EVICTION NOTICE NO MORE!!

After a grueling 3 days of applications, resumes, and applications across town I was offered a job Friday. I am the future office administrator for a Lutheran Church here in town. Pretty cool huh? I was really happy when they gave me the job, because the interview was really extensive... but I decided that an open line of communication was the way to go.

Now. Some of you may be concerned with the denomination of this church. An AWESOME thing we talked about in the interview. They prefer non-members on staff. AMAZING!! This is a total 360 from my previous church j-o-b.

* entering random rant*

It amazes me the close-minded-ness of many churches in today's society. People believe that their way is the only way to Heaven or the only "correct" way to live your life. You have GOT to be kidding me.

I have a HUGE passion for God's work and I am daily reminded of the wonderful things Christ did for my life, but to believe that my interpretation of God's word is the ONLY way to see it is unfathomable to me.

Bottom line: Jesus Christ was the Son of God who came to this world, led a blameless life, DIED for my sins, and rose again on the 3rd day.

That being said: I am incredibly thankful for the opportunity to help serve God (in whichever way I might) and help these people do their work for God even though it may not be the way that I worship and acknowledge God.

I loved my previous job, but I really think this area was a tremendous struggle for them. Only in that it was EXPECTED that staff be fully active members and volunteers in the church. I loved that church and their vision, but I LOVED the church I attended and learned so much on a weekly basis from that church. I never felt comfortable feeling "pressure" to convert to their belief system or interpretation on some things in the word. Also, the pressure from being the only staff member to come on board that WASN'T a member was felt the entirety of my employment (but that's a totally diff story)

The pastor I will be working for has already expressed to me his vision for his church and how excited he is to have fresh "outside" eyes to help with their ministry. I love it. I am so excited for it, and now Ab can take the eviction notice off of my door.

Some things aren't MEANT to be shared...

So I love being married. My husband is great, the apartment is great, the view is great, the job search is going great... one small problem.

My wonderful, sweet, charming husband shared something with me this last week that I am NOT so excited about. What did he share you ask??

His gross infected red eyes. Over the last 3+ years of knowing Ab he has always had these blood shot gross looking eyes at times. Disturbing yes, but contagious... nah. These fun eyes have gotten progressively worse for him over the course of the last 2 or 3 weeks. I felt bad for him wondering what could make his eyes like that at random. I mean.. it couldn't be pink-eye, he's had these eyes for 3 years.

Or is it?? I woke up yesterday morning with a particular pain in my left eye. It's not gooey like some gross eyes are. Just VERY dry and VERY painful.

If any of you know me very well... you know that I FREAK out when stuff comes near my eyes. Kristen had a fun time doing my makeup because of this. Eyedrops are another story. I'm reminded of an episode of FRIENDS (that Ab has yet to watch: Sorry dear). You know.... that one where Rachel has pink-eye. They have to LITERALLY hold her down to get the drops in. Pretty much the scene between Ab and I at lunch today. I HATE PEOPLE MESSING WITH MY EYES!!

Anywhooo... All that to say a public "Thank you" to my dear husband for being too stubborn to go to the doctor for your eyes and now infecting us both.
HAHA!!

Sorry Kristen...

Ok. So as many of you know. I am VERY ADD when it comes to my hair. I'm always looking for something new and fun to do with it. Well. Last Saturday Ab and I were out and about and he needed a haircut. I was planning on going with him and waiting. Well, I decided I wanted a trim, no wait.. a little off... no wait.. umm 8-10 inches off? I planned on waiting until I came back to Tulsa to get it all chopped off, but I got impatient. Ha! Sorry Kristen. I'll let you color it or something. So anywhoo..these are the pics of my new hair.

New life, new husband, new hometown... why not new hair?

Ahh the honeymoon...

Now, seeing as how many things that happen on a honeymoon are not to be shared (even though my fabulous husband might think so), I have decided to give you all a rundown of all the beautiful things we did in California *outside the hotel ;)

5am Sun April 8th: Ab and I were rudely awoken by the alarm clock. Our flight to Cali was at 7am. I will still never understand this, but ok. Adam being the gracious soul that he is drove us to the airport. One great perk of being at the airport on Easter morning at 6am is that you can GUARANTEE upgrades. We got to upgrade our seats from Dallas to San Francisco to First Class.

