Thank you Facebook :)

Ok - this is my husband Jimmy.

And in honor of The Social Network being nominated for the best picture Oscar tonight...I thought I would express my love for Facebook. Not just because it has essentially changed our lives as we all know it...but in particular for providing a 21 year old boy and a 19 year old girl a means for starting off a relationship in 2005. Without "The" Facebook (haha - remember that!?), who knows where Jimmy and I would be? Let me start from the beginning and you'll see what I mean.

2005 was when Facebook was only available to certain colleges/universities and you were only able to sign up if you had a college email. In the summer of 2005, I met Jimmy through some mutual friends...but ran into him outside of a bar. For more of that story see the "about us" page. But moving on...after we went back to our respective cities, the way we started talking/flirting with each other was through Facebook messages. Yes, and texting and some calling. But these messages were where it all began. It absolutely blows my mind to go back to these messages from almost 6 years ago (even crazier/awesome that Facebook keeps all these messages!!!) and see how we flirted and talked to each other online. So what did I do? Found them in my archives and placed them within my blog. So I can read them always and forever. So I can make my blog into a book and we can show our future kids. So you can see how this thing called Facebook changed our lives :)

**As a warning, these are written going into our junior year of college, so they are hilarious and what a fun/different life we led! I just copied a few that were funny....so read a few or them all. Mainly, they are for me to never forget when we first met and remember all the reasons that I love my husband...**

The day after we met...

Brittany July 26, 2005 at 12:09pm

Do you really remember when I went to that assembly at Aquinas because if so you have an amazing memory because my mom doesn't even remember that? Oh and I just saw a truck driving down the street that had gotten in a wreck on the front end and had written on the side pointing to the damage "a woman borrowed it" that is funny shit

Jimmy July 26, 2005 at 4:36pm Report

of course i remember that, i thought you were really good looking and i asked someone, and they said it was mrs bruns daughter. I said, OH YAAA....no but i really do remember. ANyways, thats that and im calling you now, so ill talk to you in 10 secs.

Brittany July 27, 2005 at 8:57pm

hey thanks for talking to me for like 45 minutes today! not like i have anything else to do like study for a final and do a presentation..just kidding. well when you come down on friday you should for sure come drink and eat at rusty's if I am working...otherwise i might have to kill you. just kidding, but seriously this is serious shit. have a wonderful thursday at work...

Jimmy July 28, 2005 at 4:25pm Report

thats the plan stan....ill see you friday night....oh and please be scantily clad if youd like a large tip.

PIECE

Jimbo

Brittany July 29, 2005 at 2:13am

scantily clad? luckily i can figure out what that means. I really hate going to the bars because I am always so paranoid about getting caught because obviously I am not 21. Wouldn't that be a miracle if in a month I turned 21 and not 20. I would really like that...but it will never happen and I will be a loser for my entire junior year because the only place I can go is rusty's which is trashy. I am excited you all are coming down...it should be a GREAT time tomorrow!! but i still have a boyfriend...but i really think you are totally awesome and we need to hang out all the time! I am coming to KC the beginning of next week....yes we will hang out for just a little bit. i am sorry because I am drunk again...do not be mad. Call me when you get into town tomorrow and have fun at work :) Tell Ben I said hi...I had a lovely time talking to him earlier

*my commentary - it's hilarious to me that Jimmy said dress scantily clad and I didn't smack him in the face...but I guess some things just never change, right? This next one is Jimmy just being nice, but please note it was sent at 2:15AM- omg, when was the last time you sent someone a Facebook message at that time? Or really, you were awake at that time? :)

Jimmy August 22, 2005 at 2:15am Report

just wanted to wish you a happy first day of classes i had a very eventful night, and i will call you tomorrow after we both get done with classes. TAlk to you then. PIECE

JAM

*my commentary - this was my way of flirting I guess? apparently I was creepy back then too!

Brittany August 24, 2005 at 1:27am

jimmy, i love the new picture...you and dave are so cute (that is his name right?) sorry i got home later than i thought, i ended up very much not being able to drive myself home so i had to wait for a ride. and i am really sorry if that was creepy by any means tonight asking if we could hang out on my birthday...i didn't mean to be like that...i just think it would be fun. i am glad you had fun at your classes today! i will maybe talk to you tomorrow sometime, if not have a wonderful day!

*my commentary - Jimmy still tells me this today that I need to get rid of some of my Facebook friends...

