Mo's Side...

Mom's Rolls

More on Christmas later!

Christmas came early

I guess you could say Christmas came early this year...but for no apparent reason other than Moriah's impatience. I could take some of the blame, but Moriah takes the cake. She can't keep a good secret. Moriah loves getting her Christmas shopping done early, but it's really become a problem. She's stressed because we haven't gotten a gift for my grandmother yet, but seriously, my mom called me yesterday asking what I want for Christmas.

Point is, Moriah bought my gift the week of Thanksgiving. She let me know it was in a big box in the back of the jeep and that she wanted to give it to me. As if those weren't enough clues, but I was strong.

A week later, we're lounging around, waiting for our favorite HDTV shows to come on. She says, "Why don't you try and guess what your present is?"

I'm thinking 'If I don't guess it, she's going to think she's a bad wife.' I explained this but Moriah insisted, so I listed what I thought it might be: a desk chair, a road bike...no...a surround sound system?

Her face lights up, giving it a way to even the most retarded of human beings.

(This story is getting long, so I'll get to the meat of it.) Even then I tried not to get to the details - brand, color, watts. I wanted to at least have the unknown size of the subwoofer be my Christmas surprise.


It was no secret that Moriah was going to get a digital SLR camera, and this week, Tuesday, it came in the mail. I made it for one day, but I couldn't keep the anxious box in my closet any longer. We exchanged gifts Wednesday night before church.

Sadly this isn't the first time we've fallen prey to the pre-Christmas jitters. Last year we exchanged at least a week early.

We're definitely going to be bad parents.

p.s. I'm writing this in part because Moriah told my my last post sucked hard. So, sorry for those of you who had to endure.

p.p.s. Here are some photos we've taken, playing with Moriah's new toy.

Merry Christmas

So this is Christmas...

Moriah insists that she won't send out official Christmas cards until we own a house. I suppose she's just lighting the fire under my seat to start makin' them dolla's. Point is, this is it. Merry Christmas from (if you'll refer to the stockings hung by our fake chimney with care) Joy and Noel. You can guess who's who.

I feel like a fish out of water on this blogging thing, but I think you're suppose to give the news from the homefront. David and Lynn are back in town, never to leave again if we have any say. TJ and Holly are back in a bit more than one week. We miss them too. Skype video conferences just aren't a suitable replacement for friends.

Fort Worth is calling our number for Christmas. We'll head down there Dec. 22nd and come back the 26th, a quick trip which will likely get us sad eyes from the Steward family. Before then, Grant (my brother) and I will hit the slopes in Snowshoe, WV. That's assuming there's any snow left. The temp won't get below freezing there until this weekend. And don't give me this 'global warming is a myth' bit.

Hope for a white Christmas, but expect sunny skies and 70's. We love you all (unless our stalkers are reading this).

Signed,

Joy and Noel

Time for an update...

Kristen Norman's baby shower was today. At that shower I had three friends mention that I needed to update my blog, so here it is. Every day during my "lunch break" I start with Holly and TJ's blog and make my way through their list of friends that I know and love. Next, I go to Rosie's blog and use the links on her page to check if any of my friends from ACU have updated their blogs. I will tell you that I am usually disappointed in most of my Siggie friends' blogs. Cassie is the only one who regularly updates her blog. Cassie, I thank you for giving my lunch break excitement. My Otter Creek friends are much more regular about updating their blogs and they are GREAT about posting pictures of their adorable little ones. Kara, you will HAVE to be dilligent about posting pictures of your little boy and girl (purely speculation on my part). Jen, you really aren't unemployed and living with your parents. You live with Rosie (whom I found out has some interesting info that she hasn't shared with me yet). I'm sorry, I didn't mean to launch into a blog-dis. I love you all regardless of whether or not you update your blogs. I'm not that great at it and I think that I have pledged three or four times to be better about updating my blog. I did pretty well for a few weeks... this is another attempt. On to another topic... my favorite song from November.

I'm sitting on our love seat, waiting for Blake to come home from Searcy, updating our blog, and watching (shamefully) the Big in '06 show on VH1. I'm writing the above paragraph and who should appear on my TV screen but one of the most famous "Members of the Church" ever... Weird Al Yankovick. He just happens to be the artist who sings my most listened to song from November... "White and Nerdy." If you have not heard this song I highly suggest that you find it online and listen to it. While you are at it you might as well look up the video and watch that as well, it only helps you to understand what he is saying. He is so clever it just kills me. Almost every day, while on the way to work, I actually laugh out loud at so many parts of the song. You will have to just listen to the song to understand what I am talking about. Self-proclaimed nerds (Kara) will most likely love this song. It would also be a great song from Brax to dance to, Darci! As a side note, Flava-Flave was just on the show, and he is DISGUSTING! Well, thats all I have to say for now. Thanks to everyone who puts pictures on their blog... I like pictures the best!

