Dedication to My Best Friend

Today was the reason I came back to Kentucky for over a month; spent a month away from my new home, new husband, and new kitten. And I have missed them all something terrible. Every single one of those moments was absolutely worth it to see my bestest friend in the entire world walk down that aisle today. To be able to share such precious moments with her and her new husband just touched my heart in a way that words could not come close to describing. She was unbelievable beautiful and I only add unbelievable because, to me, she has always been one of the most beautiful people I know, inside and out. And I'm actually pretty jealous of her husband for getting to spend so much time with her now. I am so thankful for being able to stand up as her Matron-of-Honor today because in a way, along with her parents, I felt as though I were giving her away. It took everything in me not to melt down into tears as I saw her swoosh into view at the back of the church and walk down the aisle.

Our Friendship's History
We say it started at birth because we were born one day apart in the same hospital. We didn't meet, however, until the 2nd grade. And on a whim, I called her one day and asked if she wanted to go skating with me. Who knows what would have happened if I had never called and I never really want to know.

She has been my most constant friend and probably my first "best" friend. She was always there for me when I needed her most- this includes boy problems, proms, graduations, sickness, and my own wedding last December. I remember asking her to live with me at the end of my freshman year of college because I realized that everyday I got to see her was a good day, a happy day. And I wanted to be happy and see her every single day.

Then, sophomore year of college, she became more than my best friend- she became my sister. She was there with open arms after a horrible break-up. She was there to call and schedule and doctor's appointment when I was really sick one day. She even walked across campus in something like 18 degree weather to drive my car back to our dorm so I could go home- I was too sick to go get it myself and without missing a beat, she began bundling up and asked for my car keys. And then, she introduced me to Christ. This alone changed my life, and without Sara, I don't know how I would found Him.

The Past Year
Sara is a better friend than I could have ever hoped for. She kept me strong while I planned my wedding while my husband was at tech school for his job in the Air Force. She is the one who demanded I moved my wedding date up 4 months so that I didn't have to spend an extra 4 months away from my husband and that I could just make a trip home for her wedding. Who helped to keep me sane when work, graduation, class, my mother and my husband-to-be were completely driving me nuts and stressing me out last Fall? My beautiful best friend, Sara. And who was the best maid-of-honor I could have asked for? My sister, Sara.

She is an even better friend for providing me an out of the MOH position, saying she understood if I wanted to stay with my husband in England and wouldn't love me any less for it. Part of me wanted to take the out but deep in my heart, I knew I would hate myself for the rest of my life for missing such an important day of her life. So today, I stood beside her, held her flowers, fluffed her dress, and carried tissues for her tears in my pockets as her Matron-of-Honor.

Would I do it all again, spend almost 6 weeks apart from my husband, just for this one day?

For Sara- in a heartbeat.




(A Special Thanks! to Jennifer Creed for the photo!)

I love Weddings!

I absolutely love everything leading up to the Big Day!

Last night was the bachelorette party for my best friend, Sara, who is getting married on Saturday. Wednesday evening, I made a chocolate chip cheesecake for our dessert and, with the help of my wonderfully helpful mother, I made a giraffe and pink "Bachelorette" sash (so cute!). We went out to eat at Olive Garden and then went to a pottery place where you can paint and personalize all sorts of goodies! Everyone made their own piece to keep except for myself. I made a commemorative giraffe-print large square plate with the date and a thumbprint from everyone who was there. It turned out wonderfully and I can't wait to see pictures of it after it has been fired. Talk about tons of fun last night!

This afternoon was the luncheon at this amazing restaurant, The Bistro. Absolutely wonderful European food as well as wonderful women.It was so fun to just chat and see people I haven't seen since I left for England last December. I absolutely love to just dress up and spend the afternoon with "The Girls"!

And I must say that I have the absolutely, most loving best friend in the entire world. During our freshman year of college, I asked her if she would be there when I had a baby and she said "Of course! Yes, I will!", that she would hop on a plane to where ever I was. In my "Thank you" note from her today, she reminded me of that promise along with this excerpt: "The first savings plan Paul and I open is the 'Plane Ticket to Lindsay' account." Of course I was doing all I could not to sob and ruin my eye make-up (it hadn't occurred to me to put on water-proof mascara this morning). I am so blessed to have such a wonderful best friend and I wouldn't have missed the wedding or the past few weeks leading up to it for anything!

I must now figure out what I am going to say during my toast to the Bride and Groom tomorrow!

Busy Busy Busy!

My wedding filled week officially kicked off today with stuffing little favor boxes and making bow-quets for the rehearsal dinner. Yes, that last one was plural because my best friend, Sara, definitely had enough for 6 bouquets and probably a seventh! Crazy! What's on the rest of the weeks agenda?

Wednesday: Bachelorette Party prep
Thursday: Pre-Wedding Pedicure and Bachelorette party
Friday: Bridal Luncheon and Rehearsal Dinner
Saturday: THE WEDDING!!!

Fun stuff happening in BG!

Homesick

I love every minute I am getting to spend with my best friends and my family. I am so thankful for all of these wonderful people in my life and all these big events I am getting to take part in. I wouldn't trade them for anything.

