy when you are remodeling a house to look at everything and want to work on it right that minute.  If you do that though, you have a huge mess on your hands.  So we're trying to FOCUS (focus? what? where?) and finish Speed Racer's office that we are currently working on.  Then hopefully we can at least gut the darkroom, so I can start purchasing items a little at a time.

Until then, we'll keep plugging away, and keeping you updated.  Sookie is very excited about being a darkroom kitty...you can tell.

Ecstatic.

And HGTV, if you're listening...Please Pimp My Darkroom.