Turkey Hangover...

...Matt and I are home and finished with all of our Thanksgiving dinners. We have slight turkey hangovers from our three Thanksgiving meals...all were delicious and while the menus were similiar, they were all different! Thursday, we had T-Day with his family. While we were there, his very talented aunt gave us our wedding present. She owns a store in House Springs called The Gallant Lady. Check out our wedding gift! Is this not amazing!?! It's probably 2 ft by 1 ft. custom-made stained glass piece for our window.

Then Saturday afternoon, we went to my dad's for T-Day. Haley, my four-year old niece saw this old embroidered quilt that my sister had where each family member embroidered a square and has now decided she wants one. So after dinner, we all started working on our squares...it was quite the experience! Matt and I finished our square before anyone else and did a great job sharing. He wanted to start and ended up doing one more heart than I did but didn't realize it!!!

That night, we headed over to my mom's for T-Day! By the end of the night we were stuffed but not too stuffed to show off some wigs we found!!! Don't we look fabulous?!?!

Well, my husband just came upstairs from packing his hunting bag for tomorrow (he's determined to get a buck and he also got this new hunting "toy" from my mom he wants to try out!) so I must go fix dinner. Any guesses on what we're having!?!

Gobble, gobble...

...Happy Turkey Day everyone!!! As I sit in my cozy red chair covered with a quilt my mom made me and my husband snoozes in the bed room, I am reminded of things that I am thankful for. As David Letterman would say, TOP TEN LIST

1. My pretty husband, Mattie who makes me the happiest girl in the world
2. My family who loves me, supports me and tells me when to get over it!
3. My awesome friends who love me for who I am and help me out whenever, where ever-no questions asked
4. My health, remember my post about TB test and a blood test? Well, I got negative on my TB and I got a clean bill of health in the mail yesterday so YAH for good health
5. Work-I may complain but I love the people I work with, the stability it brings, the people I meet and the creative juices it flows
6. MY PUPPIES!!! I love waking up with one of them in my arms, keeping my feet warm and telling me in their puppy way everything will be alright....now if only they would learn to drink from their water bowl and not drool
7. Our house, its not much now but Mattie and I are slowly making it into a home
8. The amazing opportunities I've had in life including but not limited to school (MBA baby!), travel (walk like an Egyptian), different people I've met, hot air ballooning, fairytale wedding, etc...
9. Life lessons-my dad has taught me MANY over the years and every day recently has been a new life lesson, without these we would never understand people, ourselves or the world in general.
10. FOOD!!! OMG! I am thankful for my mom's manicotti, my grandma's mac-n-cheese, Sally's fluffy pototoes, my sister's no-bake cookies, my dad's grilling and anything Mattie makes!!!

So while I was making this list, I decided I would make a top ten list of why I am thankful for my Mattie.
1. He knows how to take care of the yard!!! It's a work in progress but he does a great job with the upkeep and when we get the money, we'll have the best yard on the street!
2. His patience...if anyone knows me, then you know you have to be very patient! For instance when I cooked dinner the other night and the smoke alarm went off three times, he didn't even get upset! LOL...he just took the battery out of it!
3. His delicious cooking! He amazes me because he never follows a recipe but it always taste like something you'd get at a restaurant!
4. He helps me and teaches me. Our hunting weekend was actually a lot of fun because he took the time to teach and explain to me what was going on. He also helps me especially in the kitchen because I tend to not follow directions.
5. He's handy! He installed our attic fan all by himself among other things he fixes and does around here on a daily basis.
6. His great attitude on life. He's so laid back and just has a great attitude, I wish it would rub off on me more!
7. His kindness. The morning we got engaged, we were driving back to the house and someone's car was stuck in the snow. He got out and helped them push-I was in the truck yelling, "Tell them we just got engaged!"
8. I think he'll be a great father. No we're not having kids...yet! But I've seen him around my niece and he's great with her and she loves him (she always asks about him before me!) so I think he'll be great with our own.
9. He's a problem solver!!! Any situation, he always thinks of a clever way to solve it.
10. HE LOVES ME!!! He did ask me to be his wife FOREVER you know!!!

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving but don't eat turkey and drive! The enzymes put you to sleep!!!

Pictures, anyone...

...okay so I finally picked out some of my fave and have uploaded them for your enjoyment. I finished our wedding album last night and now I'm not so sure about the cover color I picked. OH WELL! Enjoy and please leave comments.

Here I am in the vineyard before the wedding



My grand entrance on the slowest horse EVER

My husband testing my trust in him within moments of saying I do

Eskimo kiss!

Here are our blue eyes pics

Kissin' my husband in the vineyard

Sand ceremony, we are smiling because we thought they might overflow

Us at the altar

Our delicious yummy cake that was gone but no one got a piece of

JUST MARRIED!!!

Just in my short month and a half of marriage, I've learned that every day is a learning experience and that you have to work HARD at your relationship. I love my Mattie and thank God for every day I have with him.

WHEW...

