Memorial Day Weekend

This weekend was busy. I spent a good deal of time cleaning my house and getting ready for our small group that came over Monday night for dinner. We had Paula Dean Enchilladas, Taco Soup, Salad, Chips, Guacamole, and dessert. Each person brought a few things. It was nice to have people over however during the Bible Study part I was kind of tuned out. There was a lot of noise and it was hard to concentrate plus our Bible Study hasn't been very good. I can't tell you one thing I've learned from it. I think we decided as a group to find a new study that is more thought provoking and deep.

I planted a bunch of Hydrangeas this weekend. They are one of my all time favorites and all of my bridesmaids carried them at our wedding. The best thing about living in the Pacific Northwest is that you can grow anything in this climate! My mom and dad gave me a Billy Graham Rose and we have Lavendar, Tulips, lilacs, and a million other things in our yard that I can't spell or even know what they are. I love flowers and maybe someday if I've had it with my day job I'll just plant flowers all day long.

Adios....until next time.
Laura

Celebrating Five Years of Marriage

Yesterday Ryan and I celebrated five years of marriage. It was a fairly low key day. We went to our favorite Sushi restaurant and ate 11 plates of sushi together!!! It was SO good. I love sushi. We also bought a camera and accessories for our trip to Europe which is where we will really celebrate five years of marriage.

I can still remember how much fun our wedding was five years ago with the trolley, big band, and all of our friends and family gathered to share our special day. I loved our wedding and I wish I could have one wedding every year (to the same person of course). I am thankful to God that Ryan and I have stood the test of time and I am hopeful that God will have much more to teach us about love for many more years to come.

Five years down and many more to go.

Laura

A 16 Hour Work Day

I had to take a break today while working because I am still recovering from yesterday. I worked from 5:30 AM-9:30 PM last night. I took two bathroom breaks and went to get dinner for about a half hour. It was an absolutely crazy nuts day! This month has been the best sales month I've ever had though so I am very thankful to God for the business. Ryan got back from DC last night at about 11 PM and found me sleeping. I sort of remember him coming in but not really. Wrigley did the happy dance when daddy got home. Wrigley is so much like a child it's kind of creepy. He's naughty one minute and the next minute he's this little angel dog sleeping like a cute little teddy bear.

Gotta run and go back to work. :(

Packing Light

Can you believe I think I am going to be able to fit everything I need for my 15 day trip to Europe in a backpack and a carry on! For those of you who know me you are probably suprised because you know I like to pack a lot of stuff. I've been planning my packing list for months now so I'm feeling good about how few things I'm bringing! I tried to color cordinate all of my outfits to try and cut back on the number of shoes and clothes I need to bring. As I am reading this blog I am boring myself so I'm going to wrap it up.

A toast to packing light...Rick Steves eat your heart out!

Laura

Fatty McTatty but Oh So Good!

Yesterday I made Paula Deen's Mac and Cheese along with Red Velvet Cake Cupcakes. Would you like to know how much fat was in these two items...okay, well I'll tell you. For the Mac and Cheese I used an entire stick of butter and 3 3/4 cups of cheese and whole milk. For the Red Velvet cake I used 2 2/3 cups of oil for the cake mixed with buttermilk and eggs and for the frosting 1 lb of Cream Cheese, two sticks of butter, and 4 cups of confectioners sugar. Now, I can't think of a meal that has more fat and calories than this but it was oh so good (and what Ryan asked for as his birthday meal).
Ryan liked his Sushi lunch and his Favorite Things B-day dinner. I bought him a few little presents like a grill cover and barbeque set, Harry and David food items, and his favorite gift a Peeps cookbook. Yes, that is right, Peeps has published a cookbook that shows you how to incorporate Peeps into food like Molten Lava Peeps Cake, Peeps on a stick, etc. It was the hit of the town.
Today I was going to start my diet but then realized that I had leftover mac and cheese in the fridge that was calling my name so diet starts tomorrow. I sent all of the cupcakes with Ryan to work.
:) Laura

Today is Ryan's 33rd Birthday

Today is Ryan's birthday and he is getting old (like me). Ryan has this morbid fascination where he thinks he is going to die by age 58 (I know its so weird) so this morning as I was singing happy birthday to him he said only 25 more years to go. I just remind him to make sure he gets a big life insurance policy (I'm kidding). I told him I think he might want to talk to a counselor about this year of death thing that he always talks about. I also mentioned that I might have him locked up that year so nothing can happen to him. All I can say is that it is odd but we Meixners are not the most normal people in the world.

