Chap's First Post!

(Chap's mom asked about his 'quirks' as well, so here they are! He typed this himself...impressive...and sent it to me to post since he's still working that kink out.)

Chap’s Quirks:
1. Super slow typer. That's right, slowest typer this side of the Mississippi, right here.

2. Can't wear something brand new, ever. Hate the smell of it. I feel itchy just thinking about. DON'T TRY IT!! Heather tries to get sneaky and febreeze stuff and throw it in the dryer then give it to me, stop it. I KNOW.

3. Dirty Hands. If my hands get anything on them they must be washed immediately. Usually this happens after eating. If there is something sticky on my hands you can forget it, there better be a wet-one or something, if not, you are about to witness a full on grown man freak out.

4. Losing. Worst loser of all time. Most can attest to this. But what you don't know is how much of the hate, disgust and evil that I suppress that you don't even know about. I scare myself at times, PSYCHO!

5. A dirty table. OK this has some disclaimers in it. First of all I am no where near a neat freak, and not all tables. Only shiny ones, like really nice finished ones. This kind of spurs from my love of nice woodworking. I have to get on my hands and knees, close one eye, and I search for imperfections such as fingerprints, jelly (Heather), smudges, just schmukus in general.

5 1/2. Typing. I know that I said this one already but seriously it’s painful!

6. Flat Drinks. I can trace this back to childhood. My dad was/still possessed with pouring Coke into a glass of ice. If you have the perfect angle, the perfect ice placement you can experience this life changing experience of refreshment. In the years that have passed the quirk has graduated to bottles. People should be more careful. They swing their bottles around all fancy crazy and unaware of the fizz repercussions. Shame on you carbonation killer!

Tagging Fun!

I've been tagged by my friend Jenn!

"Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours. Tag 6 more bloggers by linking them. Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger's blogs letting them know they've been tagged."

1. I am obsessed with pregnant people, have been since I was little. They fascinate me for some reason, I can’t help but stare. I am in heaven right now having two of my best friends pregnant, they let me stare AND they let me ask tons of questions!!

2.I am lyrically challenged. I love songs and music, but unfortunately don’t know the words to many…instead I make them up! This quirk is quite amusing for my husband who is musically and vocally talented. He loves to get me singing in the car, and suddenly turn the volume down so he can hear the wrong words I make up more clearly. My friend Shelly busted me a couple years ago on a Prince song.

Instead of “She wore a Raspberry beret. The kind you find in a second hand store “I sang: “She wore a red, spiritual dress…the kind you buy at a second hand store”.

Another bust by Shelly was on theme song of “Saved by the Bell’…Instead of: “If I could hand it in tomorrow it’ll be alright”.I sang: “If I could have her as a model it’ll be alright” (thought he was singing about Ms. Bliss)

3. I could eat Macaroni and Cheese morning, noon, and night! All day every day…Kraft Original is my favorite (the kind you can lick the powder cheese clean!) Easy Mac was my saving grace in the college dorms, best idea ever!

4. I have a fear of dehydration while I’m sleeping. I bring 1-2 glasses of water to bed every night, and since the sink is so far away sometimes it takes a while before they get cleaned. I currently have 6 glasses sitting on my night stand, and 2 on the dresser. All of them have a small amount of water in them. Chap used to nag me about it, but I think I’m wearing on him because he currently has 2 glasses of water on his nightstand!

5. I can type of the computer freakishly fast. People stop and stare when I start typing. My class thinks it’s weird, I blame/thank my mom. She used to be a court reporter. She would come home with all her audio tapes from trials and have to type them up. I used to sit and watch her for hours. When she would finally get off the computer, I would sit in her chair, turn on the television, and type conversations I would hear on TV (I wasn’t allowed to listen to her tapes, or I would have typed those!)

6. I am addicted to buying shampoo and conditioner. I LOVE trying new products; one of my favorite things to do is to shop at Walgreen’s and smell shampoos! Underneath my sink is full of shampoo and conditioner bottles, I often wonder how much money it's all worth?? So does Chap. =)

Is It Friday Yet??

While this weekend awesome, I feel like I need another two days to rest and recover!!

It started Friday, after school with going to the Carrie Underwood & Keith Urban concert in Charlotte!! Angela, a friend I teach with, got me and her 9 year old daughter, Ripley, concert tickets for Christmas!! We have been anticipating this for quite quite a while, and it was worth the wait!! I have always LOVED Carrie Underwood (voted a LOT that year of American Idol), and had originally been excited about the tickets just to see her, however, Keith Urban is definitely one of my new favorites! I am sad Chap couldn’t come with us because he would have been in ‘awe’ with his skills…wow (though I would MUCH rather hear Chap play and sing of course ;) We had a blast! Thank you so much for a GREAT gift and a wonderful night!!