Our first dinner as a married couple was at a restaurant called "Spinnaker". The food was FANTASTIC, but due to the fact we were sitting out on the water, my body decided to get "sea sick" and I never finished eating.

Our first full day in San Francisco was indeed a FULL day. I got to walk on a beach and see the ocean for the first time; eat at the Cheesecake Factory (on top of a 7 story Macy's!) in downtown San Francisco; and see the A's play their opening game in McAfee Coliseum. The A's wound up losing and I froze my ace off, but I got a really cute sweatshirt out of the deal so all was well in my world.

The next day is kind of a blur, we drove down and walked through Muir Woods and began our adventure in Napa Valley.

Napa Valley is BEAUTIFUL!!!!! Who knew that a bunch of grapes on sticks could make such beautiful scenery. :) Our last day was spent touring various wineries that we selected based on their unavailability in other areas of the country. Frank Family, V. Sattui, and August Briggs to name a few. We had lots of great wine, took tons of great pics, and managed to (illegally) get our selections back to this great state we now call home.

Good Friday... Who Knew?

I figured that we would start with the wedding weekend, this being the first post and all. Subsequent posts will be penned by either myself or Brandi, and the topics will most likely lack continuity. Let us begin...

After it was all said and done, I asked Brandi if the wedding weekend went the way she wanted it to. She said that it did, and for that I was extremely thankful. My experience was a little different than hers, so the last thing I needed while being mentally tormented was "bridezilla" making an appearance.

I will begin by saying that I am NOT superstitious. I may wear rally caps in the ninth and avoid stepping on cracks, but I would hardly consider that driven by superstition. Forget that I wear my socks inside out on odd calendar days and please ignore me if I throw a fit because there is a red sky in the morning. Since I am clearly not superstitious, I don't need to explain to you that "bad omens" are easy to ignore... or are they?

I got up on Friday cocked, locked, and ready to rock. It was about 4 in the morning, so of course I had plenty of time to make my 6 o'clock flight. But wait. What's this? Oh nothing... its just a line at the security checkpoint that is literally 4.23 football fields long (really... I measured). Without agonizing over details, I almost missed the flight to my wedding. I boarded at 5:57. Wheels were down at 12:15 in Tulsa and it was snowing. Just to be clear, it was about 67 degrees in Utah and it was snowing in Tulsa. Brandi picked me up at the airport and off we went to the Tulsa County Courthouse to get a marriage license. You know? Those little pieces of paper that make a marriage legal. The courthouse was "Closed in observance of Good Friday." I made my best efforts not to make eye contact with Brandi because I was sure that she would be a ball of fire, but there she was as calm as ever. Meanwhile, I was going out of my damn mind! First the line at the airport, then the snow, and now this. Great! We can get married, but we can't. She did her best to calm me, but the dam had been breached. I was unbelievably pissed. Then, we decided to go to Taco Bueno since there aren't any in Utah. The beverage machine was out of Diet Coke. How many omens can one man take?!? The phone rings... "Ab, its Dad, Aaron is sick and he might not be able to sing at the wedding." CLICK. As I made my way to the table with a few little cups of salsa, Brandi hit my elbow and knocked the salsa to the floor. Good Friday my ass! I was getting ready to throw up my hands and wave the white flag when Brandi's phone rang. Thank God for Diahanna George. She had investigated through her various channels to find us a courthouse that was open on Good Friday. We made it to Sapulpa with about 15 minutes to spare and got our marriage license! Things were starting to turn around.

We had a great rehearsal and the dinner was fantastic. The details of the bachelor party are on a strict need to know basis, and frankly, none of you need to know. The day of the wedding was wonderful, even though my ass was doing hula hoops around my stomach. Brandi was stunning in her dress and Mitch did a great job with the ceremony. I also gained a new respect for the bride and groom at receptions. It is easier to pass a kidney stone than to make it around to every single guest and talk to them. All in all, it was a perfect weekend. I warded off all of the bad omens that were attacking my non-superstitious ass, and made it to the altar. I couldn't have asked for anything more. The only thing, in my opinion, that was better than the wedding was the honeymoon...