The End

Well after a few months of regular and not so regular posting on Soon to be w/Ed, the time has come to say goodbye. I feel like we're at the end of the Mickey Mouse Club television show suddenly where they sing "Now it's time to say goodbye...to all our company...M-I-C...see ya real soon...K-E-Y...why? because we like you...M-O-U-S-E"

I really wanted to go out in a blaze of glory with some smashing last post...but that didn't really turn out so well.

All good things have to come to an end. Don't fret though... they come to an end so better things can begin.

See you real soon...why? because we like you :)
You can find us here from now on...

:)

Sorry to keep you all waiting...but I have to keep the suspense up just a little longer...we're waiting on a little something to make that first wedding related post a little extra special for you blog readers. Hopefully by next week it will be all ready to go :)

We belong to each other...and have the papers to prove it!

There is actually a real reason to post! We have done not one…but two…count em two…things that will make March 7th possible. Since the day is getting closer and closer - we're trying to make sure that all of the important things are crossed off the list.

First things first…we applied for our marriage license. After making our way to the probate office (good thing they had signs) we found Angie! It’s amazing how easy these things are to get. It was an incredibly quick process (unlike buying a home) and only left us $35 dollars poorer (unlike buying a home).


Angie got our papers ready for us to sign (after verifying we were who we said we were). We then double checked the spellings of our names (cause he’s marrying Nikole not Nicole, Nichole, or Nickole). Unfortunately Eddie did not sign Edward so we had to start all over. Angie is so patient though, and Eddie resigned with his full name
(which was difficult for him since apparently he has never signed with his middle name spelled out so it ruined the feng-shui of his normal signature). I was next. I learned from Eddie’s mishap, so I made sure to sign my full legal name while my hubby to be smiled alongside me.


Angie then did her part – it was totally so official. And here we are with the proof that Pickens County apparently sees no reason why Eddie and I should not be wed! All in all it was a pretty easy experience and one more thing we can mark off the to do list. The other thing that we got to mark off the list was the mattress!

We actually did do a little comparison shopping, but mattress shopping is way harder than one would think. Are you aware that different stores call the same mattress by different names? They do. Not easy to price compare. Also are you aware of all of the coil counts, materials and overall construction of a mattress? Yeah I wasn’t either – and even though I heard them tell me about it I still don’t get it. Basically I was just looking for something that felt like a fluffy pillow.


Mattress shopping was pretty enjoyable though. After all, we were buying something that involved sleeping and you know we’re sleeping aficionados! Basically we climbed in and out of beds and looked at each other and said “do you like this one….do you like this one better than that last one…do you want to try that other one again…can you feel me move when I roll…I like this one...are you sure…” I mean this was serious people. This was an investment into our future. We’re real grownups now!


We did finally make a decision (I know right- I’m shocked too). Eddie and friendly sales guy loaded up the truck (which was parked in the no parking zone) and we took our mattress to its new home at McNest. I think it will be happy there. It definitely won’t be lonely and unloved. As professional napsters we will spend much time there I’m sure.

PS we ended up with a Serta mattress that claims to be a perfect sleeper. I'm going glass half full viewpoint on life and am totally saying that I believe it. But I will let you know if it really holds true to its word after March 7th.


Hopefully we’ll find it comfortable enough to avoid mattress shopping for atleast ten years :) Not because it wasn't fun going into a store and kicking back and relaxing...but because we don't need to spend our life savings on box springs and coil counts and memory foams. Sleep is important but so is a flat screen tv on every wall of every room. Just kidding Lisa (don't have a panic attack). But by the looks of things...I think it's going to be just perfect.

Terrible Blogger

I know I know. It’s been a long time.
I won’t try to come up with excuses. I’ll just get right to it.
23 days people. 23 days. How crazy is that? So crazy.
There’s so much to do and so little time. But isn’t that the way it always is.

So much has happened over the past couple of months – and you’ve had zero updates from yours truly. I’ll try to get you up to speed.

Christmas was just fabulous (I was actually not sick finally). We spent much time with our families (here is mine) and I for one hearted sleeping late for multiple days in a row.

My wedding dress is now altered to perfection. I can’t gain one ounce. Not even like a gram. It fits like a glove. A really tight glove that you can’t breathe in…but a glove. Sorry no pictures – since you know who reads the blog we can’t have him seeing it before the big day.


We had our very first wedding shower. So fun. Both sides of my family got together and gave the sweetest, prettiest shower ever.

