In This Crazy Life...

I know I'm writing about wedding planning and house building a lot, but this I my blog and I want to keep record of everything. I only have a couple of friends that even know about this blog. (If you do read, leave a comment soI know who's reading about my life.) I didn't start it for people to read. I started it to keep track I the things going on in my life. Sort of like my diary. If people read I'm fine with that too. So back to the perfect song. I've been goggling and listening to songs for our wedding. I don't really want all the traditional songs you hear at every wedding. I've not made final decisions on most of them, but I came across the perfect song for my dad and I to dance to. I have never heard it before but everytime I listen to it I get tears in my eyes. The first couple of times I literally cried. The lyrics are perfect and so us. Anyways. The song is called I'll Walk with You by Edwin McCain. Here are the lyrics and a link to the song.

I think I mentioned on here before that my dad was going to ask a couple he has done work for over the years if we could use their barn for our wedding. Well when he first asked if they rented it out they said no, but then she asked who he was asking for. When he told her it was for me she said it would be no problem. So I went out there with my mom and dad to check it out. It's absolutely perfect!!!! Last year their daughter got married there. Dad did lots of work on the barn, put in a brick floor and built them a bar. They still have all the hooks to hang lights on the fence posts along the road and coming into the farm. I will be using those. The big Oak tree where the ceremony will be still has lights in it and they work. The inside is just big enough for the food and drinks and a few tables. Both sides have a covered pad for more tables.  This side even has a sign showing where the bar is located. I will have to have a tent in the pasture for the dance floor and a few mor

Warning: Picture Overload My friend took time out of her weekend to snap some lovely pictures of us. I found this dress online at Kiki La'Rue . It was perfect! You should check out her boutique. And everything ships really quick. I had this dress in two days. Anyways. Back to the pictures. It was a beautiful day! A little windy, but still perfect. I already have our save the dates picked out. Now we must chose which four pictures we want to use.

So the wedding planning is coming along nicely. We are having engagement pictures taken today by one of my sorority sisters. She's going to design our save the dates too. The bridal party is lined up. One of my bridesmaids is a graphic designer and is going to design or invites and programs. My Maid of Honor loves to play with hair and makeup, so that's taken care of too. One of Kev's friends is going to set up his sound equipment and probably play DJ. I really want him to play his guitar and sing some too. Maybe I can talk him into it. The wedding cake has been chosen and the date reserved. I have permission to use one of my dad's friend's barns. There's still so much to do, but it's a nice start.

Monday a running friend of mine sent me a Facebook invite for a group forming to run 26.2 miles for the Boston Marathoners. I don't know anyone who ran the race except for SkinnyRunner  and I don't know her, I just stalk her blog. But it saddens me to think about the runners and their families waiting at the finish. (Kev is always waiting for me at the finish). I'll never qualify for a big race like Boston, but I do love my half marathons and plan on traveling and running different cities in the years to come. Some big, some small. As of Monday afternoon I have ran a total of 9 miles for the Boston Marathoners. I have 17.2 to go. Today's run was a wet one. I intended to get five miles in but by mile two I was soaked and it was hard to see out of my glasses, so I turned around and came on home. I managed 3.6 miles. I've never really ran in hard rain before. Boy do your shoes get heavy when they're wet! But I made it. I kept thinking about the conditions the

I have pipes!! Dad's plumber was nice enough to make the drive up here two days to do my plumbing. He even got his plumbing inspector friend to come by and give me a permit. In case we do end up getting city water. Anyways. Monday they dug the trenches for the pipes. You can see where they measured off and marked each pipe on the wood forms. While the plumber laid the pipes dad dug the footings for the foundation. The footings Tuesday they put in the copper piping and covered everything with a sand like dirt. The next steps. 1. Level the dirt back off. 2. Have it treated for termites. 3. Cover it with visqueen and steel. 4. Pour the concrete. It's suppose to rain tomorrow, so not sure when the next steps will begin. Until then... Kev and I are building firewood holders. We went out there Sunday and built the first one. We used fence posts to hold the logs in and put a couple if 4x4s on the ground to keep the logs off the ground. Once we get a few m

The cable at my house was not under the ground very well to start. Whoever's job that was many years ago sucked. Then last summer the landlords had someone dig around the septic tank. Well they dug up the cable and didn't bury it back.  Anyways, long story short. I ran over it with the lawn mower Sunday. So I was without my Sunday night shows. Good thing I can watch them online. A friend of ours fixed it. He said it wouldn't last very long. Well. I don't need it to last very long. I'm moving! It works perfect. I got quick service and it was free. Gotta love handy people.