...my radio still works!?! Yesterday, when I left work the radio in my car wasn't working. Not a big deal because I usually don't drive much but, of course, I did last night. So while I love Brad Paisley...his CD got a little old after about the third time. When I got in the car this morning, the radio worked!!! Listening to the DJ made me realize that I would LOVE to be a DJ (except for the fact that I hate my voice on recordings and such) because they get to give their opinion, give and learn random facts and meet famous people (like Will Smith...ooooohhhh....he's so cute!). Plus they get free stuff! In the words of klf and her mama, my "soulmate" works for a radio station and he is a DJ so they gave him free Lasik surgery so that he would promote it on air! Now that's a good field right there. So what's everyone's dream job???

Right now I'm starving! I haven't eaten since last night and I have to fast until 11:20 (at least) because then I'm having blood test for a 'physical' to qualify for our employee incentive plan. As though getting blood taken today wasn't bad enough, I had to go get a TB test yesterday! So within 24 hours, I'm going to be stuck TWICE!

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

...find out what it means to me! Okay so in this entry, I would like to hear from all of you what respect means to you. Now that the wedding is over, I've been having flashbacks (and crazy weird dreams) about some situations that happened over this past year leading up to and including the wedding day. As I look back and analyze each situation, I realize that everyone has different definations of respect. For instance, well...I don't think I can really give a for instance without reliving it and I'm really trying to put it behind me. Which brings me to another issue...trying to put it behind me. I know klf has given me some great advice and I love her for it but sometimes those things are easier said than done. So please leave me a comment and let me know what respect means to you and maybe it will help me figure out things.

On other notes, Matt got a PT job and I did too; they are both seasonal. We are worried that it might be a bad winter and with his line of work, he may not be working much so this will help supplement and if the winter turns out okay then this is just extra present money. As I told my boss today, it means he can buy me a bigger Christmas present! This week kind of stinks because our schedules are totally opposite and I haven't seen him since Monday night and won't see him until Saturday night then he's off to hunt again on Sunday (he wants me to go but I'm not so sure this time, I might take klf's advice and have a girl's day to myself). He has his schedule through January so I'm going to turn in my availability to fit his so we can at least see each other SOME nights.

Even more exciting than PT jobs...I got my WEDDING PICTURES!!! So in an upcoming blog (maybe Friday), I will pick out some of my faves and post them. How I'm going to narrow down 1500 to like 5 for my blog...I have no idea!!!

And even more exciting that PT jobs and wedding pictures...this is the last full-week of work until 2009!?! How exciting is that?

Bambi...

...is in my fridge! I know some you think that's sad but, honestly, when you're on a budget then its great! We got a cooler full of deer burger, deer steaks, roasts and all for the low cost of $8!!! (An anterless deer tag $7 and the bullet $1...gun and all the fun stuff included doesn't count since its been over the years of accumulation, gifts or hand-me-downs). Matt's family owns 80+ acres on a farm land where his grandparents used to live. We all trucked out there (his mom, dad, brother, sister and the two of us) Friday night, got up early Saturday for biscuits and gravy (homemade-yum!) then they all headed out. Star and I went back to sleep for a little cat nap but it wasn’t long before John came back with the first deer of the day! Around 11ish, Matt got the second deer and we started to butcher them. That afternoon, I went out in a stand with Matt and I saw THREE deer! I was very proud of myself 1) I saw the first deer before Matt 2) I saw the second one and Matt didn’t because he was positioned weird and 3) I didn’t complain about being bored, cold or anything! His sister got a deer on Sunday then we headed back home. It was a long weekend and I actually had a really good time! Thank you to my husband for having the patience to take me out this weekend. I love when we teach and share our interests with each other.

Here is my husband heading out to hunt

Here I am with Matt's sister, Elizabeth heading out Saturday afternoon (don't I look official)

Here's my hub and I in our tree stand before we had to "be still and don't move"

I'm looking forward to our deer steak dinner tonight!

Lost in Translation...

...that's what I feel like right now. Currently, I am without last name. Monday, Matt and I went to the social security office to change my name...after ONE HOUR of waiting and Matt having to walk to his doctor's appointment, I finally got to change my name. I won't even begin to tell you all the stories that I heard. Anyways, the lady kept my SS card so as of right now, I don't really know what my last name is...I guess I'm just Alyssa like Diddy. Hopefully, I get a last name soon because both my names together is a MOUTHFUL!!!

Update on my Mattie: we were at the doctor for TWO HOURS (yes, after the ONE HOUR at the SS office)....first off, the nurse practitioner had no idea what she was talking about...seriously! Matt started asking her questions and her response, "I'll be right back." She leaves and comes back later with the doctor who never introduced himself, guessed I was the Mrs. and started calling me mom, then answered his personal cell phone TWICE while he was meeting with us (once about a conference he was going to in January and the other about his car). Then he drew on the throw away paper over the exam paper his $72,000 landscaping job and told Matt to get a new job and even asked him if he had a high school degree. So then they kicked me out of the room and Matt went into another room and gave him a shot right in his spine. He said its feeling better but still a little sore. I told him when he goes back to his chiro to let him know he needs to find someone else to refer patients too! So long story short, Matt's back is feeling better but its not 100% so thanks to everyone for the good thoughts!