Self Explanatory

As you can see... The Albrights were WAY better at this than we were!

Waiting...

Waiting for next week's "Studio 60"
Waiting for dinner with Jeff and Linde
Waiting for my scrapbook retreat
Waiting for Thanksgiving
Waiting for my family to come visit at Thanksgiving
Waiting for my friends to update their blogs
Waiting for Holly and TJ to come home and visit
Waiting for Zach and Kara's babies
Waiting for Hannah "Dakota" Brown

My day at work was kind of slow today. It isn't usually like that, its actually pretty crazy. Mondays are slow but today was exceptionally slow. I found myself waiting for tomorrow when the ministers would be back and I would actually have something to do. I realized I am always waiting for something whether it be good or bad. I am waiting for all those things and can't do anything to help them get here faster. This is going no where. I just thought I would list the things that I am not so patiently awaiting.

On to more exciting things... Things have been good in Nashville these days, cool weather and changing leaves. I miss the exciting thunder storms of the spring and summer. I miss looking at the radar and seeing a huge storm blowing in from Memphis bringing lightening and thunder with it. I miss the red and yellow mass that covers all of west Tennessee. I don't like tornadoes or the havoc they bring with them. I just want the rain, wind, thunder, and lightening. For some reason I really do love www.wunderground.com it is one of my "favorites" on my toolbar. I check it atleast 10 times a day. Patmommy always told me I would be a great weathergirl. She always told me I was much cuter than Rebecca Miller on channel 5 in Fort Worth. Maybe I missed my calling. Oh well.

-Mo

Lunch Break!

This is what Vicki and I did on our lunch "break" today!

Your Linguistic Profile:

60% General American English

30% Dixie

5% Yankee

0% Midwestern

0% Upper Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

You Are 56% Lady

You're part lady, part modern woman. Etiquette is important to you, but you brush aside rules that are outdated or silly.

Are You A Lady?

You Are a Chocolate Chip Cookie

Traditional and conservative, most people find you comforting. You're friendly and easy to get to know. This makes you very popular - without even trying!

What Kind of Cookie Are You?

Something to do...

I'm sitting here in front of my TV watching "Project Runway" where I have been since I got home from work today. I haven't actually been in front of the TV since I got home... I made dinner and ate it in front of the TV. Blake is working on a story in the office for Weekend America. It is about a man who makes gates for the entrances of caves to let bats in and keep people out. Anyway. I'm in the living room with Heidi and Vera so I picked up the computer and decided to check everyone's blogs. I get to Kat's and decided to give her something to look at while she is at work.
Speaking of work... I have a new job. I am no longer working at Dr. Hunter's office. I work about 100 yards south of there, now at Otter Creek Church. My title is "Information Coordinator." I do their graphic design, print design, media presentations, and all other tech stuff. It is a really great job that I already love... Besides the fact that Vicki and I have to sit in the hall and we have no airconditioning... I really do love it. Its not that I didn't love working at Dr. Hunter's office, I really miss everyone there... I just don't miss what I was doing. I was unchallenged and bored most of the time so my new job has been great. There is one down side to my new job. The reason this job opened up was that TJ and Holly McCloud are moving to the Dominican Republic. They have been so wonderful to us since we have been here and we are going to miss them so much. Two years will go by fast... hopefully. Something good that is coming out of their move is that Kevan and Sharon are moving into Holly and TJ's duplex. They are going to be super close to us which I am REALLY excited about! I haven't said anything that is even remotely exciting, but maybe it will catch you up on me a little bit.
Just so you know... My next post will be about mine and Blake's rocking time at the Dashboard concert at the Ryman last week!

Mis-Judged

I just wanted to set the record straight and let you all know that I thought the post was really funny! I'd like to see more like them... as long as they are not vulgar!
-Moriah

Photobooth

Have you ever been bored at work? I have.
Ever heard of "Photobooth?" I have. 
You ever looked retarded? I have.



Moriah is going to kill me for messing with the family blog.

Bunnies!!