Jimmy September 16, 2005 at 3:54am Report

271 friends whats up with that. i know you have like 565 more but seriously mine are real...whats up withe that... soryr i drank a lot of beers and i cant text or call youbeaucwe your sasleep ....maybe later baby....

* my commentary - this is my favorite string of messages :)

Jimmy September 26, 2005 at 4:00pm Report

hey if you ever clear out your inbox i might send you some of the wonderful pictures from last weekend. i dunno just a thought.

Brittany September 29, 2005 at 12:20am

I just wanted to let you know of my strong feelings I am having right now. I really do not like accounting and tests in general...specifically I am very angry at receivables and the need for bad debt expense and allowance for bad debt accounts (why don't people just pay their bills so I don't have to learn about what to do with their uncollectibles?). And I am really hating that we do not live in the same city. Just cause after a night like this, even though you are out...I would love to be at your apartment with Toby and see you when you come home. How's that for expressing my feelings :) HOpe you had a wonderful evening!

Jimmy September 29, 2005 at 2:53am Report

can you really be this perfect or will i wake up from this awesome dream soon??

Brittany September 29, 2005 at 1:36pm

BOO!! ok good you're awake...Jimmy this is not a dream. My name is Brittany Bruns, I live in Manhattan, love your dog, your friends, and you. I am real. And we are really dating...oh and thanks for coaxing me through my random thoughts last night. I loved it.

And there you have it....if you can't tell, we started dating "officially" right before that string of messages. Even after 5.5 years, I still love him for "coaxing me through my random thoughts" on a daily basis. I think it's funny in my last message how I say "my name is Brittany Bruns" but now my Facebook name is Brittany Carter

Overall, thank you Mark Zuckerberg - I do have a feeling we would have found each other some way if Facebook hadn't existed, but oh you made it so much easier...and I wish the film makers of The Social Network the best of luck tonight on their best picture nomination at the Oscars!!

Technology Tidbit

Isn't it crazy to think how fast technology moves and changes today? Just a few things to think about...

Didn't exist a year ago today:

• iPhone 4 (not released until June 2010)
• iPad (announced in January, released in April 2010....by September, sold $7.5 million units) - can you say CRAZY!!!?
• Windows phone- not released until October 2010
• Kinect for Xbox- not released until November 4, 2010!! And go to the store and look at all the games that already require it, so nuts!
• PS3 move wasn't released until September 16, 2010

Things that have been around a year, but taken the world by storm...

• Angry birds (kind of - released for the iPhone Decmeber 2009...became the top selling paid app in the Apple store February of 2010 and is now on the Android market)
• Google phone--- was released in January
• B&N Nook and Amazon Kindle- holy cow, while these were still around...they have sure taken the world by storm and changed the way society reads their news/books/magazines!

Just sit back and think how different your life was a year ago without all these things.... :)

Technology is simply amazing and moving at crazy speeds....can you keep up!? Or a better question...can you bank account keep up? :)

Stomach of Steel

Ok I have fun posts coming....trip to Houston.....hm, that might be it. I think maybe one more is on my list. But I had to write about this in the mean time.

Tuesday night, Jimmy and I left to go over to visit his mom for a bit because she has been really sick. We figured we would just leave the dogs out to roam the house since we wouldn't be gone for too long, right? Well 2 DVRed Jeopardy episodes later (Watson vs. Jeopardy stars) with his mom, we were gone a little longer than expected, but didn't think anything of it. When I walked in, I actually didn't notice anything odd. But then when I walked back down to the family room- I noticed that there were some papers that had been pulled out of my bag that I take to work that was hanging up on the hooks...oh and the cushion on the bench was on the floor....oh and my bag strap was broken....oh and there is a 3/4 empty bag of peanut M&Ms that I had just bought to take to work for our department's candy stash......wait WHAT?!!

Oh yes, someone/somedog had somehow gotten into my bag that was hanging on the hook and gotten some papers and one 12.6oz bag of valentine's day peanut M&Ms out and had a little dessert. I instantly knew that Toby had gotten them out, as he is the only one big enough (long enough) to get in the bag. But I am pretty sure it was a team effort from the Bash Brothers...aka Willy and Toby. And little miss Milly was just a bystander in the incident. But I really had to figure out who had consumed...you know...over half the bag of those M&Ms and which one was going to be sick. So next was the doggie breathalyzer aka I go around to all 3 of the dogs that I have in a line up (similar to a DUI check point I would guess) and I open up their mouths to sniff their breath. (they probably felt like this poor dog....)