Angela, Ripley, and me getting ready for the concert (yes, I did buy us all cowboy hats from Target!)

Ripley and I PATIENTLY waiting for Carrie!

My "Idol", Carrie!

My new boyfriend, Keith =)
This is Ripley after the concert...I think it sums up how we all felt =)

Saturday morning we traveled to Columbia for a wedding. Two very fun friends of ours got married and it was a GREAT celebration!! It was so great visiting with friends we haven’t seen in such a long time!! I miss you guys already! (Singing and dancing videos available upon request…=)
All the 'Mavericks' singing some Top Gun for Sarah...always entertaining =)

Sunday drove home from Columbia to meet Bailey, a past student of mine, and her family for her birthday lunch at Olive Garden…yummy!!! Bailey was in the second grade class I did my internship in, and then my fourth grade class 2 years later!! She is growing up so fast! She is almost in high school now and THAT makes me feel very old, especially now that I think she's more interested in Chap than she is me =)

So, that’s about it…now all week I'll get to catch up on chores, laundry, and homework that I missed this weekend. =) Is it Friday yet??

Spring Break 2008

My break has sadly come to an end. While there was some fun to be had such as:

First lake trip this season (thanks Mike, Shelly, and Todd!)
Three birthday parties (happy b-day Dad, Mimi, and Todd!)
Golfing with Chap
Shopping trip to Gaffney with mom (thanks mom!)
Anniversary date night with Chap
Lots of runs with Brodey

My biggest feat, however, was painting the house!! We’ve lived here for almost a year now and the white walls were starting to make me nauseous. This is the first chance I’ve had to do anything about it, so here it is! Sorry there are no ‘before’ pictures…I got a little eager and just started painting.

Credits:
All the nice men in the paint department at Home Depot…they never got tired of seeing me back in there when I ran out of paint (4 times!)
Chap: best edger ever (which is good, because I found out I was the worst!)
Clorox Wipes: to wipe away evidence of my mistakes =)

Anyway, several friends have asked, so here are some pictures! We still have several rooms to do and decor to purchase...but that will have to WAIT! I am over painting right now and so is my budget=)



formal dining room

downstairs bathroom

formal living room

upstairs guest bathroom (hooray for my new curtains, thanks Amber and Krissee...can't wait for you to see them in person!!)

THIS is Brodey, his contributions included getting in the trash and digging his nose around in the empty paint cans. He was in big trouble that day, you can tell when his ears go down that he's BUSTED!

Bag Tagged!

My friend, Jamie, ‘tagged’ me with my first tag…a bag tag!

Its been a while since I’ve cleaned out my purse…actually, I don’t think I really ever ‘clean it out’…I tend to just remove junk when it gets to full to make room for new junk =) It could have been worse though, once when I was ‘junk removing’, I found half eaten, opened pop tarts (talk about crumb city!) Anyway, here is my favorite purse that I got for my birthday (thank you Brittany!) I haven’t carried anything since, I love it!!

…and here are its contents:

Planner (tend to write in this 2 to 3 times a day, would be lost without)
Wallet (wish I had more to write about its contents!)
Popcorn (I have a fear that I might get somewhere and starve?? So I tend to carry around food in my purse…just in case)
Jolly Ranchers
Gum
Paint samples (tons actually, we just finished painting 4 rooms in the house…but I guess I could take them out now!)
Mints
Lotion (I wash my hands constantly so I have really dry hands, plus I like the way it smells =)
Hand sanitizer (safety first!)
Scotch Tape (I don’t really have an explanation for this??)
Face powder
2 Chap Sticks (one for me, one for Chap)
Sunglasses
5 pens: (not sure why so many??)
1 sharpie marker (teacher)
Earrings (thank goodness, I had been looking for them all weekend!)
Dog bones (promise, this isn’t one of my fearful starvation tactics, I really did have to deliver flyers to mailboxes a couple weeks ago and brought dog treats with to give to my furry friends that might have not been so happy to see me.)
Card (my grandma sent me an anniversary card this week that I liked so I put in my purse to look at every now and then.)
Post-Its (I leave reminders for myself everywhere...my steering wheel can get pretty full at times.)
Wipes (I am really good at getting anything I am eating on everything I am wearing. I blame it on hanging around fourth graders all day.)

