Still Lost

Dear Lost Writers,

You are my true Valentine and know the way to my heart. And to my friend Mark's heart (who is my new fave person to watch with, though he is leaving the country and the series is ending, better late than never, right?). Ladies, you might should listen to this one, Mark's heart is very much up for the grabbing!

Mark was, well you could say, pacified with the guyliner voyage on the Black Rock. The key to his heart=that silly ship.

I on the other hand have just been delivered my chocolate and roses as well. People.com reports that Lost producers have previously confirmed Elizabeth Mitchell will pop up again before the series ends.

Just when I thought you were going to leave me hanging. That you would never answer all of my questions in time, the way you show absolutely nothing in "next week's preview", while tearing me up to bagpiping Amazing Grace. You thought if I was crying I wouldn't notice the lack of new information you were shedding light on. But you are on to something. The chance of a "and then Sawyer and Juliette met in the sideways life, and lived happily ever after" was worth me giving the last 6 years of my life and potential at missing the Heels last game of the season. I got lucky. Games go into overtime and JJ Abrams pulled through once again. (I'm just going to give him the credit now in case this ends ugly).

Love you Lost. Miss you already.

Missing you like the Heels missed the tourney. But as a wise friend recently reminded me "Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending."

Loving Jesus means never having to check into rehab.....

So there are so many things I want to blog about. But life is sweeping me away at the moment, however, I just had to jump on. In honor of Holy week. and give a shout out to the Big guy. And you knew it would come back to Tiger. OR Jesse. OR whoever is going to rehab today. For the love, just confess you are sinful! Confess you are broken. To the Lord, not to me, though you know I love to hear every word they say, a sorta dreamer paparazzi wannabe.

Ok ok ok, I will start over. Like *most* things in life, there is a time and place for everything, including rehab...don't we all need it in one area or another? And hats off to people who need help and get it. I loooove me some time with a paid professional who can point out good, hard truths. Sometimes Mac will even do this for free. Aren't I lucky? BUT, I hate a cop out. so much that i don't even know if that's how you spell it. I'm not one to judge motives and talk about it on an open forum (and try not to behind any backs! yikes!), but pah-lease. You are not a sex addict. You just thought you could get away with it. I'm sure you are sorry....that you got caught! But for real. All your money in your fancy rehab won't cure your heart. Perhaps it will go far for your image. There's a chance it might go somewhere with your wife. But your heart needs saving. It needs something, even on your best day. And that's why we have Easter. You can work your whole life to be a good person and do good things. But you'll die trying, losing in comparison, to the one who lived life perfect.

At a wedding a few weeks ago the minister reminded us of a great truth. And I just keep repeating it to anyone that will listen. God did not create marriage to make us happy, but to make us holy. And His grace is enough to redeem us everyday. And we'll need it. Don't run away from your issues. Run to someone who can save you despite them.

Off the soapbox.....on to the pastel candy. I really do love this time of year.

Third Final Four in a Row!*

As long as you include the asterisk, couldn't be closer to my version of the truth.

TAAAAAAARRRRRRR..............(don't leave me hanging!)

Gives you chills doesn't it?

And now we can all giggle that the Final Four games are played on a Tuesday night. Really randy randar? You think I'm going to watch this instead of the 7th to last episode of Lost? Hmmm. Then you might have seen last night's episode and realize that NOTHING HAPPENED! Oh mister NIT commissioner, you are on to something. But go ahead and do me the favor of letting the Heels play in the 7 pm game. Just in case they explain the polar bears.

My sis thinks this could lead to one of those occasions you share with the grandkids...remember where you were when JFK was shot? The challenger blew up? Your team played for the NIT Championship? Big events. Often lead to onions.

Always a fan, just not always watching. Here's to hoping we end out the season as good ole 65.

A little game

Mac doesn't like it when I use girl adjectives. So I am not referring to his play-off basketball game this eve. The one I'm missing Lost to cheer on. I am however referring to a little real estate matchy match that I would like to play with you! You see. Every once in a while we speak of reproducing. Then we remember this.

Yes. That's right. Mac is feeding Baby Brennan. Without moving.

Sigh.

So while we are not expecting a child. We do realize we can't live in a one bedroom condo forever. And we (read me) LOVE our neighborhood. So on special Sundays. When the mood is right. We stop by neighborhood open houses. This weekend, the joke was on us (faded purple carpets, sinking hardwood floors, all around yuck). And so I hope to pass the joke along to you. Please match the pictures with the corresponding prices. And if you are brave you can pick which one we stopped by.













(3 bedroom condo in this building)



a. $7.12 Million. Like with loooots of 0s. $7,120,000.

b. $779,000. Still a 7, Less 0s.

c. $2,850,000

d. $1,195,000

Maybe this is only a fun game for me? The way that March Madness is now only fun for Mac :(

And this one, sadly is not in our neighborhood, but it sure does yell "GOOD TIMES!" for the asking price of $659,000.


If this blog thing doesn't take off soon I'm moving on to real estate.

Recognizing Yourself

So recently I haven't been able to recognize myself. And no I'm not referring to that extra softness that I've acquired from being so in love.....with thepioneerwoman.com. I've been a little less than faithful to my true love. And again I'm not referring to missing quiet times. Because that's a whole book of mess in and of itself. You see. I feel stuck. For the last 7 years I've headed up a March Madness bracket/pool/mania. It's been life changing. Mac used to joke that people should date a full year before they are married. So you can see each other through every season. He was referring to his need to see me during March. I LOVE MARCH. In fact if I think hard Mac broke up with me the second week in April. Perhaps my March-self makes people wonder. But I love myself in March. I love forcing my family to join a bracket and not even caring if I have to pay their buy-in. I love researching on ESPN and then CBS and then googling the odds only to find out that my company blocks that site. Every year. Every company.

