The Mini Cooper Wave

Ever since I got the Mini, I decided I wanted to frantically wave at other Minis - and the result was that they were waving at me too. I got a kick out of this, and today I thought to google "Mini Cooper wave". The search results were absolutely hilarious. One guy was complaining because this Mini he passes to work each day just "doesn't get it" so he decided to keep waving until the Mini *does* get it and others saying if you don't know "the wave" to just stay out of a Mini. I don't know, I think it's cute/fun to wave. I never "officially" knew of the wave, but it just seemed like something I wanted to do - plus, it's a lot of fun! And now I know, there is indeed, technically a "Mini Cooper wave"!

Dilema - need suggestions

I decided to finally start writing my iPhone app tonight. The app I thought would be awesome to have on an iPhone for a geek. So I'm sitting at my mac mini with xcode open, and start (the attempt) to code up my application: a binary clock. Neat starter idea, right?

I get some code started, happy with this idea I came up with. Then it dawns on me - could this app already exist? It was a scary thought. As I open up iTunes, I was quite scared of even looking - sure enough it does. *sigh*

So then I decided to google some "desired" iPhone apps. I found some that people blogged about or posted comments to stories about. Every one (that I've found anyway) has been created already. *another sigh*

I need some ideas for apps. This is something I really want to do, and thought about just writing a binary clock just to say I did. Any ideas/suggestions would be great (that implying it doesn't already exist ;) )

In other very, very happy and exiting news, I officially have a maid of honor! I asked Leah just yesterday to be my maid of honor and she said yes! I'm so happy she is going to be in my wedding. There isn't any woman in this world that is more perfect.

Canada trip '09

I'm back from Canada! It was fun. John and I caught some pretty good keepers, and it didn't rain too, too much. Thursday and Friday it did some, but other than that it was great. I had fun spending so much time with John. Fishing, camp-firing, everything. It's almost weird to be back!

On the way home, I decided to stop at my house for some (clean) clothes. We had Daniel (a nephew of his) with us, so we decided to take him fishing on the pond down at the farm. He caught a bigger fish in about 10 minutes of fishing than we did the whole week of Canada! It was awesome to see how happy he was!

Later this week we're going to take more of the little ones down to the farm. It was kind of a spur of the moment thing to take Daniel, so we decided we really need to take the others as well. All I can say is that this family I'm marrying into is simply amazing compared to - well.. others. We'll leave it at that for now.

Mini Cooper

Last Friday (July 3rd) I purchased a brand spankin' new car - something I've wanted and been eying up for a while. Yes.. a Mini Cooper! It's sweet and so fun to drive. It's a 6 speed, has heated seats, heated mirrors, and heated washer jets. It's got color lighting all through out the car, which the lights go anywhere from blue-purple-pink-orange-red. It's loaded and I love it! I originally was going for the British Racing Green or the Horizon Blue, but when I walked in the showroom, I saw this little number. Needless to say, I fell in love with it. This particular shade is Nightfire Red. I have yet to name her, and suggestions are welcome! :)

Uncle Bob

The funeral for Uncle Bob was today. John and I both took the day off of work. It started at 9:30 and went until about 12:00.

It was a huge funeral. So many people went that they told us all to just meet at the church instead of the funeral home. This isn't typical as I found out. Usually everyone drives together to the church, but not this time.

Many touching speeches were given about Uncle Bob. There were ones that made you want to cry endlessly, and ones that made you want to chuckle a bit because you remember just what he was like. I tried to really retain my composure - for John. I wanted to cry a lot more, but I felt as if I needed to be there for him, as a shoulder for him.

I was thinking about everything later on, later in the day. So many things were said about Uncle Bob that I could only pray that one quarter of those things could ever be said about me at mine. He was truly an amazing person. So many people respected him. So many loved him. He was a veteran, he loved his country, he loved God, he loved people, he adored his family, he loved outdoors and nature. People didn't have to try to 'make up' things to say at his funeral - they just told the facts. The stories and speeches were only a minute glimpse at what an affect he had on peoples' lives.

I feel so privileged to have known him but feel I should have had so much more time with him. It really makes you think about life and try to appreciate what and who you currently have in it.

Please keep John and his family in your prayers...

Weekend

The PENS WON THE CUP!!! :) Yeah, you can probably tell I'm a little happy about that. Hossa - bite me! Heh..

We had the fishing tournament this weekend too. That went rather bad. Not too many people caught fish. It just wasn't the day to fish, it was very windy, and it just sucked. I got one small bluegill, and John, surprisingly didn't get anything. He's really good at fishing too.

Then when we got back to camp from fishing, we got some very bad news. One of John's uncles passed away. He was a very wonderful man. I hate death. I hate hearing people have to die. It affects me too much. I'm sad because I know John is in pain, and I'm sad because Uncle Bob was such a great person. He was always so nice to me, and he even reminded me a bit about my grandfather.

Please keep John's family in your prayers, as this will be a very hard funeral for a lot of people - including me. I know the Lord works in mysterious ways, but that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt beyond belief sometimes...

