The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)

Ya’ll this is an AMAZING book. I know so many people who have read it, and a friend of mine even bought me the book because I kept coming up with excuses not to read it. That was two years ago, and I finally picked it up. I think I kept putting it off because I find that movies and books that people hail as grand and glorious, never seem to reach the expectations I have set for them in my mind. The Lovely Bones hit all the marks. I read it within the week. (This is record breaking for me.) Such a lovely, lovely story. The book is narrated by a 14 year-old girl who has been murdered by an unsuspecting neighbor. She watches from Heaven as her family, friends, and even her murderer cope after her death. A brilliant and well-written novel--like nothing I've read before! You MUST put it on your summer reading list. (My only complaint is that there are numerous missing commas--Eek! Why can’t I read a book without subconsciously editing it?)

WE'VE MOVED!

www.mattwillms.net

Roasting

Please stop being a million degrees in my house!  

I can no longer stand it!  

Thank you!

OMG Magic Erasers!!!

So...I don't know how it works, or what it's made of, but this product is genius.  Matt looked it up on Wikipedia, and he says they are made out of melamine foam, but whatever, I say it's made out of magic.  It took the stains off my bath tub; it took paint off the bathroom countertops.  It could probably even get rid of headaches if you rub it on your forehead just right.  

"Matt, scribble on the walls with crayon so I can use my magic erasers!"

Updates from Married Life!

The Wedding:  First of all, let me just say that I did not cry at my own wedding.  Now, this might come as a surprise to some--especially myself--since I have been planning for the last 26 years to cry when my dad gave me away and when I recited my vows.  Turns out, the whole getting married part was sooo easy.  For those of you who weren't there:  The ceremony was beautiful, if I do say so myself.  Except for the part where one of my bridesmaid's dress almost fell off on the altar, but seriously, that was the ONLY thing that did not go according to plan the whole day.  The reception was amazing.  The only thing I really remember is the first dance and cutting the cake and then leaving.  When people say the day flies by in a blur, they are totally right.  I kept thinking, "not me, I'm going to soak in every moment..."  and then the next thing I knew I was in Barbados. The Honeymoon:  Barbados was beautiful...and so was the complementary rum punch.  The beaches were clean and the water was so clear you thought you were in the pool.  The reef was 50 yards from shore, so Matt and I enjoyed snorkeling every afternoon.  The Bajan food was sooo good, too.  We had the traditional flying fish and macaroni pie...it would easily knock your socks off.  The Move:  It seems like the minute we got home we were moving to Starkville.  We loaded everything we owned--and half of what our parents owned--into a Penske truck and headed out.  Matt is a very ambitious and organized person, so our house was totally unpacked, rearranged, and everything was in its spot in 48 hours.  So now we have been kicking back and enjoying our new place ever since.  Welcome to AT&T:  Another blessing that our move to Starkville has brought to the table is our ability to get out of our Verizon contracts FREE OF CHARGE since we fall in an extended network!!!  This is perfect because now I can finally throw my worthless phone into a lake just like I have always said I was going to do!  Now, I am pleased to say that when you call me, I can totally answer your call now and my ridiculously cute phone wont cut us off.  New Dishes:  Now, in an earlier blog, perhaps you remember me discussing my moral dilemma on our choice of everyday dishes.  I am excited to announce that the various colors of Fiesta-ware were a wonderful choice.  However, I am unexcited to announce that I--not Matt, surprisingly enough--was the one to break the first dish.  It was just one little juice glass.  And I'm not quite sure how it happened...and I am not ready to talk about it.  Moving On:  I chopped all my hair off yesterday and it feels SOOO GOOD!  Matt is intrigued by this "new woman" in the house. 

Can my hubcaps PLEASE stop flying off my car!  This is the second hubcap I have lost this month!  I am so close to just ripping all four of them --excuse me:  all TWO of them-- off and calling it a "fashion statement."  Stupid hubcaps!!!  I can't afford to keep replacing you!!!

Homeownership = awesome!