Our new house has some permanent pets that we were not aware of when we moved in, but I love them! We have a big back yard and there are bunnies that live in the trees behind our house. I don't know how many of them there are but it seems to be quite a few. They are the most adorable little things with white, cotton tails. I have been trying to get as close to them as possible but have not been very successful in my endeavors. They are very skittish but will sometimes let you look at them for a few moments before they hop away. The only sad thing about the bunnies is that a couple of them have been run over in front of our house. The street we live on is used as a cut through for many people driving in Green Hills and they drive so fast that they don't even see the adorable little creatures. At one point Blake and I counted at least 6 dead animals on our street (Squirrels included). So if you EVER drive down Warfield Drive in Nashville please slow down, there are bunnies that live there!

P.S.
I made this sign in Photoshop!

P.S.

For some dumb, unknown reason my pictures did not post. Here they are...

Summer?

I cannot believe that it has been two whole months since I have lasted posted something new. So much has happened and I should have been blogging as the events happened, but I didn't. Sorry about that. I check everyone's blogs daily and expect them to post new stories or insights, and yet cannot keep up with my own blog. Well since I last blogged a few things have changed in our lives. We have moved, no not to our loft (November 2007) but to a new duplex about 2 miles from where our old apartment was. It is really cute but also bigger than our loft will be, which has made us wonder if we will really like our quaint loft as much as we thought we would. We are still looking forward to moving there in just a little over a year and a half.
Blake and I were talking the other day about how it doesn't really feel like summer. For the past almost 18 years the end of school meant the beginning of summer, and now we don't have that significant event to begin our summer. Which leaves me feeling like it is not summer at all. I don't know if I will ever get that "summer" feeling back again. I would probably have to teach to get that feeling and I don't think I want to do that just yet! The big event that has been surrounding our lives is this... all of our friends are leaving us. Dave and Lynn are leaving for New Zealand this coming Wednesday for 6 months, David Vaughn left for officer Candidacy school on Friday, Hunter is in Alabama working as a youth intern, and Holly and TJ are moving to the Dominican for TWO WHOLE YEARS! You heard that right, they are moving to the DR to do mission work which leaves us very sad but with a great vacation destination. This just makes us all the more thankful for the friends that we have in the Browns and the Albrights. We love every one of those people and are slowly trying to ignore the fact that they are going away for a while. Another thing is that we celebrated our one year anniversary on Tuesday. Well, actually we celebrated our anniversary on Monday by going to Carrabba's and went to eat with Slubbs (who was on his way to Virginia) on our actual anniversary. This has been a very boring post and I will try to do a better job keeping this blog updated. For now I will leave you with a few random pictures.

Lofts to Say...

I am so sorry that it has been so long since I have posted, a lot has been going on and this blog is to tell you about it! It all started about a month ago, the journey that Blake and I have taken has been kind of a whirlwind. Our lease at Woodmont Terrace is up on May 14th so we decided that it was time to start looking for a place to live. We finally decided that we might as well start looking at buying something because we would be paying as much for a mortgage as we would for rent. We spent ONE Saturday looking and got really frustrated because everything we saw was either too big, ugly, too much, or in an area of town that we really did not want to live in. So we decided to look for another place to rent, and that is just what we found. So as of May 15 we will live in an adorable duplex in Green Hills, an area of town that we really love. We would love to live there permanently but is WAY too expensive to buy anything there. So we found this duplex on Friday and by Sunday we had made even more plans for our future... No we are not pregnant and not trying anytime soon! That Sunday we went to Blake's parent's house for lunch and then went to an open house at the Werthan Mills Lofts, this really great old factory that has been turned into residences. We looked at them open lofts and fell in love with them all over again. Back in November Blake and I looked at the lofts for the first time and wanted to move in immediately but they were WAY out of our price range. So in November 2007 Blake and I will be the proud owners of a beautiful loft just north of downtown Nashville. They are currently renovating the 3rd phase and we will be living in the the Phase 4. We are sooo excited. Let me just describe it for you. Exposed brick, original hard wood floors, 15 foot ceilings, stainless steel appliances, and granite counter tops, washer and dryer, and only 700 square feet. Yes only about 700 square feet but it seems so much bigger. We ended up being able to purchase unit 222 because the Werthan Mills got TIF money to help renovate the lofts, and because of that they have to sell 20% of the units to people who make 80% of the median income or less. Blake and I did... according to last years tax return. Anyway, we will hopefully close in late October or early November and get to move in shortly after. Don't worry, we aren't worried about space. Last weekend we spent about 3 hours in IKEA, in Atlanta, with Kevan and Sharon Albright and found thousands of way to make use of a small space. We are SUPER excited and can't wait for all of you to see it! If you want to look at the amazing place we are going to live just go to www.WerthanLofts.com I can't wait for everyone to come and visit... and have to stay in a hotel! Ha! Just kidding, we'll make room!