Milly's breath was disgusting, as usual, but no sign of chocolate. She was free to go. Next up...Toby. He had some nasty stuff on his teeth that could have been chocolate, but it didn't smell like chocolate, so I dismissed it as gross plaque and let him go. Plus, that dog has eaten rat poison and lived, so I figured he could withstand 8-9 oz of M&Ms. Finally, Willy's turn. And what do you know. Open it up, take a sniff and bingo. I have identified the culprit. Smelling his breath was like walking into a Russell Stover's store. Nice, but obviously not normal for a dog.

Next steps were I made Jimmy get online and start researching what to do. Willy has gotten into a tootsie roll stash before and he was fine, so I wasn't too worried, but I wanted to make sure we were taking the right steps. Well instead of calling the emergency vet...for free...Jimmy paid $26 for a vet online to tell us to make him drink hydrogen peroxide to make him throw up. No comment on the latter sentence. It was for the health/well-being of our child aka dog. So we took the costly advice and took him outside, poured a few ounces of the liquid drug into a little medicine cup and poured it down his throat and waited....and waited....nothing happened. Hm...he said it would be instant. Oh...there it was...oh nope...just a burp. Looked at each other. The vet said max 15 oz of peroxide. We only did half. So we did the other half. And then waited...and waited....oh...nope, another burp. And constant looks of "you people are nuts, let me back inside". There were a few times we thought he was going to spew, but then nothing. What a let down.

Once we were back inside, Jimmy volunteered to sleep on the floor in the family room with him since the carpet is sick down there and it's close to the back door. Well, that lasted until about 12:30AM. Still not sure why, but that left me to care for and sleep next to sicky mcsickerson all night. And of course, my constant worry set in. Waking up on the hour to check his breathing and heart beat (lord, please help me when I have real kids!)...then picking him and up and taking him outside and walking around with him thinking something was bound to come out the front or the back. Nothing....all five times :( So up at 5:15 and petting him, holding him, walking around outside, nothing. WTF! I was getting so frustrated. I mean, this dog has to get it out somehow, right? So I left early for work and left Jimmy still sleeping with strict instructions to make sure Willy poops. Sure enough, by 7AM, I was at my desk and had a message from Jimmy with a picture of Willy's big pile of poop attached for my viewing. Not going to lie, I couldn't have been more relieved and happy to see that picture- as gross as it was.

Let's hope Willy makes it through the day...but apparently he has a stomach of steel............guess that's good to know? Oh the joys of being a pet owner!

Happy Valentines day! :)

Love is in the air you say? Well for Jimmy and I not-so-much because KU and K-State are playing each other tonight- but good thing I have class so he can watch it alone and not rub in KU's potential victory on me. Especially after the one basket loss K-State had on Saturday. Anyways, on to the good stuff!

But overall- very happy to be celebrating my first Valentine's day with a husband- and a great one at that. So blessed to have someone in my life that I can confide in, that supports me, and loves me for just who the person I am :)

Oh and not to leave out the wonderful family and friends in our lives that we LOVE so much! After a great weekend in Houston with Vanessa and Chris....we couldn't be more thankful!!

And finally - our cute cute dogs. Our little babies. We love them. And they have a special Valentine's Day message just for you:

So basically, we held a little dog photo shoot late Thursday night because I knew I wanted to make a funny photo with our dogs to mark Valentine's day (similar to to Halloween!) really for our nieces and nephews...but I decided to send to our family as well. I had all the V-day cards ready and written, but had been slacking on the photo...so Thursday we took the pics, I designed them with a clever message and then Friday got them developed...and tada. Our Valentine's day picture :) If you don't know the dynamics of these 3 little dogs....this card really tells their story, as Toby has a love/hate relationship with the wiener dogs and vice versa. So you never know if they are going to love each other or hate each other each day!! Haha!!

Hope everyone has a WONDERFUL day, full of lots of happiness and remembering all of those you love and treasure! I got some beautiful flowers from Jimmy at work on Friday afternoon that are making our house smell SO good!

Back to school

A few weeks ago....I became a student again and have officially started getting my MBA (remember when I finished the GMAT?)!! After my first class being canceled due to weather the first week of January and then not having class due to MLK holiday the next Monday--- I finally got to attend class at UMKC for the start of my MBA. And boy oh boy- it was quite the shock.