Kenny Chesney

Well, I've tried for weeks dialing into Y108 and 104.3 to win Kenny Chesney tickets for June 6th. I mean, I always *try* to win free crap from radio stations, but I *really* wanted to go to this concert. I just didn't want to have to pay for the tickets :)

Then after the stations' final giveaways ended, the thought crossed my mind to just buy the damn things. I logged onto Ticketmaster Friday night, and searched for seats. There were GREAT seats available that just opened up - I was so shocked. I told John I was thinking about buying them. He said to just do what I want. So I did.

The show was phenomenal. I couldn't believe how much fun I had. Parking lots opened at 10, and we planned on being there around then, but didn't make it until noon. That was fine though. I couldn't believe how far away we had to end up parking, but in retrospect, we were actually very close. We set up our inflatable palm tree and other stuff, grilled out, walked around to see the other tailgaters, and just had so much fun. Later some of John's other family met up with us, then we headed in around the Montgomery Gentry starting, then saw Sugarland, and of course.. Kenny Chesney.

I still can't believe how much fun I had. The tickets were around $150 each - and knowing how much I enjoyed it, I probably would have payed double that. It was AWESOME!! :)

Mac mini!

Yeah, I got a mac mini. It's awesome. I mainly got one because I want to start writing iPhone apps, but all in all, I really like it. I've always been a Linux fan, so I'm sure that has something to do with it :)

Anyway, I've been in 'wedding mode' lately. I put on my dress (again) today and took a bunch of pictures. I think I'm going to post some on Facebook (since the boy doesn't have or plan on having an account!) I also bought a wedding magazine today. The dresses in it are pretty, but they pale in comparison to mine =D

Bridal Show #1

Well, tomorrow will be my very first bridal show. I'm so excited about going! I have no idea what exactly these things are like, but it's never too soon to find out! John's sister and niece, Pam and Erin, are going with me, so that will be really nice. I was going to just go myself, but they offered to go with me, and I'd much rather go with someone than alone, so I was really happy they offered. The Pens play when the event is, but that's ok - I'm super psyched!

I also uploaded my "submission" to the "Best Job In the World" today. It's in the great barrier reefs in Australia --> www.islandreefjob.com. My video hasn't been officially 'approved' yet, and they say it can take up to 5 days, but nonetheless, I made it and it should be appearing soon. So, yeah, vote for me if you see it ;)

Happy Valentine's Day

And what a wonderful one it was. First, the boy tells me after work on Friday that he wants to take me to Mountaineer Casino! We stayed overnight AT the casino. That was way cool. We didn't win much, but it was the funness of being there and being with him-not to mention the surprise. At one point there he told me he had been trying to get reservations at Ruth Chris for us for Valentine's Day, but they were already booked weeks back. Anyhow, when we got back home, he gave me a plant of roses (yes a PLANT so we can RE-plant them!), a heart full of turtles (mm.. I love turtles), showed me a concoction of what we call Moo-Cluck-Splash (Ruth Chris is nice, this is delicious!), a bottle of our very favorite wine-Gewurtstraminer, and a from scratch, homemade cheesecake with chocolate shell. Wow. Can it get any better than this? I think this may be the very most heartful, thoughtful, sincere, and sweetest Valentine's I've ever had. It was awesome. I'm not sure anything could have made it more perfect! It's no wonder I'm so in love with this man. Happy Valentine's Day everyone =)

Gym Open

So the gym at McKesson opens tomorrow! I'm really excited about it. It was *supposed* to be open back in October, but I've been patiently waiting. The only bad thing is that I think for the first few months it will be packed. I'm not sure if I'll go in the morning or after work - it sort of depends on how early I get there. Either way I think I'll be able to find some times where there's next to no one in there (it's open 24/7). I have my gym clothes, my shampoo, and my MP3 player all packed in my gym bag and ready for tomorrow!

"Cornflakes & Classics" ...oh yeah, and Billy too :)

Anyone who knows me knows that I always have loved Elton John's music. Well, I saw them once before in Pittsburgh (I think it was in '94), and while it was the best concert I've ever been to, this year it will be even better. Yes, the boy and I are going to see them in May at Quicken Loans in Cleveland. We went to the Ticketmaster booth this past Saturday at 9:50am (tickets on sale at 10:00am) and stayed perched until the sale started. We got the best seats we could, and while the tickets were quite pricey, I am looking forward to this concert so much. We thought about waiting to see if they were going to come to Pittsburgh again, which I'm sure will end up happening, but for one, we didn't want to chance it, and two, you really can't beat a Saturday concert. It's going to be great, I'm so excited!

Wedding progress!!

So we have a date!! May 1, 2010 will be our wedding! I thought it would be cool to get married on a 1st, and John immediately liked that day. There were a few others I brought up to see what he thought, but May 1st just seemed perfect. And it is :) I also got my wedding dress! It is simply the most gorgeous wedding dress I've ever seen in my life. I love it. It's so intricately detailed and - just wow. I can't post any pictures for OBVIOUS reasons, but of course after the wedding I'll post them all :) It also has what I've always wanted since I was a little girl: a cathedral length train. It's just absolutely stunning. I simply can't wait to wear it. We have the church we'll be married in picked out too, and I reserved our day. People say planning weddings are so stressful, but I'm having so much doing it. I love it. I even have my song and guest list started. Yaay :)