Wedding showers are a lovely privilege that the bride gets to enjoy where her closest friends and family “shower” her with lovely presents, attention and wishes (and who doesn’t love that). It’s a time to help a young (and I say that because I still am young) bride get started on her new life. I opened presents, and although I registered for the majority of them, I was still surprised and so happy with each one that I opened.

It was slightly overwhelming to begin with when everyone was just staring at me opening everything, but the feeling of being suffocated by much pink tissue paper, ribbons and bows went away after the first couple of presents. Thanks Alicia for sitting next to me so I would feel better :) Ed arrived at the end and loaded up everything and we took it all into McNest, where we unloaded everything into the living room and left (we’ll totally have it all put up by the 7th of March – I think).


I also had a shower at work this week. They had pink gerber daisies set up on tables and it was absolutely adorable. I work with the best people. They are so good to me! I love y’all bunches (shout out: Hi Deanna, Paula, Rhonda, Vicki, Nancy, and Dana!. It was definitely my favorite day of work since I started in Nov 2002 (oh other than that day we got to leave early because it snowed).


Moving right along. We’ve been working on a room! It is almost totally complete. Take a look at this kitchen color. Here's Eddie working hard (cough cough). We went from bleh to crazy yellow to this oh so lovely shade of brown that Michelle custom mixed for us at Lowe's. We heart Michelle. I'm so sad that she is moving :( Michelle you do realize that if we run out of paint you have to come back home.

Back to the kitchen. How exciting is that? The walls and cabinets were repainted (again) and appliances and (some)hardware were installed. Our kitchen is like totally functional. I could actually cook a meal (in theory) there. More on that later.

What’s even more fun is that now that the kitchen is somewhat finished (still need new countertops) we can actually unpack some of our wedding gifts and get them into place and maybe even start using some of them now. Cause really - who has their coffee maker and microwave in the living room? Though I can see the benefits of having them there (warm up your popcorn in the same room you watch the movie), it's just not going to work for us.

Tonight we're hoping to purchase a mattress (who knew a mattress would cost that much). Apparently the bed didn't come with one (how stupid). But since we don't really want to roll out sleeping bags, we're gonna bite the bullet and buy us a nifty plush perfect sleeper. So hopefully I'll have some new pictures to share with you after the weekend.

I'll try to get back into the swing of posting regularly. But really - when you don't comment on what I do write - where is my incentive? :) <--- Blatant hint to write a reply to posts that I take my sweet time to write.

Our McHome to be now belongs to we

Just in case you can’t tell from the title of the post – we’re now officially homeowners! Well in the sense that we now own something that the bank owns 95% of …literally. We actually just own a very tiny percentage of the home, but in 30 years that baby is all ours!



We ventured to the big city to the attorney’s office to sign away the next couple of decades of our lives. The lawyer went over each paper and told us what we were signing. I had no idea what he was talking about for the most part, but I do know that between the two of us we probably signed 1.5 forests worth of paper (Sorry Laura – I thought of how wasteful all that was). I tried not to think about all of the responsibility that I was actually signing for.

Instead I just tried to think about all the fun decorating. He may have been saying “number, number, APR, mortgage, title, deed” but I was hearing “classic platform bed with glamorous soft linens and a plush headboard.” He said “appraisal fee, closing costs, insurance, something something” but in my head I was thinking “beveled oak veneer table top with solid warm-stained wood legs finished in deep rich mocha.”

The closing was actually pretty anticlimactic, considering it has sort of felt like ours all along. I mean you don’t go in someone else’s house and tear down walls and stuff – except we kind of did. McNest has seemed like a vacation home of sorts, because we pretty much just visit it on weekends, but then again not like a vacation home since I’ve never been on a vacation where I’ve worked harder than trying to get tanning oil onto the middle part of my back that I can’t reach.

We’re homeowners. Though we look (mainly me) and sometimes act (mainly him) like we are seventeen years old (just kidding ed), we’ve done made ourselves into grown ups and entered into the rest of the homeowning world. And we did it without having to sell all four of our kidneys to afford the closing costs!


So yeah – McNest is officially ours. We’re indebted to the bank, but we have a backyard. Since neither of us has become independently wealthy in the last couple of months, we’ll continue to work on McNest with our trusty team of non-professionals and provide you with more updates as they come along.

But for the rest of 2008, we’re gonna relax...what a concept!