I have decided to have a birthday dinner for Ryan and call it "My favorite things". I have gone around the house and found things that represent joy and fun to Ryan. I plan to put all of these things in an arrangement on the dinner table. I found his Chicago cubs hat, a stuffed Llama from his Peru trip, a taxi from NYC, a picture of all of his pledge brothers from Purdue. I am also making him southern food tonight(which he requested) including Paula Deen's mac and cheese and Red Velvet cake. Hopefully Wrigley won't give Ryan any of his well known gifts which make us gag.

This time last year I flew out to suprise Ryan in Seattle (I was living in Charlotte) and we had lunch at the Space Needle. A wonderful friend gave me frequent flyer miles for first class. It was a great trip!

Happy Birthday Easter Bunny (aka Ryan).

Laura

My European Vacation

I am going to try and write more in my blog. Ryan and I are going on a European Vacation June 5-20th with Rick Steves www.ricksteves.com. Check out the Multi-City tour and you will see our tour agenda.

I'll write more later.

Laura

I was inspired by Kristie's Blog

I decided that blogging is a cool thing to do. I may struggle to keep up with facebook and blogging but I have decided that blogging is therapeutic and will be like my online journal.

So, I went to Charlotte and Dallas last week for business. I didn't have much time to see people but was able to see a few good friends (Molskness Family, Duguid family, Cindy, Kara, and Yokeleys). I love Charlotte in the spring...it is the best time of year to go there (a part from allergies). I also love the well manicured lawns and the clean city streets.

I had an interesting trip...I got in a car accident in Dallas, the airline lost my bag last night in Seattle, and the flight home was so turbulent that I thought that God might be calling me home. It was great to come home to Wrigley and Ryan. Wrigley licked my face for about 10 minutes and did the happy dog dance. Ryan sent me a cute text message while I was gone that said, "Your boyz miss you, Woof" which melted my heart. I think Ryan gets lonely when I leave him...it's nice to be missed. Tomorrow is Ryan's 33rd birthday. We are getting old! I am going to World Vision and Roger and I are taking Ryan out for sushi..yum. Then Ryan requested that I make Paula Dean's Mac and Cheese and Red Velvet cake for dinner. I'll probably find some meat to include. I bought Ryan a Peeps cookbook which has a million recipes to make with peeps and I bought him a few other food gifts. We are really going to celebrate in Europe!

Thanks Kristie for inspiring my blog!
Laura

It's Been Almost A Year Since I wrote on this Blog

This Blog posting is dedicated to my friend Kristie who has been asking me to update my blog for about a year now...

So, a year has gone by and I'm now living in the Seattle/Tacoma area in a new house, at a new church, with new friends. I don't like living here that much (Sorry Kris). The weather absolutely stinks.
Very few people care what they look like out here and in fact that includes their houses. People let moss grow on their roofs (like a lot!), they have two or three cars in their front yard.
Since I've lived in my house I've had various stray animals show up at my house. My neighbor behind me has attack dogs...I feel like I'm living in West Virginia. When I lived in Charlotte I thought people cared too much about their appearance....now I feel like people in Seattle/Tacoma don't take any pride in their appearance. I long for a healthy balance!

Last week I went to California on business and fell in love with that state again. A part from the liberal 9th Curcuit judges and all of the drugs I really do like it. I like the 6 lane free ways, I like the Ocean, I like the beach, I like the fact that people tend to be more mellow and relaxed. I relax when I am in California.

So, this is my first blog entry in about a year and I kind of feel like I complained a lot. Maybe I just needed to get that out of my system so I can now write fun and chipper blogs about my dog and husband.

Laura