Happy Birthday Joe!

Here is Joe working hard!




Joe turned 27 yesterday! I am so grateful for Joe everyday. He is a wonderful christian husband and my best friend. I hope you had a good one Joe!

We had a good weekend. Joe (and many helpers) landsaped our yard! Thanks to Dad, Jason and Adam for helping. When I would go out to check on everybody, they looked as if they were going to pass out! Poor guys! It was soo hot. We really appreciated the help with this big job. Here are a few before and after pics of our landscaping job!

Happy Family

Here is my mom, sister-in-law, and sister (oh and me!) at my sister-in-law's bridesmaid luncheon. My baby brother is officially married. It was a really crazy week, but it ended in a beautiful wedding day. We are soooo excited for them! They are still on their honeymoon right now. I can't wait to see all the pics.

Anyway, Joe and I have been really busy. After recooping from the wedding, we have tried to slow down. Last weekend, we went to Arkansas to visit my mother in law and then to Memphis. In Memphis, we attended the UT Pediatric Dentistry Graduation banquet. It was nice to see our friends up there. Joe and I both were like "this really happened. we actually lived in Memphis for 8 months!" It was surreal to be back there. Have you ever gone through something that felt like a dream? It is just so strange. It's like I was living in my house, I took an 8 month break from reality, and now I'm back. Same house, same job, same everything. It's so strange. I'll never forget how weird it all went down! Ha Ha. God has a sense of humor, right?

I am really enjoying my summer. I am working less than before we moved back. I enjoy my time off. Joe is busy, but he really gets home at a decent time every day. We are trying to slow down and enjoy each other. Who knows, this might be the last period of time for us to be alone (babies!!!) No, I'm not pregnant. I am excited about the thought of being (in the future!) Anyway, enough rambling. Have a great day.

Summer is officially here!

Things have definitely heated up around here. I mean literally. Today, it was 90 at least with very high humidity. I'm not one who likes to sweat. I have gotten up every day since the 7th grade by taking a shower and putting on makeup. Yes, I never once went to school (including college) without some kind of makeup on. I don't know why I do this, but I do. My point is that it is so hot here and when you get ready in the morning, you sweat off all of your makeup. I won't even go into what your hair will look like 5 min after you leave the house! I say all this because I was very brave today. We live in a town where the main hang out is Wal-Mart. This is probably true for most small towns. I knew I had a few things to do today like laundry/cleaning. I didn't feel like getting all dressed for Wal-Mart before I did my little chores. I acually went to wal-mart looking worse than I have ever looked in public. This may seem like nothing to some people, but I don't go out like that usually. Every single time you go to wal-mart, you see like 10 people. I was on a mission to see/speak to no one. I shopped in record time and didn't forget anything! The best part was that I didn't see anyone! Who really cares, but I just thought it was funny afterward how badly I did not want to see anyone. I guess it wasn't badly enough to fix up though!!!
Joe is on call this weekend. We were supposed to go out of town for our very good friends' baby shower. We did not get to go due to his new call schedule!!!! Sorry Halls! I can not wait for them to have their baby girl. It's definitely the 2nd best thing to having your own.
I'm off today and just laying low. I really enjoy my alone time at the house these days. Anyway, not much planned this weekend. Shocking with our usual schedule! We are gearing up for my brother's wedding in 2 weeks!!!!

List of 4's

4 Jobs:

1. Babysitting 12 yrs old-22 yrs old
2. Working at my dad's accounting business (I couldn't really tell you what I did there)
3. The Limited clothing store (it was like one christmas in college)
4. Dental Hygienist in multiple offices and now multiple cities (my real career)

4 Movies:

1. Sweet Home Alabama
2. Meet the Parents
3. Father of the Bride I and II
4. Legend of the Fall

4 Books:

1. To Kill a Mockingbird
2. The Winds of War/War and Remembrance
3. Anything by Patricia Cornwell (I've read most of them)
4. The Outsiders (middle school fav)

4 Places I've Lived:

1. Louisiana
2. Tennessee
3. Louisiana
4. ????

4 TV Shows:

1. The OC (#1 fav)
2. American Idol
3. VH1 cheesy shows
4. CSI

4 Vacations:

1. Kauai, Hawaii
2. Park City, Utah
3. Destin, Florida
4. Europe (haven't been yet but want to)

4 Websites:

1. yahoo mail
2. my friends' blogs
3. ????
4. ???? (i'm not much of a surfer)

4 Favorite Foods:

1. any cajun dish (i.e. jambolaya, crawfish etuffee, boil crawfish)
2. mexican food
3. french fries
4. chocolate

4 Places I'd rather be:

1. on my honeymoon (best week of my life)
2. at home (when I'm at work)
3. with my family
4. out to dinner with friends (I love to go out to eat!)

