AUGUST 15-17

What is everyone doing August 15-17?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

I'm not sure when Ivy starts school, but I thought it might be nice to get everyone back together in Austin before she sells her soul. Ed and I will have moved in to our new place by then, and he wants to take a solo vacay to get some writing done (aka, April is kicking him out :)) SO! Let me know what you're up to, I would love to see you guys!!

love.

back in the groove

hello loves! so we're back in austin...and things are pretty much back to "normal" here.

I met with Yasisca (1 of the 2 grad students I'll be working for in the Sexual Psychophysiology Laboratory) and will now be going in on Monday and Fridays to assist her in her work. For right now it will just be entering and analyzing data in SPSS (a program I have forgotten..a fact I was deathly afraid of admitting to any potential grad schools..so the refresher course is pretty sweet) and come fall I'll be running participants (love that part) again! The study is called Fashion Mag, and is pretty much trying to see if a female's view of her body has an effect on her sexual response. Girls will be coming in, filling out questionnaires, and then watching a...movie...after which I measure their arousal using vaginal photoplethysmography (pretty much an electric tampon that measures blood flow). I'm super excited about it.

I'm also keeping my old job..BOO..but we're poor, and I need to contribute :) Ed says he'll be my sugar daddy now..because he's pretty sure I'll be his sugar mama later. Love him.

And on that note..the honeymoon was fabulous! But now we're back..living with the brothers. Ed's brother actually moved back to Tomball yesterday (didn't do so hot in school) so it's just David left here. I must say, it's no fun living with your siblings after you're freakin' married. But we move to our new place on August 9, and I am COUNTING DOWN THE DAYS until it is just the 2 of us.

I'll be sending an email when I finally finish with our honeymoon pictures..they're all uploaded, I just need to finish adding the captions. Love you all! Shivonne--welcome home!!

love :)

hello ladies! i had a little extra time at an internet cafe..at dunkin donuts of all places..and wanted to post!

things after the wedding went by so quickly that i don't feel like i gave you all a proper thank you! ivy and laura..you guys were ballers at the candy table set-up. i know you felt rushed to get back, but i'm so glad you did and i'm so glad you were a part of my bride day!! thank you for the smiles and for continually reminding me that the day (as it should be, i think) really was for me. i love you both!!

heather..thank you for keeping me sane and focused on what the day was really all about. you rock my life and i can't wait to see you!!! ps- pretty sure jeffrie BANKED! i hope you have such a great time with your family before heading off with marcel's, and I'M SO GLAD your tests came back negative! now no more worries, enjoy your summer!

RIGHT NOW ed and i are in berlin :) we are exhausted but so excited and having such a great time! i hope you've gotten at least a few emails from me..this paying for internet thing has been sorta sketchy.

after this, we still have cologne, PARIS, VENICE, FLORENCE, and ROOOOMMMMEEE!!! Can you tell that the last part of the trip is made up of the cities i chose?

i can't post pictures on this computer, but i'll send some at the next place! i miss you all and can't wait to see you all again! LOVE!!

SO FLIPPIN' EXCITED

EEEE!! This time tomorrow I will be with all of my homegirls. This time next week I will be a married woman!

I just wanted to share a few pictures that were on my camera..my computer is packed away in storage so I still don't have those, aka my dress pictures :( BUT YOU WILL ALL SEE IT IN A WEEK!

Ed and I got our marriage license today!


This is my baby Tomball with a big-city overpass going through it. I drove on it. It was very surreal.

Ed's eldest brother, Chris, and his wife, Brandy, are both officially lawyers. Here are a few pics of his brother's ceremony (with baby Campbell! She's SO big!)


A few of my favs from graduation.


I have always nagged at Ed about doing more things "Austin" ...I want to eat in Austin restaurants, shop in Austin shops, visit Austin monuments and parks, etc. We did the paddleboating as a start, and last weekend we went to Mt. Bonnell. The climb was not anything like I thought it would be..I was almost embarrassed for thinking it would be such a rough hike! But we found a few paths that went into the land around it and caught some beautiful views and really worked our hiking buns!

My baby girl Dee is all growed up and graduated!

Updates!

Loves! So much to tell you. And no pictures to tell it with :(

I packed the last four years of my life away last week and have moved it all into storage. As much as I have complained about this last year, it was such a depressing task. Carra and I had several movie nights/girl days where we drank champagne and watched movies that reminded us of the last four years together. We had SO many funny memories for all of them..we've called each other more since the move-out than we did the last several months..I'm going to miss my tiny dancer.

I graduated! I am now a Texas Ex and so super sad about it. I'll still be on the campus next year, but not scurrying around to classes or studying like a mad lady. I cannot tell you how refreshing it was to throw away old notes and sell back old books (from freshman year! I'm pathetic). Juli graduated at 10am on Saturday, and then we went to The Grove, a fabulously yummy 'green' restaurant in downtown Houston that she used to work out (Ivy-go!). We dilly-dallied around the park for a while, and then made the trek to Austin for my graduation! The only one I could make it to was the big University wide one, and it was so beautiful! I'll remember it absolutely forever. I even found Stacy Force to sit with me! We found Van, Chelsi, and Lindsey Potter afterwards and took a few photos. My family then headed off to Conan's (a must-do for every Austin visit) to celebrate. It was great :)

