Oh the holidays!

The holidays have been exciting, that's for sure! They began by going to West Virginia with Mike. We stopped at his parents house and spent a few days with them. We then continued the trip up to PA where we spent Christmas with my family. The day after Christmas, my mum and sister and I all went to Richmond, VA to prepare for Krys's wedding! Things went by very quickly that week. We were blessed by being able to stay with our second cousins Barbara and Buddy. We had a blast staying with them last week. The rest of the family arrived at various times Thursday and Friday. The pre-show went really well. Everything went fairly smoothly, their photographer even showed! Saturday was an almost stress-free day of beautifying for Krys and myself. The wedding was beautiful! Krys and David are now married! New Year's Eve was a wonderful celebration of my dear grandfather's life. He died last New Year's Eve. Then off to Germany I flew, along with my mother. John and Charity had their baby on the 18th of December. Eric Stephen is his name. He currently has the hiccups! He is very precious! John and Charity are good parents. Soon, much sooner than I would like, I will fly out of Germany to return to the everyday life of the wonders of graduate school, which begin the day after I return to Memphis. Whew. There's my life. Enjoy.

Going to Grandma's and I'm taking

Hello hello. I want to give you all (all 2 of you) an update on what is going on here in the lovely city of Memphis. Well, I guess not really all of Memphis, more like the life of, well, me! Mike and I have moved out of the Ghetto and into a nicer neighborhood...in the meantime we are paying on 2 rents so if you would like to contribute to the "Help Mike and Mary pay their 2 rent fund" please feel free. Our new place is nice. It's a longer drive to work, church, work, sister's...but that's fine. I like the drive most of the time. It's peaceful.
Mike and I leave today to go to Grandma Thomas' house in Cleveland, TN. We are stopping at my dear friend Jennifer's house (I guess Chad's too!) It'll be nice to get away for the weekend. I know grandma is looking forward to us coming!
It has been wickedly hot here recently...Like 105 in the shade. Yes! I leave for PA soon. I will be working a week at the best camp ever (Manatawny) Please feel free to write me while I am there (August 5-12.)
School starts soon. I'm not registered for any classes yet because I can't register yet...does that seem strange to anyone else? It's about a month away until classes begin. Shouldn't I be reading things already?
Well, that's about all for now. I just wanted to give a little update.
Peace!

Do you like Bran Muffins?

Go back with me a minute, back to your college days. Some of you will have to think longer than others but that's ok, give it time, you'll remember. I don't know about you but I frequently pulled all nighters. I pretty sure the majority of my time during my Jr. and Sr. years at college were spent awake. I'm not sure how I functioned. That may be the explanation for my behaviour. Not saying it was bad, but just a bit on the strange side. Now those of you that know me now, and not back in college are probably thinking, "wait, you're strange now and you do sleep!" Well, I am here to tell you that I was stranger in college. Now I have to say, I had the best roommates all through college...but the ones I will talk about today are near and dear to my heart and just as strange, if not more so, than me.
How many of you like muffins? I do. How many of you like talking muffins? You will after you see this. My roommates and I stayed up all night watching these guys over and over again. They were hilarious. Now looking back on them and watching them again, its still wicked funny! Maybe just the memories, but I think they are funny. Especially the tree one. Check it out for yourself...let me know what you think. www.muffinfilms.com

Raspberry Koolaid

You Are Fish

You have a well formed palate and a daring appetite. If it's served to you, you'll at least try it.People are pretty scared of your exotic ways. But once they get a taste of you, they're addicted!

What Kind of Meat Are You?

So friends...I am fish. Not fishy. Fish.

Next...I always wonder if my major in college should have been psychology and guess what? I found a quiz to see what I should major in and here are my results....

Your Scholastic Strength Is Innovating

You are the master of new ideas, techniques, and ways of looking at things.You are talented at structuring thoughts, decision making, clarifying, and making deadlines. You should major in: MarketingPsychologyDesginCognitive Science EconomicsPhotography

What Should You Major In?