It's funny because as you get older, I think you forget what it feels like to do something so new and kind of scary. Really, go into the unknown. I'm not going to lie, I was terrified the first day of class. Scared I wouldn't know where to go on campus....the typical questions a college freshmen has during their first week of class like:

"Where do I park?"

"How do I get to my classroom?"

"What will I need for class?"

"What if I'm late?"

"What if no one likes me...?"

Haha, the last one makes me laugh. That as a 25 year old that thought would even pass through my mind...but you know what, I think at any time you do something new with new people, I will feel that way :)

So on my first night I:

- Parked WAY too far away and had to walk forever to my building (in the dark because my class doesn't start until 7)

- Forgot a pen (who does that!)

- Got there WAY too early

- Lived through class :)

But it was funny to me how my nervous emotions made me feel like such a kid again. I've been to class 3 times now, our groups have been assigned, I've read a few chapters in my book (haven't had a quiz yet!), and met some great people that work at some interesting places that I know I'll learn a lot from. I did get assigned as my group "point person", so I guess things never change....but at least I'm hoping other working adults will pull their weight with the group projects more than some of my undergrad classmates did at times :)

So far I'm actually really enjoying my class, my professor and feel like I'm going to learn a lot. However, I am very thankful I was a business undergrad---I can't imagine coming into this class with no business or economics background! I already have a classroom BFF because she has a liberal arts background and is so lots...but I'm happy to help!

And the best part is- I haven't felt like I was going to fall asleep in class yet even though it is from 7-9:45 after working all day long...guess that means it's somewhat interesting!?

Cheers to learning...

Jimmy's first week

As any new thing that one embarks on, there are changes and adjustments. So Jimmy started his new job last Monday....at the same place I work. Just two buildings over...which in such a huge complex is incredibly close. With him starting work here, what we knew as our "normal" became non-existent and we have started work on establishing our new "normal" and routine in our house. Let me just say this. It has been interesting :) Other words to describe this week: comforting, fun, funny, frustrating, together time (lots of it), wonderful.

Comforting - Those of you in KC are well aware of the massive amounts of snow that happened this past week (still not melted yet with more this week!!!). Schools were canceled Tuesday - Thursday! What a horrible week to start work, especially when you have 6 weeks of mandatory training that you cannot get behind on. Monday we didn't ride together because it was his first day and he didn't have to be there until 9 and I had an 8:00 meeting. Tuesday, we were there right at 8AM, with about 10 other people, but his training was over at noon- thank goodness and we kind of beat the snow home. It was even better to have him and his SUV driving me around and keeping me safe :)

Fun - It has actually been kind of fun riding to and from work with someone. Sometimes we talk, sometimes we don't. But obviously we talk a lot more because once we get in the car we immediately talk about our day. And who doesn't want someone there to complain to about a bad day and who is forced to listen? Haha!

Funny - One of the main reasons I love and fell in love with Jimmy is because he can always make me laugh. So as I mentioned, when I get in the car after a bad day and "complain" (really, I do actually love my job and what I do...but you know those days I'm talking about.....), Jimmy always says something to make me laugh and actually forget about anything that made me upset by the time we pull into the driveway!

Frustrating - Syncing schedules with anyone after you have done your own thing for a long time is well...not so easy. It's funny because after being married actually 10 months TODAY(!!) we had such a good schedule down with work and taking care of everything at home. So I knew when Jimmy got a new job it would make for a need for change in our good schedule. Let alone leaving our house at the same time in the morning and leaving work the same time. It can be frustrating (like when one of us has an 8AM meeting or needs to stay at work a bit later), but it's encouraging us to be flexible and really support each other....so while it can be frustrating at time, it's still nice to have that person as a constant part of your life.

Together Time (lots of it) - Well...as you probably guessed. Driving to work together, seeing each other around the building and around lunch time in the cafeteria....it's a lot of "together time". Literally, after the first week of him working with me by Friday I felt like I had spent over 1/2 the week just riding in the car with him (mainly because it took double the time to get to and from work with the weather), but on Friday when we were talking about what at do--- we were both happy to go our separate ways with our friends :) I headed out to Avenues Bistro with some friends and then Jimmy to the Brooksider with his friends. It was a much needed break, but I was more than happy to drop him off and pick him up. Just have to get used to having him around so much!!