But... I really miss my husband. Skype only goes so far and sometimes I feel like it is more of a tease to me able to hear and see my husband but not be able to hug or reach out and just touch his face. (No I'm not a complete weirdo- Gerrit has perpetual 5'o'clock shadow and I like the scratchiness.)I miss curling up on the couch with him and exploring England with him and kissing him good bye when I'm half asleep every day before he goes to work.

I have figured out that by our one year anniversary, we will have spent at least 6 months of our first year of marriage apart from each other. I am eternally grateful for the guaranteed employment and paycheck every two weeks and am so thankful for what the Air Force has done for us. But some days it just plain doesn't seem fair.

I absolutely cannot wait to see my husband in 13 days.

Wedding Festivities

My best friend is getting married in 10 days and today was the final shower before the big day. A few of her grandmother's sorority sisters hosted a linen shower for her. And it was adorable! I love little spunky old ladies. They just chattered away and reminisced and the three of us under the age of 50 just kept to ourselves while they had a grand ole time! I just kept thinking "This will be me and my gals in 50 or 60 years and we will be the crazy old ladies!" Sara got a ton of great stuff and we lots of yummy goodies. And from this point on, the wedding festivities only get better! Favor stuffing, bachelorette party, bridal luncheon, rehearsal dinner and the big day to come next week!

I'm a slacker, I know..

So it seems I'm doing well if I remember to post every other day. In my defense, I am sharing the family computer.

In response to me previous post, Gerrit sent me a beautiful bouquet of lilies to try and make up for leaving less than 48 hrs after I get back to England. He's so sweet. And the lilies are GORGEOUS and are smelling up my entire house down stairs. I would post a picture but I don't have that capability being away from my laptop. But here is what the lilies look like:

There are 5 blooms open and another 6 waiting to open! They are sitting on the fireplace mantel because one of my parent's cats likes to eat plants. They still look pretty though.

I'm also going to be a slacker and heathen and spend all day on the couch, out of the rain, reading and spending time with my mama. She seems sad that my visit is going so quickly so I'm trying to spend lots of time with her. She is one of my best friends, after all.

Speaking of reading, I am abusing the local B&N and have bought 7 books, and have but one left that I haven't started and will finish that 6th this afternoon. Unfortunately, I can't lug all my books back with me... or maybe I can.. We'll see when I go to pack my suitcase! A second unfortunately is that my bank account's title isn't "Lindsay's Book Allowance" so I think the rest of the time, I will resign myself to sitting and devouring books at the store and drinking coffee while I'm at it. I think I've spent enough money over there since about the 7th grade that I'm entitled a sneak read once in a while.

Have a lovely Sunday where ever you may be !

Ugh

Just found I get my husband for a day when I get back to England.
Then he leaves for a month.

What am I supposed to say to that?

What exactly is the appropriate response?

Same Old Kentucky

I've basically settled back into routine- working out, reading, lunch dates, running errands with my mom. It really wasn't all that hard to do. I just hope it doesn't make it hard going back to England. Not that I don't want to go back- I can't wait! But just trying to get back to where I was when I left, being happy, having a routine and stuff to do. I wish I could somehow combine the two- my busy schedule and tons of friends here with my life in England. If only I could take my church and my friends back with me...

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to my wonderful Mother, my grandma, my mother-in-law, and all my other mom's out there :)

To show my mother how much I love her, I brought her back a beautiful wavy/rippled glass bowl from England which she opened early. This morning, I woke up and made some fabulous Monkey Bread, scrambled eggs and bacon. I would have made the coffee but seeing as how I don't own a coffee pot, I don't exactly know how... yeah yeah go ahead and laugh. My motherhates cooking breakfast. She says it takes forever to make and by the time she gets to eat, it's cold. So I made sure that her breakfast was freshly made and hot when she came downstairs. She said it tasted that much better just because she didn't have to cook it!

Cooking her breakfast is the least I could do. She has done so much for me, especially over the past year. There is so much more I would like to do to show my appreciation but for now, a hot yummy breakfast made by moi is one of the few things within my power. I hope she knows just how much I love her and how much appreciate everything she has given me these past 22 years.

Time's A-Flyin'

Time is flying here. In England, time just sorta creeps by but I'm going non-stop back in Ky and I can't believe I have already been here A WEEK!!!

So let's see; I missed posting yesterday so here's a synopsis of Thursday and Friday.
Thursday: Skipped working out due to sore muscles but I went a hung out at the vet clinic where I worked pre-marriage. I got to see just about everyone there and caught up on all the drama and exciting stuff that I've missed. I went to B&N (why don't they have these in England!?) and bought 4 books, went to Target and didn't buy a thing, and went to Macy's where I bought a 12" every day skillet w/ lid. My 10" skillet just isn't big enough and now I can cook more than one thing on top of the stove at a time! I concluded my day with a little catching up on a few tv series I've missed for the past four months..