If you haven't got a Mac, then you might now know what I'm talking about. If you do, then you can share in our elation. 

Moriah and I just upgraded to OSX 10.4. It has a feature I'm utilizing right now called "Dashboard," appropriately named after our favorite emo band. 

Dashboard allows you to use these "Widgets" of which blog posting is one. Another I'm using right now is a Lost countdown. That's just for fun. 

When you move the cursor to the corners of the screen, the tools you have chosen are super-imposed on top of what you have open. Moriah and I are having a hard time not buying a new G5 right now, but this helps calm our cravings. 

This hasn't been on our blog yet, but we're staying in Nashville for now. There was talk of us moving to Washington D.C., but that fell through. We're happy to know we're staying put. We're looking for a new place to live this weekend. More fun for Moriah than me, but I'll chime in when I'm asked. 

My life has changed forever!

You might not think my title was appropriate after reading this post, but i don't care one bit... Because my life has been changed. By what? you might ask. A little appliance know as the Chi brand of flat-irons. Anyone girls who has one knows what I am talking about. Saturday Blake and I got our hair cut, afterwards I decided it was time to buy a new flat iron. (One side of my old one had been broken for about 2 months) I had owned my previous straightener since my senior year in high school all thanks to Morgan Smith, who introduced me to the world of straighteners. It was time to make an investment in a great tool, and the Chi was the one for me. Blake went into the store with me and was a tiny bit surprised at the price tag, apparently "its pretty expensive" means $50 to him. Anyway, we walked out of the store and I was elated and he was a little shocked. Blake was actually wonderful about the whole situation, as he is about everything. He is always calm and collected. He just couldn't understand why I would pay what I did for a tool for my hair. So, he thinks that it is funny to tell everyone about the expensive straightener I bought, and when he does the girl ALWAYS says, "Is it a Chi?" He is beginning to understand. Also, lets just say that I have had 3 of the best hair days in my life since I got the straightener! One condition of being able to buy it was that I promise to wear my hair curly atleast 2 days a week... I agreed! That is all I have to say about my new Chi. These are just a few of the pictures from our "Big Snow" we had about 3 weeks ago!

Child genius

So, if you haven't noticed I, Moriah, am really the Only one who ever posts on this blog. My other half, adorable as he is, doesn't ever have anything to say unless it is about pubes! Which by the way have been even more present in our apartment since he wrote his last post! Sick! A little side story about that... Last Friday Blake and I changed the sheets, and it had probably been about 3 weeks since the last time they had been changed. (Which by the way is not normal. I usually change them every two weeks) We pulled back the covers to reveal approximately 10 million little nasty hairs on HIS side of the bed. It literally looked like an invisible line dividing our sides if the bed, and his had hair and mine did not. Needless to say we had to use the Dust Buster to get them off the sheets before we put them in the washing machine. Now on to the rest of our week...
For the past two days Wednesday through Friday Blake and I baby sat a beautiful young girl while her parents were out of town. We had a lot of fun with her. We stayed with her at her parents house in Brentwood, which is beautiful and also has a pool table and a fun indoor basketball game. We mostly just took her to and from school and "made" her dinner. This young lady is wonderful but also made us realize we are not exactly ready for children of our own. She is such a smart child, more wide that her own 9 years. Here are just a few of the things we learned this weekend! "My dad doesn't practice law... He's finished with school" (after I asked what type of law her father practiced) "Blake you don't have to keep your hand there, this car is an automatic" (Blake driving her mother's Lexus with his hand resting on the gear-shift) "Just plug the cord into the bottom of your Nano and plug that into the computer" After Blake realized his Nano had a calendar and trying to figure out how to update it!)
Hope you all have a wonderful week! - MoMo

Six Flags Fun??

Six Flags Over Texas was not the amazing day of rides I had hoped it was going to be. Although, the time spent with some of my dearest friends made up for it! Here are a few pictures from that day! Yes... that is a FANNY PACK kara is wearing! -MoMo