Wonderful - After all these things you just read about, overall I couldn't be happier for Jimmy for his new job and new career. It has been very fun having him around so much and it's neat that we know exactly what each other does at work :) Merging of our work lives isn't easy, but there are lots of other married folks at work and some of them have been riding to work together for 30 years...WOW! So I guess we have something to look forward to. We couldn't be more blessed and wonderful is the perfect word is describe my feelings about the whole thing!

PS So happy to have been married to old Jim for 10 months today- can't believe how fast time has flown by!!! Love you Jimmy!

Date night #6 - BARBIES and fried chicken!

In keeping our romance alive, we are sticking with surprise dates in 2011. So to follow up Surprise Date #5, it was Jimmy's turn in January to plan it. All I was told was be ready at 10:30AM on Saturday morning. Well, of course that was pushed back to 11:30 because I wanted to go to my 9AM work out class and Jimmy wasn't going to say no to a work out....so at 11:30AM, we headed to "around 50th and Brookside Blvd". Ok, so that was my only clue and I kept thinking where we could be going. The only thing that I could remember around there was UMKC, but I was hoping that he wasn't taking me to class :)

And no he wasn't taking me to that....it was a MUCH better surprise!! The Toy and Miniature Museum of KC!! Barbie turned 50 this year and there was a special exhibit that Jimmy found online and knew I'd love so he wanted to take me to see it. How freaking thoughtful is that? I loved it so much!!

We did saunter around the whole museum first before making it to the Barbie exhibit upstairs. They have some amazing stuff and full of so much history! It's crazy how detailed and small some of the doll houses and dolls are. It was so neat to see some of the doll houses that were made to mimic the little girl who played in them's real home. AHH! I wanted all of them and was just walking around wishing for a little girl someday thinking of all the fun we could have - haha!

But then when we finally made it upstairs. OH-MY-GOODNESS. Even at 25, I was still in complete heaven. I blogged previously about the Barbie Room that my sister and I had growing up, so you have some clue how much I love Barbies. And this was amazing. From all about Barbie, her last name, hometown and family members...there was so much to see! And they had lots of historical Barbies on display, which is awesome and hilarious at the same time because I went through each display case and pointed out to Jimmy which ones my sister and I had. And there were SO many. Some include, Doctor Barbie, Rollerblade Barbie (Lyndsay remember how her rollerblades sparked!!?), Baywatch Barbie, Pizza hut Skipper and her boyfriend....oh and the list goes on. In this picture that I snapped with my cell phone, they had a car that we still have with removable seat belts. Pictures were not allowed, so I'm sorry for breaking the rules...but I didn't show you the whole exhibit...just a few shots to hopefully get you to go see it for yourself for only $7!!

There is Baywatch Barbie on her jetski...and there is Olympic Barbie, which we had too :) Oh, I was in complete heaven and loved it so much. How fun and what a great celebration!!

At the end of the exhibit, there was a spot where you could write about your personal Barbie story and hang it on the wall with other folks. It was so cute to see all the stories and how Barbie and her friends had a part of their life. From a 5 year old to a 12 year old and even a 55 year old wrote about it! So of course I had to partake in the fun!

Then we headed to lunch at Stroud's in Fairway. An odd lunch choice since Jimmy is not a big fan of fried chicken, but he apparently heard me loud and clear because I kept saying "wow we haven't had Stroud's in a long time...". Boy it was a LOT of food, but it was so delicious! Needless to say, if you see the boxes in the left of the picture below, you will see that we didn't even come close to eating it all...but it made for some good left overs!

That concluded the date day....but then at 5:30PM we headed to Nara for the KU/K-State basketball game and happy hour there with Bobby and Hillary and had a great time. Luckily sushi is pretty light eating because we were both so stuffed from the earlier lunch!! After that we headed to the Blue Moose for more basketball until I dragged him home :) It was good for him....he needed to get ready for his first day of work on Monday so that means some good rest on Saturday!!!

Thanks for a great date Jimmy! Can't wait for the next one...I already have some VERY fun plans!

Bobby's birthday: Karaoke night

Friday, January 21 was Jimmy's little brother Bobby's 25th birthday!!! And in Carter 25th birthday style (for Jimmy's 25th we went and did the same thing!!)...he wanted to go out and hit up Westport Flea Market and karaoke the night away! So we did just that.

