And So It Begins

Wedding Season, that is. We are at the age where just about all of our friends are getting engaged or married, which means we have lots of celebrating to do. And gift-buying, and check-writing, and bridal party gear purchasing...but that's all part of the fun :)

We have three weddings to attend in the next two months, and the first is tonight. Our friends Anthony and Erica are tying the knot here in Springfield, so we don't have to travel far. Bonus! Actually, only one of the three weddings this summer is out of town, and even then, it's less than two hours away. We'll save the real traveling for January, when we go to New Jersey/New York for Dustin and Kristin's nuptials.

All of these weddings bring back fond memories of ours, which - unbelievably - was almost an entire year ago. It was the most perfect day ever, and I was telling Zach last night that I wish we could do it all over again, just once. Not all of the planning and hard work, of course; just the day itself. Everything was perfect and beautiful and fun. But I'll save the real reminiscing until August.

Anyway, we're excited about the first wedding of the summer. A great excuse to get dressed up, have a few glasses of wine, and remind ourselves that we've been there, done that.

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Dad's Day

Happy Father's Day! This is my dad and I. We spent the afternoon and evening together, and I got to eat his delicious spaghetti :) I am so lucky to have an amazing dad, stepdad, and father-in-law. Hope your Father's Day was spectacular.

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Engaged!

This is my little brother Josh and his FIANCEE, Jeni. They just got engaged during a trip to South Carolina (where they are moving next week) and this is their official engagement photo. I kid, I kid...they are two beautiful people, as displayed below:

Jeni just received her bachelors degree in nursing from Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville.

Josh completed his bachelors degree in psychology at University of Illinois in Springfield.

They are moving to Columbia, South Carolina next week, where Josh is entering the graduate program in criminology at USC and Jeni will begin her nursing career. Exciting stuff! My mom is throwing an engagement/going-away party for them this weekend; one last party before the BIG party...the WEDDING! One of the eight that Zach and I will be attending in the next year or so. And those are just the ones we know about already. Good thing we both love celebrating the nuptials of our friends and families :)

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Ballers

I think Sadie has more skillz than me on the basketball court.

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Carnegie Hall

Been there, done that. No, seriously! Even though we were among a hundred other people, my mom and I sang on the Carnegie Hall stage in June of 2004 (almost exactly five years ago). We were invited by a choir director whose church choir was participating in the concert, which featured the music of Morten Lauridsen. It was pretty awesome.

The view from the balcony, where my stepdad was taking pictures. Can you spot us?
Clue: we're the ones in black.

Theeeeeere we are!!

How did we get to Carnegie Hall? Well we definitely didn't "practice, practice, practice." I think we'd looked through the music a total of 2 times before arriving in NYC and attending the few rehearsals for the performance, but somehow we pulled it off. Next time I'll try to be a little better prepared ;)

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How Come I Wasn't Invited?

How dare Kelly, Katy, and Rihanna hang out in Barbados without me!

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Puppy Tricks

Zach and I had nothing better to do tonight than to make videos of our most adorable puppy. These will be fun to look back upon when she's full-grown (and no longer a threat to every piece of furniture, clothing, and human limb in our house).

She's got the "sit" thing down, but we're still working on everything else.


Sadie went surfing on some magazines.

Before our impromptu video shoot, I literally spent all day in my office creating two new sets of iPod Bingo games for my students. This meant making twelve unique cards for each set, and editing and creating 48 thirty-second song and sound clips. Talk about tedious work. I still have a lot to do tomorrow, since it's my last full day to prepare for the start of summer lessons and music therapy on MONDAY. Where has the last week and a half gone?

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This Week in Pictures

I haven't posted in a while, which shames me to no end :( Well, ok...not really, considering the busy week I've had and the fact that I've been celebrating SUMMER VACATION. So let me fill you in on what I've been up to of late:

As previously mentioned, my brother and I treated our dad to a Cardinals game in St. Louis. We had great seats and an awesome time. The best part was when my dad totally called Pujols' home run. Cards won that one :)

The very next day, I celebrated my 26th birthday at The Corkscrew, where we ate, drank wine, and I opened lots of wonderful presents from my wonderful family and friends.

The next day, I watched as Zach subjected our nephew, Mason to his worst nightmare...Sadie. Actually, Sadie and Mason ended up getting along pretty well, just not at first. This picture is a classic.

So those are the latest happenings in my life. Otherwise, I've been spending far too much time in my office prepping for the start of summer lessons and music therapy (next Monday!) and letting the puppy out every hour or so. I'm determined for her to have no accidents on my watch. So far, so good, except once; my mom stopped by to play with Sadie, and she got a little too excited all over the carpet.

Now it's couch time, which I look forward to every night. I have shows to watch, people!

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