Wedding Season

Here is a picture of my mom and my future sister in law. Aren't they cute? My younger brother is getting married June 10. We are gearing up for the big day now. My mom lives for this stuff. She is queen of planning, organizing, and executing weddings. She is probably the main reason my wedding turned out as beautiful as it did.
Anyway, mothers day is Sunday so I thought I would put up a picture of my mom. We are having mothers day dinner at my house for the first time. I feel so grown up having everyone over to eat. We are really just having my immediate family, but still. One of my old roommates and I were talking yesterday and we were shocked to realize we have grown up. I still partially feel like an 18 year old kid going away to college. This past year has probably been the hardest and most character building. Joe and I had to deal with alot, but I think it has greatly healped me grow up and not take things for granted. I still don't like to admit I am in my late twenties!!! Well, hope everyone has a great mothers day.

Well, It's been a while since I wrote last. Things have been really busy, but good. We moved back to LA this past week! I was actually sad to leave Memphis. I was sad to leave some of the people, but it feels so good to be home. I grew up down in LA. There is absolutely nothing like home. I feel like the last 7-8 months have been a weird dream. Joe and I constantly talk about how weird we feel having been gone and all of the experiences we have had. I can't believe that we lived in that little apartment for that long. We got home last week and then packed up again and went to Destin! We had a great time. Lots of sun and relaxation. Our friends from dental school came and met us there. Joe's dad also lives there so we got to see him alot. It was really great. We are back home now and I can't believe how much I have to do in this house! I have been cleaning and organizing non stop! Joe and I are both pretty perfectionistic. It's a curse! I hope my children are more laid back than Joe and I. We have this week to get everything in order. I start back to work next week and he goes back to school also. I'm ecstatic to be back home!!!!

Easter Time!

Well, Easter Weekend is here. I am writing this to anyone that has family out of town and is married. Isn't it hard to figure out what you are going to do on the holidays? I think as newley married people, we are still figuring it out. We have been married almost 3 years. We are going to visit Joe's mom this Easter. I'm really glad that since we have been in Memphis, we have gotten to see her so much more. It is only about 1 hr and 45 min to her house from Memphis. From home, it's more like 7 1/2 hrs. I'd much rather drive 1 1/2! I still think it is hard trying to juggle the 2 families. You just have to make a decision and not let yourself feel guilty either way. You have to do what's best for your new family (your husband/wife and yourself). I know it will probably get harder with children, but things always work out.
Here are a few thing that remind me of Easter:
New Easter Dress
Dying Easter eggs at my Maw Maw's house
Chocolate Bunnies
Honey Baked Ham
Beautiful weather
dogwood trees blooming
church
THE CROSS!

HAPPY EASTER!

Good Weekend!

Have you ever just had a really good weekend? I mean one that is relaxing but (always in our case) action packed. That was this weekend. Joe and I never decide to just roll with the punches! We always have 500 things on our plate, but this time, it was worth it. We had a great (and productive weekend)! I always feel either too busy or guilty if I have nothing to do. Why can't I find balance? If you have any ideas let me know. Anyway, back to the weekend. We went back home. I had a long list of to do's. To let you know, I got them all done. Doesn't that feel good? Ha Ha.
I did get to see one of my good friends newborn babies this weekend! She is beautiful. I was just amazed at how small she was. I am so happy for them. Joe came with me and he looked so cute holding that precious little baby. Hopefully, he will be holding ours before too long!
Saturday was pretty fun too. My future sister in law had a shower and then we went to the NO for a wedding. It was a beautiful wedding and we got to see lots of our friends from dental school.
The big event of the weekend was Joe getting a new truck! I'm so excited for him! He will be embarrassed that I wrote about his truck, but I'm trueley just excited for him.
Well, all good things must come to an end. Just like my really good weekend. Back to the grind!

Only 2 1/2 weeks until we move home!!!!

Check Out Our Apartment!

Check out this furniture. It's hideous. Can you believe that someone actually bought this furniture? We are making do! Far cry from home! Ha Ha

The Yales

Here is Joe and I at a Dental School graduation party last year.

Where do I begin

Well, It's been a crazy few months! We were living in South Louisiana when we met KATRINA!
Joe had just begun a Pediatric Dentistry Residency in New Orleans two months before the storm. We were living 60+ miles away and he was commuting. After Hurricane Katrina, he was transfered to Memphis, TN to continue his education at UT. He move, I stayed, then I moved and here we are. We now live in Memphis. I work and he is a resident (temporarily) of UT. Simple? No way! We still own our house in Louisiana. Some people we know were living in it and now they have moved out. We have been living in an apartment (furnished by UT thanks sooo much) that is the size of a garage! I like to joke about it but we are grateful. I'm going to post a few pics of the famous apartment on here so you can get the real feel for our life in Memphis! Anyway, back to our house. It's now empty. I'm sure the neighbors love the high grass and the overflowing mail box. Oh well, that's life. On a happy note, we are moving home! Joe is being transfered back to LSUSD!!!! We are excited. We are ready to get back home. We will truely miss the people we have met up here. I cannot express enough how kind people have been to us during this extremely different period in our lives. Well, that should bring you up to speed with our life right now. We move back to Louisiana April 29!!!!!