Well, our apartment is now officially gorgeous!  After four looooooong days of taping, painting, and putting it all back together, we have a lot to show for it.  Unfortunately, i didn't have my camera with me, so no pictures were taken.  hopefully we will be back in there some time this week when the people from Lowe's come to install the new wood floors and carpet.  

Here are the things Matt and I learned from the whole experience:

1.  Be patient:  Those faux wood blinds will stay on the wall....eventually.

2.  Drink lots of fluids:  Dehydration can strike when you least expect it.  Also, you are quite worthless to the team that way.

3.  Shop hard for a bargain:  There are amazing deals to be had at Lowe's if only you play your cards right.  Also, bring a lot of confusing price checks to the register and then throw in a 10% off coupon half way through the purchase.  Insane savings!

Pictures next week!  Now I am off to a friend's wedding!

Wallpaper is hung by Satan...

Exciting news:  Matt and I got the keys to the condo earlier than we thought.  We got the call around 3:00 on Thursday that the tenants had moved out and it was ready for us to move in.  So, by 3:30 we were on the road and headed to Starkville to see the place.  We stayed up all night cleaning cabinets and bathrooms; patching nail holes in the wall (and the previous owner was like "Oooo-we!  I love poking me some holes in the walls!"); wiping down walls and baseboards; and tearing down wallpaper.  

And let me tell you a thing or two about wallpaper:  First of all, whoever thought wallpaper was ever a good idea for home decor can go take a long walk off a short pier.  The wallpaper in the kitchen was heinous AND it covered all four walls in the kitchen!  We planned to take it all down and paint the kitchen a bright spring green color.  And everyone we talked to was like "Oh, its easy--should come down in SHEETS!"  I call those people liars.  That wallpaper came down in tiny, tiny pieces.  We used wallpaper remover, hot water, and brute force.  It was miserable.  There was a lot of spackling to be done afterwards in the places where we took our aggressions out on the wall.  We still have about a foot wide boarder around the top of the two walls, where they didn't prime underneath and it's welded to the sheet rock.  (...Excellent...)

Tomorrow we get to go back and paint, which is the fun part.  So I will be sure to post some before-and-after shots at the end of the week!

SOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOT!

 So, today was my day for bridal portraits, and being the silly naive bride that I am, I arranged to have my pictures taken outside....in the middle of June...at 3:00 in the afternoon for the "best lighting."  We were in front of Reunion subdivision--the big white antebellum home off 463?  The other portraits that I saw from there were just so breathtaking and so....Southern.  With the lush green landscaping and the massive white columns, who else has this advantage if they don't live in the South?  Anyways, given all my options, it was the one thing I was set on:  I wanted outdoor portraits.  So I had my hair done in a very classic up-do; I wore the pearls Matt gave me; Stacey made me a very elegant white and green bouquet.  I was set.  But, seriously, ten minutes into taking those pictures, I felt like I was going to faint!  I was posing one minute and the next thing I know, my vision is going in and out, blackness was creeping in around the edges, and there were two moms next to me swaying back and forth in the wind.  Scary!  I have NEVER passed out or gotten a weak stomach or anything.  

So now this just confirms my biggest fear:  I totally might pass out on the alter!  EEEK!!!

Problem?

Our first wedding-related problem:  So apparently sometime between last August when the Save-The-Dates went out and today, the Marriot's 1-800 number has been re-routed to the New Orleans central office.  So this means that if people call now to book hotel reservations, they have to specify that they are booking for the Harkins-Williams wedding in JACKSON.  Or else, they get registered in New Orleans.  

This is only a slight problem, now that we have done damage control and contacted most of our out of town guests who might have hotel reservations.

This was a much BIGGER problem this morning when one of our family's friends called me to say that they tried to book their reservations for the wedding and the receptionist's response was "What??....The Harkins-Williams wedding???...no one is booked here under that name!!!  We don't even have an event scheduled for that weekend."

Heart-Attack!  Heart-Attack!  Heart-Attack!