Birthday Breakfast

So far 30 is looking really good.

The 4 Runner

I know I promised honey moon pictures for my next post and instead you got a rant.
Well, guess what - you're about to get another one.  Deal with it.

Let's start at the beginning:

1. I bought a car.  Cash. 1999 Toyota 4Runner Limited.  Right price, right miles.  Mechanic checked.  Loved it.  Bought it on 7/14/10.
2. Plan to drive 4Runner to Florida for family vacation.  Took to mechanic for a trip check and oil change.  Let's be doubly sure that the car will make it there and back without a problem.  All checked out beautifully.  Just needed a new air filter.  8/26/10.
3. Drive 4Runner to Florida on 8/27/10.  Drive 4Runner the entire week in Florida, to and from, short trips, trips as long as 30 minutes - normal daily driving.
4. Pack it up and get ready to drive back home to TN. 9/4/10
5. 7 miles from the house.  Count them. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. SEVEN MILES into the trip home an invisible robot jumps out in front of us...at least that's what it sounded like we had run over when we threw a rod through the left side of the engine block.
6. Promptly pull over, call Triple A and wait for an hour and a half for a tow truck.  Tow the now obsolete 4 Runner back to the beach house.
7. Go to UHaul and rent a car hauler.
8. Promise Mike our first born son so that he will tow us back to Nashville.
9. Drink ourselves into oblivion.
10. Ride 5 deep (+ dog) in Mike's extended cab truck for 10 hours to drop 4 Runner off at mechanic. 9/5/10

Moral of the Story - Watch out for invisible robots - they will screw you into buying a new engine to the tune of $6k.
Happy Vacation.

Pop of Color

This is just a rant.  No pictures.  Nothing about my life at all so you may wanna skip this one.
I HATE THE PHRASE "just adds the perfect pop of color."  As in, "These throw pillows just add the perfect pop of color to the space."
Hate. Hate. Hate.  If I hear/read it one more time, I might have a postal melt down.

I read a ton of home improvement and decorating blogs.  I pull ideas from here and there and I am SO over the pops of color that everyone keeps using in their rooms.  Seriously.  Could you just say "this colorful throw pillow" already instead of popping freaking color everywhere.

Ugh.

A Wedding Re-Cap

I know it's been a few months.
But here are a few of my faves:
Before the ceremony. 

Doesn't he just look so debonair?

Yes, that is me writing my vows about 45 minutes before the ceremony.

The Ceremony.

We hadn't seen each other since about 2p that afternoon....when we were drinking beer on the front porch watching Nashville Electric Service figure out why, oh why, we had no electricity.  That was fun.

 

 Where is she?

  Well, how do I look?

 

We took pics together after the ceremony b/c Matt didn't want to see me before.  It's bad luck, afterall.

 

I am seriously excited about something....maybe it's the fact that we're freshly married??

My Gawd. I. LOVE. THOSE. SHOES.

And by God, there was dancing!!

And a wardrobe change, for me at least.

The kick ass band: Space Capone.

And finally, how about a Krystal to finish the night:

Next post - some of the scenic honeymoon pictures.

July 4th - I knew we were meant to be.

Every year we celebrate Matt's birthday for an entire week.  It's his only opportunity to run around and do nothing.  Lest you forget that he does nothing and ask him to do something such as feed the dogs you'll get a swift, "IT'S MY BIRFDAY!"
We always throw an Annual Celebration of Matt's Birth Party on July 3rd even though his actual day is July 4th.
And every year we go to our buddies Steve and Lisa's house.  They live on 3rd Ave with a rooftop deck, perfect for watching the downtown fireworks. 
I have no pictures of either except the following:

One might wonder why we have American flags stuck to our foreheads...
Turns out we each, independent of the other, grabbed a flag as we were leaving and both stuck them to our forehead. 
And that is how I knew we were meant. to. be.

This post is just for Aunt Sally and Karen Ann - I know, I know, it's been a while.
I need to update.  I have pictures from the wedding, pictures from the honeymoon, pictures of house progress.  Although the house progress has been non-existent since the wedding.  We're taking the summer off.
I can show you where we were and where we are though. 
It's coming, it's coming.  Keep your pants on!

We Did It!!

I had an amazing time.  Matt had an amazing time.
And if everyone isn't lying to us - they all did too.

I don't know how many that were there will check this blog now, but if you do - Thank you for coming and making our day!
If you have pictures, I'd love to have some copies. 

Sarah B. Gilliam has some pics up on her blog.  Please pay no attention to my man-hands in the ring shot.
Thank you Sarah, Sara Beth, and Melissa - it was great fun!
http://sarahbgilliamphotography.blogspot.com/2010/05/laura-matts-show-at-cannery-ballroom.html
http://sarahbgilliamphotography.blogspot.com/2010/05/ringger-hudson-review.html

A real blog update about the house progress, complete with pictures will be coming soon.
And now....
Back to regularly scheduled programming (life, just a little sweeter.)

P.S. I was thinking that I'd change my first name to Ringger to avoid confusion...

Volunteer State

I'm so proud of Matt.  Usually I'm the one that takes care of our charitable causes but not this time. 
Matt made the decision last week that we do in fact have the time to volunteer.  There is no reason that we shouldn't.  We're young, able-bodied, and our house is fine. 
On Sunday, we headed over to ArtHouse, the East Nashville volunteer epicenter, to give some time.  We were sent to a house on Moss Rose which backs right up to the Cumberland.  I cannot even describe the war zone that we drove into. 
The houses were spray painted with "X"s from being checked for humans. 
The roads and grass were covered in dirt from the river being over them and then receding.
All the houses were being demoed: carpet pulled out, drywall cut out from belly button level down, kitchen cabinets gone, bathroom cabinets and sink torn out, couches, chairs, cushions, mattresses, TVs - All thrown into the front yards to be picked up by Metro garbage pickup.
Matt got a couple of pictures but even these don't really show the severity of their situation.

This is the front part of the yard. 

The remainder of the yard all the way up to the house is covered in stuff to be taken to the dump.

Obviously, Matt was moving when he took this picture but you can get the idea.  The back yard of this house was the Cumberland River.  Water made it half way up the walls inside the house.

We're still on the water conservation effort.  Both Davidson and Williamson counties are running off of one water treatment plant...which means showering every other day at the most, only unmentionables in the laundry, no shaving, and really adhering to the hippie saying, "If it's yellow, let it mellow.  If it's brown, flush it down."   The word on the street is that we'll have to continue for at least another week and possibly longer.

"Flood beards" like this are popping up all over town.