Goin to the chapel...

Update

It's not that we've been purposely neglecting the blog. It’s just that we haven’t been working really. Well that’s not true – work has been done…so what it comes down to is what we’ve been doing over at McNest is so mind-numbingly boring that not only do we not want to do it (touch up paint with a paint by number brush) – we don’t even want to talk about doing it either. Honestly, when we’re not even fascinated by what we’re doing – we know you won’t be. The blog silence is for your own protection.

I find myself facing a slight motivational crisis everyday when I come home from work. I have found that there are many evenings where there is ample time and opportunity to do some sort of project at McNest. Yet I am only mentally prepared to take a nap and possibly watch an episode or two of John & Kate Plus 8. Therein lies my dilemma…what to do…what to do…

I vow to do better people.

In list form, here’s what I’d like to get done soon (or prior to our union as man and wife… or by the year 2012)
-tile in the kitchen, bathroom and laundry room
-paint kitchen cabinets and walls
-buy appliances (refrigerator, dishwasher, oven)
-buy furniture (couch, recliner, loooove seat, dining room table and chairs, bed)
-win lottery or sweepstakes that would allow me to do all of the above with minimal to no effort

I actually hope to have a real update by the beginning of next week for you all :)

First Impressions

Why Good Day Readers!

It is with great giddiness and cheer that I make my debut as guest contributor on this sweet page.

For months and from a great distance I have eagerly watched the evolution of McNest - from sticky kitschy wall borders and vomit-inducing colors to its freshly coated and newly floored self. It's been fun to see, but of course I can say that because I have not been charged with a mortgage payment. And while Nikki and Eddie insist that there is still much to do, like the trees in their backyard, their efforts are already bearing fruit. It's going to be a home sweet home indeed.

And so I want to share with you my first impressions of McNest. For those of you who don't know me, I prefer (quite often) to share my worldly observations in the form of haiku.

Beginnings

A work in progress
comes into its own in time -
like they love y'all share.

Home Improvements

Walls come down. Ideas

begin to take shape. Your home -
there's no place like it.

Why I Heart McNest

Home sweet home awaits

visits from me and game nights.

My room is so sweet!

A First Home for All of Us

A place to gather

to eat, to play and to nap.

Our grown-up hangout.

First time was a great time...second time was a BLAST

From the lack of posts, you can all probably use your brain power to deduce that we have not done a single thing on McNest to warrant any sort of update. Sad – yes. However it has provided us with time to do other things that are equally as noteworthy. And by we – I mean me. One of those things being – a trip straight back to 1989. Kristen & I went to the New Kids on the Block show in Charlotte the other nite. That’s right. I said it. NKOTB. Otherwise known as the five hardest working guys in show business.

Kristen and I fall directly in with the New Kids fan demographic – that being 25-30 year old women who were all around the impressionable age of 10 years old when New Kids struck gold as a boy band. We were accompanied by a few other thousand 20-30 year old females who all wanted to hitch a ride back to a time when neon colors were all the rage, side ponies rocked the hair scene, and sweatshirts came off the shoulders .

I’ll guestimate that approximately 20 guys were in the crowd. Total. And no I’m not kidding. It really shouldn’t surprise anyone that so few males were in attendance – who can blame them though. Manly men probably don’t get any kind of thrill from watching the vintage choreographed smokin’ hot dance moves of five white guys from Boston singing to their girlfriends and wives. The lack of guys did provide an awesome benefit though. Most of the men’s bathrooms were changed to women’s for the nite. Only at a NKOTB show folks…

There were many groups of girls walking around with some trashtastic 80’s gear on…leggings…leg warmers…big tshirts…neon colors…and some even crimped their hair (I remember those days). I rolled my eyes at first and then I contemplated reworking my own outfit to fit in. Peer pressure – gets to ya everytime. I wasn’t the only one. By the end of the show Kristen’s hair was in a side pony and I think I threw out a “rad.” If the New Kids were trying to give us a blast to the past – Mission Accomplished. I was surprised that we weren’t handed a slap bracelet when we entered the arena.

I was trying to figure out what exactly to write about in this post. Do I tell you about the crazy time we had getting there – including getting lost in downtown Charlotte’s one way streets, pulling into a parking lot straight out of Poltergeist, voluntarily getting in a line of cars to go thru a license check, leaving my camera in Kristen’s car, and paying fifteen dollars to park (after spending six to get out of Poltergeist parking lot). Or do I tell you about how the song “Step by Step” changed my life. I decided to just do a stream of consciousness blog of my thoughts about the show.

