end of another weekend

Well it's Sunday evening, the end of yet another weekend. But what a fun weekend! Got to hang out with friends and laugh about old times. Mal and I had a slumber party in my living room, it was nice to have a roommate again for a couple days. It's hard to believe tomorrow is October already. Time is FLYING by before the wedding. I'm loving the fall weather and the leaves are falling and and I love it all! Fall is my favorite season. It's the season when God really opens my eyes to the beauty of nature and all the beautiful work He does.

Well, nothing else to really write about, tomorrow starts another busy week with school and work.

"I love inside jokes, love to be a part of one someday"-Michael Scott

So Thursday night was the season 4 premier of The Office...so exciting. I've become quite obsessed with this show and I'm proud to say I own all 3 seasons. I'm pretty convinced this show could not be NOT funny.

NOTE: FOR ALL THOSE WHO WATCH THE OFFICE AND HAVE NOT SEEN THE FIRST EPISODE OF SEASON 4, DO NOT READ THE NEXT PART

My dream has come true, Jim and Pam are officially dating! That was wonderful news.

In other news, Mallory and Matt (Egypt) are here in Charleston for the weekend so I have a roommate again temporarily for the weekend! I think we're heading to Tuscola for the weekend for a little Old Navy/Gap outlet action. Poor Brent has a weekend class this weekend, that's a bummer. Well, you all stay safe this weekend...enjoy the weather!

Meet Miss Blackberry

Well, I did it. I bought a Blackberry. Not a new one, an older version, but still new to me and I'm excited about it. So now I just wait impatiently for it to arrive in the mail!!

Should I?

So I reeeeally want a new phone. My current phone is pictured below and I get bored with phones in less than 2 years so I always want a new one before my contract is up. So I've been looking on ebay for new PDA phones and my personal favorite is the motorola q in silver. There's one going for $150 right now and it's up in about an hour. I don't know what I should do! I know I don't need to be buying a new phone right now with everything I have to get for the wedding but sometimes I get really selfish and I just want something new for myself. Anyway, I'll let you know if I end up getting a new cellular.

Some great alternatives

I've always been a food lover. And probably always will be. It's a struggle for me to eat healthy, but Kashi has been very helpful. I love everything I've ever eaten by Kashi: blueberry waffles, cookies, granola bars, cereal. They are healthy and taste delic. I'm very impressed with their products. Im also very excited about all of the dark chocolate products on the market. Snickers dark chocolate, MilkyWay Midnight, Dove dark chocolate, M &M's have gone dark. I love that when I eat a piece of dark chocolate, I feel like I'm eating chocolate that's good for me. These are just a couple alternatives to food that I love to eat. Check out: http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20030827/dark-chocolate-is-healthy-chocolate to read about how dark chocolate is healthy for you.

On the wedding front: nothing new to tell really. Still enjoying the engagement pictures and trying to narrow them down. We're using the engagement pictures as part of the guest book. We're using a black spiral bound scrapbook with black pages. Then we're putting a picture in various places on the pages (one picture per page spread). The guests will sign on the pages next to the pictures. This way we get to keep the engagement pictures in a place and it will be more fun to read who was there and what they wrote.

Well I've got things to get done...go enjoy some Kashi and dark chocolate!

Back and Forth

Alright, I'm back to this blog because as it turns out, I jumped the gun on WordPress and it really actually sucks a lot. So I'm sticking with this one for the time being. Sorry guys, like I said, I've never been a "blogger" before.

Anyway, so engagement pictures are up. I'll put again how you can see them if you'd like. Go to http://www.lifestorygallery.com,/ click on "client proofs", click on amy + brent, and the password is harhausen

I couldn't get any of the pictures to post on here because they are all copyrighted, but I did manage to snag one, luckily it happens to be one of my favorites. Well that's about all I've got for right now. Brent and I (well mostly I) have been working on putting addresses on labels for the outside invitation envelopes. The hard part will be the inside envelopes that we're going to print off individually with people's names on them. That'll be fun. And we have about a month until we're sending them out. This wedding is really sneaking up on me! I don't feel even remotely ready. I guess that's why I still have 2.5 months to keep planning and praying!

Physically Exhasted

This weekend really took it out of me. After working all day Friday and Saturday, and then going to the Cardinals game Sunday night (they won! last home game of the season) which was well worth being up until 2a.m. But this morning when I had to wake up at 7:30 to get ready for my Practicum today I was feeling pretty exhasted.