Friday: I got up and worked out, showered and then went to Kohl's and Old Navy with my mama. I got new clothes for my birthday and some replacement shorts seeing as how married life has seemed to encourage my backside to expland... But I love the new shorts! No more shortie shorts for me! I got three pairs of Bermuda shorts which I super comfy and cute and I can't wait to wear them! After running to Kroger and dropping off groceries, I treated my mother to Panera and then I got a much needed hair cut. It's amazing what just an inch and a half trim and some layering will do! After that, I whipped up some Southern Coffee Cookies, a recipe I got from a book. They are pretty good- I expected a stronger coffee flavor but they are really fluffy and light for cookies which I really like. I might tweak the recipe to see what I can come up with. The rest of my evening will entail curling up with one of my new books and a mug of hot tea before passing out in my bed.

I should get to talk to my husband in the next two days! I'm so excited! I'm done with the emailing and am ready to talk to him and hear his voice again. Tomorrow's agenda: heading to out to BC to hang out with Gerrit's family.

PS-Just realized I missed Wednesday too! Whoops!

Kentucky Happenings

I feel as though I've been all over BG since the rain finally stopped Sunday night.
Yesterday morning, and already this morning, I have found a gym and started working out hard. I ran errands all yesterday- everything from getting a dress altered to browsing the mall to hitting up Walmart and Kohls. I feel as though I've done nothing but spend money! However, the majority of it was spent on gifts for my two favorite guys - my dad and my husband- definitely worth the money.

Yesterday evening I had dinner with my former lab partner and great friend, Justin. We ate on campus and just chatted it up for two hours and it was pretty awesome. I haven't really sat down and had an easy going, awkwardness free conversation like that it a long time. It made me realize how much I miss having a good friend around. I love my Potter Gray girls but I gotta have my science colleagues who speak geek.

This morning at the gym at my home church, I saw two of my favorite FBC men- youth minister Mr John and pastor Dr Hopper. It was absolutely wonderful to see them and it absolutely made my morning! What really hit home was when Dr Hopper asked about my Georgie- it absolutely touched my heart that he has kept up with me enough via internet to know all about my little furry baby.

Speaking of the little hairy one, I had the most awful dream that our row of houses in England burned down and they started rebuilding immediately but noone had rescued George. I was frantically searching for him in the rubble and construction and remember being absolutely distraught! I hate dreams like that!

Today's plans: read, enjoy the sunshine, eat an early dinner with my mama at my favorite restaraunt and then head back to FBC for a fun evening of volleyball!

Lovin' my Tuesday :)

Super Soggy Sunday

It has pretty much poured down rain since I arrived Friday evening. Our front yard is slightly flooded as is our neighbors side yard across the street. My sister is stranded a county away because of completely flooded roads and bridges being overtaken by the lake rising something to the effect of 20 ft (according to my brother). There have been flash flood watches and warnings and certain roads in my neighborhood have been closed because they cannot drain properly.

I would bring the rain with me from across the pond ... according to a good friend of mine, "we were just trying to make it a comfortable transition back", seeing as how it rains all the time in England.

And of course, I would have to venture out in the torrential downpour because I would not have missed my best friend's bridal shower for the world, though I missed the last one because of a volcano... It was a great shower with lots of chocolate and friends and great gifts for the bride!

I came home and helped my mom fry up a huge batch of crappie for dinner- I miss good cookin' like that when I'm in England. Though its not the healthiest, it sure is yummy :)

I'm listening to the news where people are losing their houses due to flooding. Some people have completely evacuated because water has surged up to the roofs. It just breaks my heart to see people watch their houses fill with water and not be able to do a thing about it. I hope the water clears out soon.

Lots of errands to run starting tomorrow.

Lazy Saturday

I slept the sleep of the dead after being awake so long. 12 glorious hours of not even moving in my sleep.

Today has involved laying on the couch, eating breakfast, laying on the couch some more, showering, and playing Scrabble.

Random fact: my family is big into Scrabble. Instead of being the family who goes and plays a big game of football in the backyard when we get together, we all sit down to play a highly competitive game of Scrabble. The goal has always been to beat my mother, the word nerd. Today, she won, but only beat me by a mere 11 points after having consecutive 6 vowels and 1 consonant racks. It definitely could have been worse. And by highly competitive, I mean when I was little, I used to hide the high point tile's under my butt to try to even have a chance at winning...

One thing I have missed dearly is the wonderful water pressure in the shower! At my house in England, the water pressure is more like a strong trickle. Here, I felt as though I was being blasted with hot water. It was amazing.

Gerrit has found a computer at work which he can email me from, thank the Lord! So I have now heard from him at least 4 times within the first 24 hours of being here. It's not nearly the same as being able to hear his voice, but I am grateful just to be able to hear from him regularly.

Tonight's agenda: El Mazatlan! This is only like the best authentic Mexican restaurant around. I am meeting a group of friends there just to hang out and catch up after being away for 4 months. I have been looking forward to this for about a month now. There are just too many things on the menu that sound SOOO good. I have no idea what I will order...

It has rained nonstop since I went to bed last night... I leave sunny England for the torrential downpours of southern Kentucky... ahh there's no place like home with thunderstorms..