things I forgot to blog about

flower cupcakes and other delicious bridal shower food. 

Dad opening his Father's Day Nook:

fathers and their feast:

tic-tac-toe via text message with Matt.  (and me cheating)

2 adventure days!

including a very windy Arts Fest:

me napping in the car/sun while matt went into the hardware store:

(don't adjust your monitors... that's the actual color of my skin)

 but mostly staring at this rock in the stall next to ours, thinking "what a wierdly-big parking lot rock"



and then matt helping/showing me how to use various tools to make my

"found object sculpture" for art class.

paper

happy anniversary to us.

we exchanged gifts last night, because our schedules today won't allow for celebrating.

I commissioned this "portrait" of us from this awesome seller on Etsy for Matt's gift.  I thought it would be a neat way to commemorate our first year together.  It's framed and lives in our living room now.  She does a lot of different kinds of custom portraits and she was so great to work with.  highly recommended. 

Matt got me a membership to Ancestry.com! 

(I have been dying for a membership, and I am going to nerd out so hard on learning about our ancestors.  I can't wait to find out that I'm related to Sacagawea or something.)

you know what else I highly recommend?  marriage to a really good man.  best idea. 

remember when we said these things and then threw a big party?

happy anniversary, ml

ilyaztmtidoowd

Father's Day

Dear Dad,

This is impossible to write without bawling like a baby.  All I wrote was “Dear Dad” and I lost it. 

Happy Father’s Day. 

Whenever I have been asked to describe you, I usually start by saying “solid” – which sounds so boring, but it’s not.  When I say solid I mean you are nothing if not reliable and predictable and it’s a dying art that we should all admire in this ever-changing world of ours.  It means, of course, the little things like you are always early, you never speed, the lawn in always mowed, and you follow the exact same routine every single day whether that means your hairstyle or starting the coffee for when mom wakes up. 

It means that any one of your 6 kids, their spouses, or your 12 grandchildren could call you at any hour of the day with a flat tire, an invite to a t-ball game, or a last-minute need for a baby sitter, and you’ll be there with a smile on your face.  And I know that you’re not even doing it because you should or we need you.  Any guy can show up because it’s the right thing to do.  You show up because it’s the right thing to do AND because you want to.  You are interested in every aspect of our lives from our friends to our activities, and you genuinely want to walk around proudly wearing a t-shirt with the logo from our place of work.

It means that you got up at the crack of dawn every single day to go to a job that you maybe didn’t hate, but you maybe didn’t love to support your family.  You came home after loooong days at work to play catch with me or take me to my softball game only to wake up the next day and take me to bowling league (bowling league!).  I was never confused about what your expectations were because I only needed to look to you as the example.   We were to work hard, live with integrity and respect, and take care of ourselves and our family.  Still to this very day I think about you when I need to make a big decision or I take a wrong turn.  And still to this day I cannot imagine anything worse than disappointing you. 

You are solid because you like what you like and you don’t ask for more.  You are perfectly content with a burger, a baseball game on T.V., and a night with the family you adore.  Your family adores you right back.  I love our traditions of watching basketball, going to baseball games, and shopping for gifts together.  I love every opportunity to meet you for dinner and giggle with you.  One of the things that makes me excited to be a mom someday is thinking about watching my own kids fall in love with you like the others have. 

When I say solid, I mean you are a man who stands at the head of the family like a rock, no... more like a mountain.    You are the absolute greatest.  The gold standard for good dads.  You are the perfect mix of strength, humor, intelligence, fun, wisdom, and absolute devotion to family.  We were all reminded this week of what a gift it is to have our family in our lives every single day, and how it can be taken away too soon.  Please know how unbelievably grateful I am to have you here and to call you my dad.

Love,

Megan

things I forgot to blog about

when we had delicious salmon kabobs before I decided to try to be vegan.  :(

 when we got to play at Memaw and Pepaw's house one night.

 when I "walked" my fingers up Matt's back and made tiny finger "footprints"

 when pink and purple barfed in my kitchen in preparation for a bridal shower I'm throwing tomorrow. 

 when Dori rested her head in between couch cushions.

 and rested comfortably on Matt's shoes on a few occasions. 

 and Matt used his mad hops to climb up on to his sister's roof one night to install her swamp cooler. 



adventure wednesday

 yesterday was a very good adventure day. 

it started with me going to my first meditation class because ballroom dancing isn't happening.  (it's a very long, very stupid story) - but early morning meditation will be good for me, yes?

then we played Frisbee with Dori.  she can almost catch it in her mouth.  soon.

 when we have to stop playing, this happens:

then we saw this place on our way to the museum so we stopped here(it was my first time).

 I don't usually like donuts, but I can eat a glazed donut now and then - it was pretty good.

then we went to the new SPEED exhibit at UMFA.  We were there recently to see the permanent collection, and we saw the advertisement for SPEED, so we went back because it opened at the beginning of the month.  It was pretty cool.  I know nothing about cars, and Matt knows everything (IMO).  I liked reading the stories about each car, but I especially liked watching Matt explore. 

this was my favorite one.  I especially liked the letters on the side, and the giant exhaust thing(?) that matt pointed out.

then we went car shopping for real for a while...

later we went to visit the world's largest copper mine.

and posed next to the giant tire for the giant haul trucks.

then we stretched a souvenir penny at the gift shop

(obviously)

and then we had dinner with these people

if I was still single

this would maybe happen. 

almost

so I graduated from high school 11 years ago and went straight to college at the University of Northern Colorado.

and I took a lot of classes, and I did alright.  I went full time and then part time for almost 5 years.  I also worked full time at a certain Italian restaurant. Eventually I was offered the opportunity to travel and I took it... and dropped out of school while saying the thing that everybody says when they drop out: "I'm definitely going to finish.  I'm just taking a break."  And I meant it. 

and then life took me on a great big adventure. 

a lot of it sucked.

a lot of it was awesome.

some of it involved me going back to school for a little bit, but I didn't finish anything.

I have a had some really good jobs, and learned a lot.

working hard and excelling has never been a problem for me.

but finishing a degree has always felt like an impossible dream. 

a few months ago I decided to see what of what I've taken I could apply to an associates degree, and take what I needed to take to finish. 

I also decided to take some classes to get certified in work that I have already been doing (the part of my job I love the most) and would like to continue growing in: event planning.

the moral of this story is I only needed 3 more classes to finish my Associates Degree, and I'm 5 classes away from my certification in Events Planning. 

in August I will have a degree in hand. 

in December I will also have my certification.

taking 11 years to finish an Associates Degree doesn't sound like an accomplishment.

but it is.

at least for me. 

P.S. get ready for posts re: Ballroom Dancing, because I'm taking it this summer to satisfy a "lifelong wellness" requirement.  I'm pretty sure Matt is hoping I have a girl for a dance partner.  I'm just hoping I can dance.

i don't like these sugar babies

movies with Moo:

me: "It's not getting very good reviews"

Moo: "aaah that's okay.  I usually like those better."

in regards to the Sugar Babies she picked out before the movie:

Moo: "I haven't had these in years, I hope I like them."

"I don't like these Sugar Babies"

in regards to getting ready for a picture with me:

Moo: "Okay.  I'll smile a real smile.  Hold on."

 (blasted phone contracts! my Blackberry is near death and I have to make the POS with its dying camera and dying interwebs capabilities last another 6 months. #firstworldproblems)