But back to the Cardinals game last night. I went with Brent, his sister and their dad. We had a blast and the Cardinals pulled out a win in the last inning. But the cool part about the game was that we were playing the Houston Astros and it was Craig Biggio's last game at Busch Stadium (he's retiring after this season...he's a really good player for the Astros). So when he came up for his last at bat, everybody stood up and cheered for him in the stadium. Now that's what I call classy fans. Not like these silly Cubs fans who only know how to boo players. Pictured here is one of the stars from last night, my favorite Albert Pujols!

Also, lately I've been reallly inspired by the story of Bono from U2. I won't go into a lot of detail but he's a pretty amazing Christian leader. If you ever have time check out what he is up to with his ONE campaign. I love how he has all this money that he could give to some charity and be done with it, but that isn't what he does. He actually HELPS these people in need. He isn't okay with just sitting around doing nothing as a Christian. He is following God's call to help "the least of these." So not just because I'm a big Bono fan, but also because I enjoy U2's music, I think I decided I want to incorporate the song "Beautiful Day" in the wedding. Possibly for the Recessional music when Brent and I walk back up the isle. Anyway, just thought I would share that with you.

I have to get to my Practicum class, then it's back to my apartment to CRASH and sleep for a while.

Busy Little Bee

So it's been a pretty busy weekend so far. I had to work 3-10 last night and 10:30-7 today. And for some reason after work I had the urge to hit the gym. Which is pretty deserted on a Saturday night to say the least. So it's been a lot of Wal-Mart and not a lot of rest, but I guess it will all be worth it when the paycheck gets here :)
Mattoon is FINALLY getting a Buffalo Wild Wings! yay! Right across the street from Wal-Mart. I've thought about applying there. I feel like it would be great to get to bring money home every night after I work. But we'll see. I don't know if I'm cut out for the waitressing-biz.

And lastly, still no engagement pictures :( And trust me, I check every time I'm at a computer. So disappointing.

Apartment living

I've had a pretty bad attitude about where we're going to be living when we get married since day one. Mostly because of the size of the apartment and the fact that we'll be in Charleston for at least a year. I've been praying that God would change my attitude and it's slow going but I think I'm coming around. We haven't found out for sure yet, but we've put in the application and deposit to live in University Apartments/Married-Student Housing. The exterior is pretty bad but the interior is what really makes my heart sad. The kitchen (which, considering I'll be a Home Ec teacher if I ever get out of here, will probably be my favorite part of the home) is approximately the size of a ridiculously small bathroom.

Anyway, it's all we'll be able to afford since we'll both be in school when we get married so I guess I should get used to it. I look forward to the day when I can have a backyard, but even more than that-a PET. It kills me to not be able to have a dog or cat. Above is my wonderful cat Milo who a rarely get to see and when I do, he gets a lot of my love (most of which he probably hates, he is a pretty typical cat...but he's cute). Not pictured in this post but maybe he'll make the next one is my dog Max, he's a Golden Retriever so he's must better at receiving and giving love, not like Milo.

On another negative note-it has been 6 weeks today and I still have not seen our lovely engagement pictures. This is about to turn me into a bridezilla. I guess I need to start praying for a better attitude in a lot of areas of my life. This wedding planning processes being one of them. I guess I'll end this post with a Bible verse and also a song you've got to listen to: "Bubbly" by Colbie Caillat. It's fabulous.

"trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take."--proverbs 3:5-6

New to this

So I've never been a "blogger" before. This is a new world to me. My life is far from interesting, although at the moment it is quite crazy. I am getting married on Decemeber 15th, so the basis of this blog is probably going to be about the ridiculous planning process. Much appreciation goes out to those who enjoy planning weddings even after they have planned one of their own (my friend Sarah W.-good for you!)

Things are coming along, still a lot of little things and lose ends to tie up but I'm feeling good about everything. Right now the big project is the slideshow during the ceremony. Brent and I have been walking down memory lane with all these baby books the past couple weeks. There are so many pictures!! My only complaint at this point are our engagement pictures. We got them taken August 10th, which will be 6 weeks ago this Friday. I was told we would be able to view them online 3-4 weeks after, so I'm getting a little impatient (to say the least). I do love our photographer though, and I know the pictures will look fabulous, I just wish I could enjoy them before all the wedding photos start coming in.

Anyway, things could be a lot worse and I'm very blessed (although I usually don't sound like it) to be working at Wal-Mart because they have been great to work around my hectic schedule of classes and taking off many many weekends.

I don't have many pictures to post to show the process of the wedding planning, but here is one of my bridesmaid dress. I wish the model was not so ghostly white and that you could see the detail more, but there are some sparkly details at the top. I love it and I think it will look great on my sister-in-law Mary who will be approximately 7.5 months pregnant with grandbaby number 4 for my family!