Though I do remember being a big fan of the group when I was round about the age of 9, I wasn’t what you would call an uber fan. Sure – I had the sleeping bag, trading cards and the lunch box, but I didn’t have the dolls nor did I have ripped out pages of Tiger Beat covering every inch of my bedroom walls. But when I had no trouble at all remembering (and singing outloud) all of the words to Cover Girl after more than 15 years, I realized maybe I was more than just a big fan.

For five guys knockin on 40s door – the New Kids definitely were like some fine wine (from what I hear) – they only got better with time. Though I laughed at the silliness of being there with the dressed up crowd…I was fully committed to enjoying myself for at least a few hours. And I did. Though I may have regressed back to my 9 year old self during some highlights of the show (Tonight, Hanging Tough, You’ve Got the Right Stuff), it was such a fun time. What made the show even better was that the New Kids seemed like they genuinely were having a good time and were sincerely appreciative of the crowd that showed up.

One confusing part of the concert was some sort of video homage to people who have died since the last time New Kids were on tour. Some of their family members were listed but also Tupac, Biggie, Kurt Cobain, Heath Ledger. I guess it was a good idea in theory, but it was a bit of a mood killer if you want me to be honest with you. When you go from a spinning stage to that – it just confuses the crowd. They should have slowed us step by step…. Oh that was good and you know it.

And just like in the late 80’s the New Kids encouraged us to stay positive when they sang “Games.” Joey Mac and a small choir of black folks encouraged us to have high self esteem. Those of us who drove multiple hours to get there and who are closer to celebrating 30 than we’d like to admit really appreciated this attempt to distract us from our current reality of actually being at a New Kids On The Block show. Also just like times past, Jordan decided to sing his solo song with an artificial breeze from a wind machine blowing open his white shirt. Talk about cheese-tastic. But fun.

I am so glad Kristen invited me to go with her. I think only we could truly enjoy this experience together. Sending us straight back to a time when my bangs were teased, my socks were slouched, and life was pretty much only as difficult as my next social studies quiz. Thanks Kristen. So even though it was around 3am in the morning when we got back home…it was all worth it! Like they say in one of our favoritie movies…“That was the most fun”

Me and My Boo at the Zoo

Saturday was a date day and dates days are my most FAVORITE days. Since it was a day I was looking forward to, I of course woke up not feeling well at all. This tends to happen to me for all important events. Stomach virus two thanksgivings in a row which not only prevented me from having a turkey sandwich but also prevented me from shopping the day after. You know that it was serious if I wasn’t shopping. There’s no joking about that.

Eddie got me a ginger ale and I packed a baggy full of saltine crackers and we decided to give it a go. So we headed off to Cola to the zoo. Yup – the zoo – a place where they keep the animals in captivity so that the public can stare at them from behind a fence. Of course I totally prefer this option over seeing them in the wild – mainly because in the wild there is a higher possibility that the animals can run after you and eat you. I’ll take my chances at the zoo thanks. Another reason to visit the zoo – they have animals from other countries – and since I don’t have a travel budget – nor do I ride airplanes - I’m sort of limited to possibly ever seeing US, Canadian and Mexican animals. I really wanted to see the Koala (originally from Australia) so we probably saved thousands of dollars in air fare and hotels by seeing the fuzzy little thing two hours away from home at Riverbanks instead of going to Sydney.

I bought Eddie a behind the scenes tour last year as part of his Christmas and we decided that since this was the only free weekend we’d have before it expired then why not head on down. I made it through the car trip and once we arrived I still felt kind of crappy, but I forged on. It was sort of hot and the sight of two hundred billion other people all wandering through the gates didn’t help matters much. Eighty degrees, lots of hot sweaty people and lots of hot sweaty animals. Awesome – we maybe should have just stayed home and watched Animal Planet.

We had some time to look around before our tour started so off we went. Now that I look back, I realize that the highlight of the day for most people had to have been at the Riverbanks farm where we not only saw a cow but could pet it too. Some of those kids about lost their minds over the cow. Never mind about the endangered birds or the lion cubs right down the path – the cow was awesome. And we could have seen it at home.