Hillary invited everyone over to their adorable house- which I was so happy to get to see after all their beautiful wedding presents were all put on the walls/shelves/etc. And of course, she had a great spread of food and appetizer and desserts - OMG cake balls, where have I been? these are delicious! - and fun friends. Oh and that's when we figured out THIS announcement about Milly and Willy's former parents. So crazy still!!

Back to the night and the birthday fun! We headed to Westport Flea market to get right to the karaoke. And we did just that, got right to it. Jimmy started the night off...apparently he wasn't too nervous that he didn't need too much alcohol in him. Bobby did request everyone do a little number, so there were lots of songs going on with the group of his and Hillary's friends that were there. I was getting wasted on DC (diet coke), but apparently I had enough to get courage to go up there and do a duet with Jimmy. Haha! It was the one song of the night that I didn't get on video! I should have had someone video tape it, but I forgot :) But with all the videos I did take- I put together (well Jimmy helped me) a video of all the acts in a condensed format! Take a look at it on youtube - because as I mentioned, I'm having blogger video issues!!! Oh and another issue you might happen to notice...I need to keep my camera horizontal when taking video. Hence why in a few of the videos (like Jimmy's, Tommy's and Bobby and Hillary's) are not quite right...but that's ok, live and learn!

Jimmy and I after our duet :) We sang Backstreet Boys. It was awesome.

This guy wasn't with us...but he was really good at singing!!!

The birthday boy and John rocking it at karaoke!

Oh Tommy.....

Overall it was a fantastic night---so much fun. We finally got kicked out at 12:30AM and headed to Charlie Hoopers in Brookside for one last drink for these Carters. We headed to Burger King for a late night snack to end the night - yum. This picture described about how Jimmy felt.

Happy birthday Bobby! We had so much fun celebrating with you- cheers to many more happy birthdays and lots more fun nights out with you and Hillary :)

Hello February; hello organization

So now that we are in month #2 of 2011-- yep, it's true, I cannot believe it's already February!! -- I'm determined to start getting those nasty organization to-dos knocked off my list. We can call it an early spring cleaning. Or- er-- late wedding clean up? Ok, it's embarrassing for me to admit this since we have almost been married now for a little under 10 months now that I still have a closet full of stuff from our wedding. Yep, all the DIY decor, left over programs, candles, shoes, flower girl/ring bearer pillows, etc. Stuffed in the guest room closet and looking oh so awful. Let's just say I have had to warn any and all guests to "do not enter".

Pretty awful huh? But there is a reason I have been putting this off. I promise. If you think it's valid, that's up to you to be the judge. My reason is...what do I do with all the "stuff" left over from the best day of my life? I mean, I cannot throw away all the programs, napkins I stamped, unity candle, rehearsal dinner invitations....and yep, you can see them below....the cut out pictures of Jimmy and I's head that were stuck on the life size cut outs of Bella and Edward. Yep, I kept those :) Haha.

So there you have it. All the "stuff" laid out. Now what to do with it? And don't forget the dogs clothing attire they wore during the wedding. Nope, have to keep that!!!

Bella and Edward....well...unfortunately they had to go in the recycling bin :( Don't get upset, they were broken in half and they wouldn't fit in a plastic storage bin!!!!!! AHH I cannot be a hoarder - so don't get upset they had to go.

After I laid it all out in the guest room, I headed off to buy some storage bins and started organizing. And while I was at it- I tackled the closet in the office as well...which was...well...to put it nicely, full of crap. So I grabbed all the "wedding stuff (including all our wedding and engagement cards)" and all the "random Hallmark stuff I have bought/collected/been gifted from working there" and finally "other" and put them nicely in storage bins and moved them to the basement.

And finally after a few hours, found myself with this:

AHHH - I just get the same feeling looking at these pictures as I did looking around the room once I had everything packed up and stored in its respective place. You know that feeling? Maybe it's just me....but when I start and accomplish something that makes a room cleaner, more organized and FINALLY off my to do list...I am nothing but smiles and feel so happy and like a weight is lifted off my shoulders. Wahoo!

Better yet, I tackled more than I planned to that afternoon/evening because I went ahead and got all the "junk" out of the office closet, set up our new file cabinet (the other one was full!) and put labels on my containers and done. Love it how I feel every time I open that closet to see....ORGANIZATION at it's finest :)

When do you start your spring cleaning? Put it off until spring or tackle one step at a time throughout the year?? I'm more of a take it one step at a time type of girl, but cannot forget that feeling of accomplishing something and leaving it just a little bit better....