That brings us to today. The first evening of the ACC tourney. The hope I feel comes close to the hope I felt on election day. (I love me some political jabs!) But seriously. I am taken back to yesteryear when I burned my Georgetown tee as they beat my Heels in the Dean Dome in the NIT!!!!!! This year I am giving my arm, leg, and most of my weekends to Georgetown. And yet my heart feels the loss and hurt of 2006. Ok not really, but that was really dramatic, eh? (did I mention I'm going to Canada, eh?)

So I have to poll. Do I even bother creating a pool? Will the 20 out of 25 people that usually pick UNC for that middle spot still try to get the computer to pick OUR team? Will Carolina pull the biggest upset in tourney history? Will they be the Cinderella at the dance? Or next week will I post pics from April 6, 2009?

I guess that's why you get married. Gig'em Aggies? My heart can only take so much.

Will you join my pool? OR should I try to fall asleep. And just wake up for my birthday.

**The picture above is full of great irony. The road did in fact end 4 hours after it was taken. And it might in fact end again 4 hours after I post this post"

Comfortable

So as I've hinted. I hate change. And I LOVE being "home". My mom used to joke that when I was little (perhaps 15) I used to assure her that I was going to live with her when I grew up. I was never leaving. She usually tells me this in a "and now you live so far away" tone. But I try to let it slide. Sprinkles is coming to Washington, DC. And I'm going to be here!

The ladies at the Starbucks across the street from my work know me. Not because I can afford a coffee every day. But bc I walk over with my colleagues. For the sole reason that I like to be known. I like to have my Starbucks home.....which is MUCH better than the "inefficient Starbucks" near my real home. And it's the same with the ladies at Wachovia. Who knows if Wachovia is even the best bank? Let's just say they've had a rough couple of years. But the ladies there know me. And I would recommend them to anyone.

So it wouldn't surprise you if I showed you a picture of my 8 best friends in high school. (yes, I acknowledge that one is missing...she was too cool..jk) And my 8 college roommates (from senior year)














Both groups=8 girls. Both groups= about to all be married off this calendar year. Both groups=only 1 girl has kids. Both of those who have 1 kids =have 2 kids. I'm quirky. Probably more than odd that I even noticed all of these parallels. But lucky to feel so loved? Change is hard. But growing families lended room for my perfect husband. And growing older has brought with it the most comfortable friends.




So the moral of the story is................................



CLAIRE GOT ENGAGED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (clearly I was going to find a way to make the entire post mostly about me) Claire is very home to me. And I've been waiting for this day my whole life. (Sounds dramatic. But so true.)

Almost Famous

I hope that you as the reader realize that you have as much invested in my fame as I do. (Here's to hoping that if my husband ever finds his way to this post that he can just smile and shake his head.)

My old cubemate Kaci, (I don't think she reads this blog, but I like to pretend everyone does), and I are trying to sell the idea of us as a reality show. We spend most of our convos selling the idea to ourselves, but for the record, we're in. I deferred to her last night that people would much prefer to watch her life over mine (she went on a first date to pick up Brazilian turtles from the UPS warehouse...I can't compete with that!). But for those of you who are questioning. My work life=endless hours of fun. For the viewing audience that is. One day. Until then, I'll just have to brush up next to fame.

You see, my bestie. She had a baby. Didn't name her for days!!!! And when she did, she named her Benjamin Bundchen Brady. Ok, she actually named her Gentry Elizabeth Wilson. But you see what I mean? So famous!




And my sister. She doesn't even cut her son's hair. I told her. Don't. SJP and Kate Hudson never did. (well for the record they both eventually did, but we're talking years into life, maybe 4.)We will call him Blake Wilkie. I like it. Ryder Blake? So famous!



I am SO famous. Or at least SO close.

New Camera (if you call it new, "they" don't expect you to know how to use it)

So right around our first anniversary we decided to invest in a camera. (if you call something an investment, "they" don't question the cost) We thought that it might be money better spent when the time came to have kids. But then decided that our life pre-kids was worth capturing as well. (Have I blogged this before or am I just so used to justification that it sounds routine? )Though we've been given numerous tips by all of our famous photographer friends, now over a year into photography we are still quite the novices. We don't have our hands on photoshop of any sorts, but sometimes you don't need editing you just need speed. I can't say that we always get "the picture", but so far we like the look of the world through our lil lense.

A precursor to "the picture"....our picture :)

Magic

Not sure what inspired this post. I realize I am way behind in posting about life events. Or perhaps I should say I started taking classes on the weekends and my adventures are less picture worthy. But I can post a few to make up for lost times. Perhaps what I'm really thinking as I post. Is that you can't stop change. Life happens. Every second. There's no pause. But not all change is bad. Growing families that barely all fit in one frame. It's a good change. Even with all the chaos that comes with it. I wouldn't trade it for a thing.

Welcome to the Magical World of Disney! (for the record we did not color coordinate the red and green to match the times.)

The Originals! (plus 1)


Because it was almost Christmas


The Obligatory Castle Pic


The Christmas Card...not ours, but my parents...one day we will catch on

mind of my own

Don't judge. Mac went to the movies. If I hadn't made them. I would have just been bored. Ok, that's not true. I made them at 10 pm after getting home from class and then came home for my Saturday lunch break and kept on keeping on. I've decided to try to jam as much into life as I can. Even if that includes cupcakes that make my husband feel 2. I'm up for any challenge. Just tell me what kind of cupcake you want. And then I'll help you create a theme around the cupcake. Sounds backwards. But it's fun! Especially when you've been practicing bowling on the Wii.