Ed is in Vegas as we speak for his stupid bachelor party. POOR THING missed his flight this morning after arriving 50 minutes early. Apparently they overbooked for the holiday weekend, and his seat was given away by the time he got there. Eek. He managed to get on another flight later, only to have it delayed due to weather. He made it to Phoenix, where he just barely caught a transfer flight to Vegas, and had to wait over an hour on the plane AGAIN because of the weather! He made it though, and was able to step out into the city over 12 hours later than he planned, and into 50 degree weather, which he did not pack for. I hope the weekend turns up for him..in the form of large winnings at the casinos :)

I got my dress and it is absolutely PERFECT!! I arrived home last Friday afternoon at the same time my mama did, and we heard a message on the machine from the lady at the dress store saying that my dress had come in! We both screamed and jumped out of our seats! We rushed to the store and I was SO nervous walking in, I was so afraid that the dress would not be right and we'd have a majorly stressful problem. HOWEVER, it was exactly what I wanted :) I thought they might just hack the bottom of the dress off, but they scalloped the edges and even put eyelashes (that are also on the top) on the bottom! Couldn't be happier :) I also found shoes and have my jewelry. I'm wearing a strand of pearls from each my great grandma, grandma and aunt..all on my mom's side and none of whom are with us any longer. SO moved when they were given to me (everything went to Juli bc she's the oldest girl, very traditional family) that I cried. The dress lady tried to sell me a different set of jewelry, but I was not budging. I also had a trial updo for my hair..very soft and romantic looking.

Ed had his "Hail the Male" shower, and it was hilarious! It was so him, with tons of BBQ and beer, no frillies. We played this game where they had us stand back to back and gave us dolls on sticks, one boy and one girl. They asked us questions and we had to answer April or Ed by holding up the guy or girl stick. My stomach hurt when this game was over, I was laughing so hard! He was such a good sport too, which he's usually not. The funniest pictures they caught are the ones where we disagree, or where you can tell we're both having to think reeeally hard.."Whose parents are the most eager for grandchildren" and "Who will negotiate the purchase of your first car" were especially good. Other questions include: Who said I love you first? Who FELL in love first? Who dresses better? Whose furniture will be the first to go? Ed even wore a hat that my parents got him that says 'Groom' on it :)

After a lot of trouble with the jeweler, Ed's ring is set to come in on May 30th. He wanted titanium to it would last (he's left handed and afraid he'll beat it up) but they didn't tell us until AFTER that if his finger swells and for some reason they need to cut the ring off, they'd have to cut off the finger instead. GEEZ, no pressure Ed. We purchased his suit too! And finalized the flowers!

I'm home again this weekend for my friend Deeksha's graduation party, and also in an effort to keep my mind off the fact that Ed is in Vegas for his bachelor weekend. And then next weekend is MY weekend to have fun! Absolutely CANNOT wait to see all of you ladies in one place! AND in TWO WEEKS FROM TODAY, I'll be married...it's nuts! But we're so super excited. And EUROPE is only a few weeks away too! I met with the travel agent today to go over rail passes and everything, and I'm absolutely STOKED!

One Month!

OMG..it makes my hands shake when I think about it! and have restless nights where I can't sleep a wink, because all I can think about is the long list of things we still have to get done..seriously, i have a note-pad by the bed so I can write things down when I think about them. Not to mention packing for freaking Europe!

OK Confession: The closer the wedding gets, the more I worry about something happening to Ed. It's not even just an annoying little thing thing that I worry over, because I tend to worry about almost everything, but this deep fear that makes me breathe so fast I could hyperventilate and want to hold his hand and walk him everywhere he goes to make sure he gets there safe. Thinking about it now makes me want to cry, but I won't because he's right there..so now, you know how when you're trying not to cry, your jaw starts to hurt? it hurts like that now. gah. i guess when you're lucky enough to find someone you love that much, there has to be some sucky part, it's only fair to everyone else.

Another sucky note, my grandpa fell and broke his hip a couple of weeks ago (did I write about that?) My mom went and visited him for a week) and he was doing well, so she came home. bah. now he has pneumonia, and she's on her way back. she's not sure if she'll be back to go with me to try on my dress for the first time (which is supposed to come in this week) and she called Roxanne (the woman who threw my shower for me) to "step in as mommy, and tell you how pretty you look, and how perfect everything will be" ...she's thinking what i'm thinking, what do we do if the worst happens, postpone the wedding?

ANOTHER sucky note. Little brother went through a pretty twisted relationship which recently ended, and he is having a reeeeeally hard time with it. He had to leave Tomball because he didn't trust himself (and we didn't trust him) to stay there. He's sleeping on Ed's couch...so there are 4 people in he apartment now..3 boys. Ed has been amazing with him, staying up late to talk to him for hours, taking him out so he'll have something else to think about. Love him. But 3 boys? Sometimes I leave to go back to my apartment to get a little estrogen. But Carra's parents came up this past weekend and took some of the bigger furniture home with them, so they wouldn't have to move EVERYTHING on the 21st. It's pretty depressing. She and I have been trying to spend more time together, we're both kinda depressed about our four years of living together coming to an end. Sigh. We went and got mani/pedis today. It was fun.

Mmk good things. Ed is having his "Hail the Male" shower this weekend..where we're supposed to eat beer chicken and jalapeños stuffed with cream cheese and wrapped in bacon. and he's supposed to get a bunch of boy junk that he'll never use, if he ever figures out how to use it.
My dress is supposed to come in this week. We have hotel rooms for people. We're going shopping tomorrow for Ed's suit and ring.

What a ramble. Love you guys.