While we’re sharing bags, I thought I would share this great beach/lake bag my mom got me this week from Banana Republic! It was on sale for $20 at the outlet and I really enjoy it!

Okay, so that's my 'bag tag'. Now, it's your turn. Here is what you do:

1. First take a picture of your bag (purse, diaper bag, briefcase) the one you use daily.

2. Then empty it out and take a picture of it's contents. No cleaning out first!! That's what makes this fun!

3. "Bag Tag" five people. If you read this, I tag you! (unless you're a guy of course...actually, if you are a guy and you've read this far, maybe you should post about your bag.)

Thank you!!!

Yesterday was mine and Chap’s two year anniversary. I still feel like I can’t say thank you enough to our supportive friends and amazing families who helped make our wedding the most special, and memorable day for us. Chap and I still talk about how overwhelmed we were with the generosity and sincerity that went into that day. We’re not sure we’ll ever be able to give back or show enough gratitude to those who participated, but we hope they know in their hearts how we feel, that day was so special because of their love. Neither of us is sure how we got so lucky to be so loved, but we are very grateful!

Chap, thank you for the past two years. I feel like I’ve already grown so much in our marriage. Thank you for making me laugh every day, for making me feel important and appreciated, and for making me comfortable and happy to be the person I am.

Our parents continue to give, for our anniversary they gave us a gift that will last forever, and we can’t thank you enough! Our pictures remind us of how wonderful and fun that day was for us and now thanks to you we are able to re-live it whenever we want for the rest of our lives!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

My beautiful, fun, and supportive bridesmaids. Thank you so much girls, you know I couldn't have done it without you!!

Chap and his fun, supportive groomsmen. They are great!

My sweet and beautiful class that came to my wedding, it was so special walking down the aisle to see their smiling faces waving.

Dancing with my dad, this piture sums up how we felt! We had to laugh a lot to keep from crying, I love my dad!

Chap and his sweet mom dancing, thank you for all you do Marilyn!

Normie, my brother, and my best friend's husband (Scott) played our first dance, 'Crazy Love'.

So happy!

Going to St. Lucia, the best place on earth (oh, how I wish I was there now!!!)

Dad's Birthday

This weekend, we went home to Greenville for my dad’s 58th birthday. We always have so much fun when we go home, there’s always some sort of game that takes place…basketball, corn hole, baseball, Frisbee, cards, or Monopoly (Gourley’s like games!) My dad, who I swear gets younger each year, got a new bicycle for his birthday! I don’t know a great deal about bikes, I just know he was almost as excited about this bike as he was when he got his Harley a couple years ago! (Which is great, b/c this bike looks a little safer than the Harley!)

Thanks so much for the GREAT day, we love you guys so much! Dad, I hope you have a wonderful year! You give all you have to your family, you are such a great example and I look up to you in so many ways. We are so grateful to have such an amazing man to call our DAD. Happy Birthday!

Dad and his new bike!

Gourley game face!

The outfielder got a little tired, had to drink laying down.

Playing PIG (I beat Chap!)

Thumb's up! (A Gourley Tradition)

Brodey the Bandit

I think our dog might have a compulsive stealing problem and I’m not sure how to fix it! Even though he wears an electric shock collar in which the perimeter is set for him not to go out of our yard (which includes him riding in the car out of the driveway, I learned this the hard way)…he still manages to sneak over to our next door neighbor’s garage to shop through their toy chest. The most expensive steal was an official NFL football we found one day, mulled in our garage. I am sure this was exciting from Brodey, since Chap and my brother love to play “Monkey in the Middle” with him using a football similar to this as bait.

Well, Friday we found a huge, bright orange Frisbee discreetly hidden (as discreetly as a huge, bright orange Frisbee can be) in our flower beds. After investigating, we found that Brodey had already enjoyed the Frisbee…a lot! Chap decided at that point, there wasn’t much harm for Brodey to finish if off and purchase another for our sweet neighbors, Claire and Caroline. I guess we are going to have to set that electric shock from medium to HIGH! Hopefully, these are the last pictures of Brodey and his bandit habits! Even though he’s a thief, he’s still pretty cute.

( I wonder if that’s how parents feel about their children that are in prison for stealing??)

Chap giving in and playing with the evidence.

Brodey loving his new steal!

Frisbee's last hoorah (you can see it falling apart).

Brodey literally gets so tired after playing, he can fall asleep standing up.