We also went through this really weird enclosure thing where there were flocks of birds just flying around inside. The good folks at the zoo allowed regular joe people to go in and feed them or interact with them. I would have rather pulled my eyelashes out one by one than walk through that enclosure where the possibility of having my eyes pecked out was more real than not real. However, being the awesome fiancée that I am, I gave it a try. But you know what? Those birds didn’t even go on about their birdy business. They just kinda sat there looking bored. Thank goodness we didn’t buy the food to feed them. That is when they would swarm near you. I’m not into that. They were however really really pretty (as seen here). PS – thanks Lisa for the use of your camera for the day.

We were able to get up close and personal with the giraffes – they are so pretty – no wonder Dooney & Bourke wanted to use them to make purse patterns from. Seriously – this picture is not zoomed in at all. He (or she) was just right there all up in my face waiting for me to feed him (or her). I would have liked to have gotten there a little earlier so that we could have actually fed one. Did you know that giraffes can lick their own ears? They can. Regina told me, and as you all know she is an ocean of useless knowledge. She is the reason that I also know that coke was originally green in color.

Our behind the scenes tour was with the elephants. We went to the elephant barn and were able to meet the elephants and their trainers. The elephants are always behind those bars. The trainers never have free interaction with them like at the circus. It’s all about safety folks. I mean they weigh a ton. They did a few tricks for us though. They are so well trained, and we learned loads of interesting facts about them. I don’t remember any now that I’m writing this, but there were some I promise. On our way out we saw a painting that one of the elephants had done. They give them giant paint brushes which they can hold with their trunk, and then they can swirl the paintbrush on the canvas and make some pretty cool art work. Who knew elephants were so creative and artistic?

After the tour in the barn...I got to ride one of the elephants! It was all I ever dreamed it would be. Eddie got to hang out with some monkeys. All in all it was a good time. Our little group of 10 got to do some really neat things in "Employee Only" accessible places. It was definitely nice to not be in a crowd, especially when that crowd is standing really close together in hot weather.

We also got to feed some meerkats. They were cute little things, however don’t let that cuteness fool you. They eat worms…and centipedes…and other gross things. Oh seriously we get to feed them? Awesome. I tried to just take pictures of Eddie feeding them, but I didn’t want to be outshined by the 5 year old in our group so I let our guide put a worm in my hand and I tossed it to the meerkats. Gross :) Last stop of the tour was the animal hospital – or as Eddie and I would say Animal Doctor Movie. It was definitely interesting seeing the charts for the animal patients (whose ailments varied from arthritis and diabetes to hairballs). We also got to see some xrays. The craziest one by far was of a monkey that hasn’t been eating and was acting pretty sick. They brought him in to check him out and what do they find inside….41 pennies…. Isn’t that crazy!

I think it was after the tour that we had a dippin dot break – but I honestly can’t remember an actual timeline of events. I do however remember that the dippin dots were quite tasty. We decided to finish seeing the animals. A lot of animals must have sensed me and Eddie’s presence when we approached – because they would lay down and take a little nap to show that they were kindred spirits with us. We appreciated that. The little koalas slept practically the entire day away while lounging on their eucalyptus branches. Too cute right? I wanted to take one home. The turtles also put on quite a show I must say. Since neither of us paid attention that day in Biology when the teacher went over reproductive skills of turtles, it was the perfect day for us to see a real life demonstration. Parents were ushering their little kids right on past that “exhibit.” I’ll not be posting a picture of that action, but I will post one of Eddie hitching a ride from one of them.

I think our last stop was the bird house. I actually enjoyed the bird house since the birds were behind glass. I hearted seeing the little penguins diving into the water and knowing that one wasn’t going to run after me and attack me below the knees. I also really enjoyed seeing the peacocks. They were so pretty. One of them stared me right in the eye. I didn’t dare look away because I read or heard or maybe made up in my head that if you break eye contact with a mountain lion it will attack you. I’m not sure if the same applies to peacocks, but I didn’t want to take any chances.

I think the last animal we saw was the tiger. It was also one of the first we saw. It was asleep both times. I wanted to see it being all ferocious and GGGGGGGGRRRREAATTTTTTT! But alas, it was chilled out on a ledge in the shade. So instead I had to be all ferocious, and then I had to get Eddie in on the action too (but he won’t let me put his picture on here) :) There is one though…for blackmail purposes … just kiddin love! We had such a fun time. I think I’d like to go back and do a different animal tour next year – like an animal that doesn’t weigh over 900 lbs or something – maybe a penguin!