Vanessa: BFF: Birthday

Ok, so there is this girl named Vanessa. I knew her first when her last name is Gower. Now it's different because she got married :) The first time we actually met she was wearing this....

...yep, it's true. We officially met at another Vanessa's house our senior year of high school at a Halloween party. 1) Yes there was another person I knew that was named Vanessa and this Vanessa was friends with her- pretty crazy! 2) Yes, she was dressed as a piece of pizza. I was a Hooter's girl. Not sure which one is worse, but apparently we weren't concered. 3) This is obviously not our senior year of high school, but she did re-wear the pizza costume for the Pi Phi "P" date party we had junior year. Awesome.

Ok, so that was high school. Then comes college right?! We both headed off to Manhattan, KS and paid the "move in early fee" to the dorms so we could get all our stuff in before rush week. Yep, it was called "rush" then, not "recruitment". Boy how we have aged. I remember this moment distinctively actually. I was walking down the stairs of Boyd hall and was walking by the front desk when I looked over and this girl that I thought looked familiar was standing there talking to the front desk attendant. I knew I knew her from somewhere and BOOM it hit me. So of course, I do the total Brittany thing and walk up to an almost complete stranger to say (my side of the conversation:

"HI- remember me? I was the Hooter's girl. Yep, we met at the other Vanessa's how funny. Yep, I'm going through rush too. And we both live in Boyd Hall, how fun. Ok, well maybe I'll see you during rush week. Bye!"

And you know what, that could of been it. But boy did God have a plan for us :) He put us on the same dorm floor during rush. This is a picture I scanned in to show you just how sexy we were freshman year of college. Yep Vanessa, I like you enough to SCAN pictures. Actually Jimmy scanned it for me because I was in class. But still! Haha.

So then what happened? Well, you guessed it. We ended up both pledging Pi Beta Phi and I would love to say the rest is history. However my friends, it's just not that easy, but really what good friendship is? We were Pi Phis together, lived together in the house and spent lots of time going out, watching movies, gossiping, etc. You know what we wish we could spend our days and nights doing now! I even sat in our room in Pi Phi one time and watched her sister's wedding video. If you know the end of this story- you will realize how ironic that was!

The summer between junior and senior year of college we lived together with 3 other fabulous girls in a house on Laramie in Manhattan, KS. One day we were in the kitchen and she said something about someone that I thought she said "Jenny". So I asked if it was her friend Jenny from high school, she said "Nope, Jimmy. Jimmy Carter- my sister's husband's little brother". That's all I remember of the story. But then a few days later, we went to Lawrence randomly to go out and stay the night there. And I met Jimmy. Outside of a bar. He didn't have the long red hair she said he did, but I thought he was pretty swell. So we drove back to Manhattan, a little loopy from the previous nights events laughing and laughing and I was talking about Jimmy. Then as time went on, I started to like Jimmy. And Vanessa said : "OMG- you guys like totally have to get married because if you do....we'll be kinda-sorta related and have to be friends FOREVER!!" This was a picture the night we might have started conspiring.

Well, as you know friends...that is just how the story ends, and really keeps on going. Who knew that innocent comment made between two friends wishing to solidify a lifelong friendship would actually come true? It did. And even though Vanessa and her wonderful husband, Chris, have been moving around the country and are not living right next door to Jimmy and I like our plan was (someday Chris....)...we are still the best of friends and I couldn't be more thankful to have in my life. And we share some pretty cute nieces and a nephew now too. However, they look exactly like her, so if you were trying to guess who's related by blood---it's probably not that hard!! But still- how freaking cool is that?!?! Here we are with our husbands!

Anyways, that's a short version of just how we became friends. And really how we'll always and forever be friends. Haha. But I hope she just has the most wonderful birthday of all today and is thoroughly enjoying the warm Houston, TX weather---because we are in for a blizzard in KC!! V- I can't wait to help you celebrate many more birthdays and look forward to so many more wonderful years and experiences we'll have as friends. I'm very thankful for all my friends and family...and especially you, who is the perfect mix of both! Love you!!

Vanessa on some birthday- oh the good old days :) I'm guessing she will not be wearing this or doing this tonight...but we can only dream about when we had that much fun. Now we just have a different kind of fun, right!?

I love this picture :)