Now I'm sure the next question going through your head is..."well, she's a fish and obviously her major was supposed to be psychology but what in the world is her French name?!" Well, I will put your mind at ease. My French name is as follows:

Your French Name is:

Bernadette Vigne

What's" Your French Name?

Don't give up now...the number one question is going to be answered....I know you all are wondering what kind of summer ride I am...and the answer is....don't hold your breath...but I love the one that was chosen for me!!! It is.....

Your Summer Ride is a Beetle Convertible

Fun, funky, and a little bit euro.You love your summers to be full of style and sun!

What's" Your Summer Ride?

And that's all folks! Maybe I'll do more later. It's pretty entertaining. Come again!

Eat Flowers!

Isn't it nice to have friends that will eat flowers with you? This is a picture of me and my friend Chelle at my wedding. Sometimes you just have to entertain yourself. It has taken me a long time to realize that people won't always get up and juggle for you on demand. Ok, so I never really thought that, but people do amuse me most of the time. The black and white picture is of my darling friend Julie and my brother William. Don't they look cute? No, they aren't dating...just long time friends from our days in PA. The other picture is of my wonderful husband Mike who likes to eat. I don't know what it is about a man and his meat and taters but I am learning not to mess with it! However I am learning to cook. Thank goodness! For a while there I thought we were going to live the rest of our lives on pasta and chicken! I actually made stew and homemade rolls the other day! Talk about domesticated! They weren't horrible. Anyway, life is good. I love Mike. He is good to me and amuses me. Peace!

Welcome. It has only been 2 months since the last time I have graced all of you with my writing. In case you were wondering, the lovely people behind the flowers would be my new husband Mike and me! We got married March 11 and everything went wonderfully! Everything except for maybe one mishap. Our photographer. That's right. Our photographer failed to show up to our lovely wedding. It is very sad when you plan and plan for the most beautiful day of your life. You spend gobs of money and look beauitful. Then all you want in return is some documentation of this event. Anyway, he didn't come. I haven't heard anything from him. HOWEVER, my parents were professional wedding photographers in their former life and so they both stepped up and did our wedding pictures. It was a beautiful day! I am now very happily married. And hey, maybe I will blog more often! We'll see. In the meantime keep checking!

A Liger

Let's talk about arranged marriages for a bit. As many of you know, I am getting married March 11. No, it is not an arranged marriage. However, I would not have opposed to an arranged marriage had my parents thought it was a good idea. There are many perks to an arranged marriage. (By the way, for all of you who want to just find the negative aspects of an arranged marriage, take it somewhere else. I don't want to hear it. This isn't meant to be filled with fact, just opinion.)
Now, don't get me wrong, I wouldn't have just my parents doing this arranging. I would have other people included, like my best friend, and/or my sister. I would trust these people enough to realize that they would want the best for me and would find someone good for me. And if you want to be one of those people who marry into money and eat sushi the rest of your life, just make sure your sister knows and she can make it happen.
Perks --1. You don't have to worry about any of the pressures of dating. Granted, I didn't do much dating but wouldn't it be nice if the first person you ever dated was the person you were going to marry? You ask, "How do you know what you would like if you don't date around?" Well, my friends, believe it or not, but you are going to marry your friend. Hopefully. I am. So if you find the types of things that you enjoy about your friends in this arranged person then you shouldn't have the need to date around. Note: I do not condemn anyone that does date around, I find it amusing, dating...not you. 2. You could begin planning your wedding from the moment you wanted to start planning it. You would already know who you were going to marry so you could, if you wanted to be, one of those people that begin planning for their wedding years in advance and can actually order their bridesmaids dresses two years prior to the occasion.
3. If you got mad at your husband you could just blame it on your parents or your sister. Yes, this would be very irresponsible of you but also, quit amusing.
4. Well, I currently don't have a four. But if you can think of any positive things about having an arranged marriage, let me know.

And I really am quite happy with my arranged marriage. Well, the arrangement of my marriage. He is a wonderful man and I love him a wicked whole lot.
Peace! Ciao!