Movin' & Shakin'

so the past eight weeks of internet silence have been a strange mixture of insanity and lethargy, much of which i will save for a later date, when the sanity and energy return. however, there have been some notable developments.

1. i have become slightly more identifiable in an FBI line-up (depending on which body part the witness got a glimpse of). first, i bent down in front of the entertainment center one day, and stood up in just the perfect way so that the corner of the glass door jabbed me right in the hip. yay for long, bloody, jagged gashes. it's fading nicely with all those womanly stretchmarks, but DANG it hurt.

then, i crashed my bike running errands around town. about 20 minutes later on the same day, i crashed my bike again. whoops. of course i had a mini skirt on because it is important to be cute while you are riding your bicycle around town. luckily, i landed on my right side both times, intensifying the bloody scrape from my ankle to my hip and the gigantic bruise on my elbow. and i only got one rock lodged under my skin that eventually worked its way out. i have been crash-free ever since i got the skull-shaped valve covers with burning red eyes to protect me from those vicious rocks & sticks that appear without warning on the sidewalk.

finally, i jumped off a 100-foot cliff into crystal creek outside of winslow, AZ. no big deal when i was 16 -- almost killed me at 26. this is the kind of danger that can arise from trying to be more badass than your husband. in a joint effort with my sister the nurse, aaron's brother the chiropractor, and the glorious internet, i diagnosed myself with a back sprain and forewent a trip to the doctor. side note: karrie did help keep things in perspective by pointing out to me that if i did go to the doctor, i needed to be sure to request the extra-long neck brace (or maybe two stuck together) to properly secure my giant giraffe neck. although no scars from this, i do occasionally make aaron check me out for the beginnings of a hunchback. because it doesn't matter what kind of skirt you're wearing on your bicycle, you're not cute if you have a hunchback. so far so good.

2. aaron and i trekked back to VA for a delayed-onset wedding reception. my family (and associated committees) worked really hard and it was really a nice, celebratory event. we co-mingled our parents. lots of surprise guests -- including my kindergarden teacher -- family, and old friends. the cupcakes were adorable. i honored my family with song. side note: who knew my momma and aunt barb had such good shoulder dances in them? (appropriately discovered during juvenile's family-friendly hit: momma got ass.) the food was good. bob schneider provided the background tunes. the weather was gorgeous. and aaron finished up the dregs of the keg the next morning.

i'm still trying to figure out how to get an electronic copy of the scrapbook my mom secretly put together of aaron and i through the years. it is unbelievably adorable. there's one page where you can barely tell the difference between us. oh except, as aaron pointed out, i'm twice the size of him.

although i feel like the event cemented aaron into the family, it reminded me exactly why i chose the 7-person wedding. and i didn't even have to DO anything for this event except show up and look pretty.

3. back when aaron and i first became BFF, renting a margarita machine was on the top of our to-do list (along with a paper football rematch, stealing his brother's corvette, and find a perfect tumbleweed which we would then mail to my mother...). so naturally a frozen margarita machine was a perfect wedding gift! our first batch of margaritas, though delicious, were not very frosty -- despite the look of pure excitement on my face. but they were still margaritas, so who's complaining!?! and no worries: we are ready to employ the scientific method of trial-and-error in order to achieve margarita perfection.

4. many, many abnormally large felines have been sighted in and around our neighborhood. just yesterday on our sunday drive, aaron slammed on the brakes and backed us down a residential street to check out the enormous cat sitting on someone's front stoop. i did not get to see it in motion, but my husband assured me it was fantastic. then, last night after our cookout, aaron swerved out of the drive to our apartment when a flash of white out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. unfortunately i was too stunned/giggly to capture him whipping into a parking spot, flipping on the brights, and running in pursuit of the beast.

i continue to adore these silly things about my husband, who will cause a traffic accident to get a good look at the animal that just crossed the street in front of us and is perfectly entertained sitting in his truck outside the alpaca farm with me for 20 minutes making fun of their silly haircuts.
despite the insanity .... there's still a reason to smile for the camera.