I drive by our land several times a week just because. It helps that it is only five minutes away, if that. The other day I wanted a picture from the front and back porch, now that I now exactly where they are. The back porch looks at the lake. I noticed that things were finally blooming over there. I have a couple of dogwoods I could see from the road. I've not walked around to really look, but plan on it soon. I guess everything over there is blooming so late because it' so shaded.

Tonight I decided to create a stuffed pork chop. I had a fresh pineapple that needed to be used and thought that making a cream cheese stuffing would be delicious. I cut up half a jalapeño pepper, a small red bell pepper, and a couple of handfuls of pineapple. I mixed it with Parsley flakes ( I really wanted to use Cilantro, but I didn't have any.) Cumin, Chipotle Chili Pepper, and cream cheese. I have found this cream cheese Greek yogurt blend that I LOVE! I don't usually measure when I cook. Only when baking. Anyways. I think next time I won't use as much cream cheese. It was a tad bit runny. We intended on grilling, but a storm blew in and it was raining too hard.  So, I whipped out the grill pan. As you can see, the filling ran out some. The finished product. Will I make it again? Probably so. I don't usually cook the same things every week, but I'm sure it will come around again. When it does, I will do a few things differently. I know I

Dad started the foundation Monday! I went over there Monday after school, from what I could tell they measured the corners off and leveled out where the foundation will set.  Dad would smooth out the dirt and Armando would measure to see if the string was the same distance from the ground every few feet. They kept doing this until it was just right. While dad smoothed dirt Armando unload the boards and other materials to set up the outline of the house. In the picture below, Dad is using the tractor to drag long steel rods off of the trailer. Just a random picture of a saw. Looking up the driveway from from the gravel drive. The whole drive inlined with firewood. Dad left me the materials to build a rack. I'm sure we will try to do that Sunday. View from the front porch.  Today they set up the frame. I'm not sure what is it called. It's nice to finally see an outline of exactly what the house will look like and where it will sit on the property. 

This morning I woke up at 4:15 to get ready for the Chi Omega Run for a Wish 5K. It was extremely difficult to get going since I had stayed up til midnight Friday night. We went to dinner with Kev's family and stayed out way past my bedtime. SoI got moving and I drove the 2 1/2 hours to Jonesboro. It was actually a nice drive. No one was out and about at that time of the morning. Since I stuffed my face with steak the night before instead of carbs, I took along some sport beans. I usually only use those for longs runs but figured it wouldn't hurt. Well.... I forgot to eat them. All in all it was a nice run. I didn't win a place this year, but made good time considering this is the third time I've ran since the LR Half. The girl who placed third in my age group literally crossed the finish line seconds before me. I'm good with forth place. They granted a little girl a wish this morning for a play house. Now I was picturing a house that you set in the backya

A Rose tree Kev sent me a picture of last week. And of course he Instagramed it. The coffee shop down the road has a cat. Back in the winter, a stray cat started hanging around under the building. Soon she a had a little of kittens. And now she just lives there. Not sure what happened to the kittens. I want this shirt!!!! A pencil one of my kids has had since the beginning of the year.

Our land is FINALLY FLAT!!!!! Lots of rain have kept the excavating guys from being able to knock down our ridge. I got a call from my dad after school saying it was flat. So I rushed over to see. I now keep a pair of rubber boots in my trunk. You never know when you may need them. I have had to find time to run home to change many times. It's hard to walk up there in heels plus I'd ruin them.  It's hard to tell but the far left side goes out farther. That is where Kev will put his shop. As you can see the front yard will slope off considerably. For the most part, I will keep all of this wooded. I eventually plan to clear the underbrush, but not anytime soon. I have a house to build and a wedding to plan. Landscaping can come later. The sunrise on my way to work yesterday. So amazing!!