My 25 Hour Birthday

Today is my birthday. 

It happened to fall on Daylight Savings Time so I actually got 25 hours of birthday!

I like my birthday. It's one of those rare times that all my family and close friends call on the same day. Not to mention the 100+ facebook wall posts from random people- Here's a snapshot of my email. 

Yep. All from Facebook informing me that my friend is wishing me a happy birthday.

Not complaining. They were all much appreciated. 

Today has been really great though. After church, Austin and I grabbed some lunchy lunch at Buckinghams. Love them sweet potato fries. 

After an afternoon nap, we headed to the Ragtag (a local movie theater) to see the movie Catfish. This movie is AWESOME. Fascinating. It's one of those we talked the whole way home and I'm still thinking about it. It's an independent film so you won't find it in your typical movie theater. Hunt it down though. It is worth it.

After the movie, we came home, watched a little Office and waited for my parents and sister to arrive. They both drove over 1.5 hours to come have dinner, open some presents, and eat some cake. I feel humbled that they would drive just for that. My family is great.

Speaking of cake, my mother showed up with this:

 This red velvet cake/cupcake? was HUGE and DELICIOUS.

 My dad told me that my mom almost cried in the car on the way here because the cake tipped over sideways. Luckily, it didn't do too much damage to the coolest cake ever. I love how much she loves to make holidays special. 

After our first restaurant choice turned out to be closed, we ended up at Sophias for a great dinner. It's 3 hours later and I'm still feeling full. 

So that's my 25 hour birthday in a nutshell. It was great. Thanks for all the birthday wishes, friends!

Apple Butter Weekend

Apple Butter Weekend has been a tradition in my family since before I was born. Here's a peek into this long-held tradition.

Anniversary Day in Pictures

We took this because it looked like a butt. (AND my friend Thomas, who we randomly ran into at breakfast is in the background)

Happy Anniversary to Us!

One year ago today, Austin and I got married. Crazy, huh!?

Here are some flashbacks in case you couldn't make the event.

If you want to see more, click on the picture just to the right of this post.

 (Under Email Me). The one that says, "Our Wedding Pictures."

We celebrated our anniversary in Kansas City and then with a dinner at one of our favorite (yet, only special occasion) restaurants, CC's City Broiler. More pictures and info to come about our day in Kansas City.

Ready or Not... Change Happens

I've gotten so busy with crafty stuff that I have neglected updates on our lives! There has been quite a bit of change happening these past few weeks. Let me share some highlights:

The Deep Freeze

Thanks to the generosity of Austin's grandparents, we now have a deep freezer! I never thought I'd actually be excited about an appliance but I really am!

 We've been making an effort to buy produce in season and freeze it for later use. This gift allows us to do this and more!

It filled up fast though. Remember our Alaskan fishing trip?? Well, the salmon and halibut take up over half our space. Guess we need to do some fish eating, huh?

Goodbye Cable

About two months ago, we decided to get rid of cable. 

What we were paying simply wasn't worth what we were watching. When we tried to cancel, we were informed that there would be a $215.00 cancellation fee. WHAT?! You're kidding me. We talked to supervisor after supervisor-got disconnected twice when being transferred from person to person-was told there is "no way this fee can be waived"- got told we signed a contract (that we didn't sign)- etc. When we asked to see the contract that we supposedly signed, they said it would take a "few weeks to process and find it." A few weeks passed, and no contract surfaced. After calling back multiple times to check on the "processing of our contract," we finally talked to the right guy who admitted there was no such contract and agreed to waive our cancellation fee. Persistence pays off people!

  

Communications Director

I now have one and a half jobs. 

I have taken on the role of Communications Director at The Crossing. In addition to my job as Director of Student Ministries, I now am in charge of a gazillion other tasks around the office. 

 I send out a weekly email to 2,000+ people, am a liaison to a graphics company, redesign current graphics and print them, manage and update The Crossing's Website and a bunch of other odd and ends. I have really enjoyed learning how to work with programs like Photoshop and Indesign. However, the additions to my job description have proven to be stressful. I didn't realize other people noticed that I'm stressed until the head counselor at The Crossing popped her head in my office and sweetly asked, "Polly, are you OK? You seem a little stressed..."

I forget that I have absolutely no poker face. 

Yes, people, I'm a bit stressed. Perhaps this is the reason for the excessive sewing lately. It calms me down...seriously. Don't judge me.

Seminary

Probably one of our biggest changes in life is the beginning of seminary for Austin. Tomorrow is his first day of classes at Covenant Theological Seminary. 

 "Wait, Polly, isn't Covenant in St. Louis??" Why yes, my friends, it is. Austin will be making the hour and a half commute to St. Louis three days a week. Probably for the next 4-5 years of our life. (Excuse me while I puke over the amount of gas we will be using.) So, tomorrow begins a new stage in our life. I honestly don't know how to feel about it. I'm for sure excited for Austin. But, at the same time, anxious about the drastic change in lifestyle. Ready or not, tomorrow is coming!

Little Lakin

My good friend, Sara, just had a baby girl named Lakin. It's been a blast reading her blog about the adventures of being a new mom. In an informal photo shoot, Sara discovered that little Lakin has some attitude towards kisses.

Look closer...

 I got a good laugh out of this. Hope you do too.

Apparently, I nap...

...A LOT.

At the end of our trip, Austin informed me that he had been photo-documenting all  of my naps. 

It takes some vulnerability to share these pics, but I thought it would be a good laugh. 

Don't judge me (or my ugly napping face)