The Honeymoon's Over

I just finished reading this great book "The Honeymoon's Over" edited by Andrea Chapin and Sally Wofford-Girand. The reason I even noticed this book was because of the great cover. I mean what says the honeymoon's over better than completely burnt toast?! The book is a compilation of stories about love, marriage and divorce. It's interesting to see people write about all the red flags they ignored in their now-ex or to see how hard other couples work to stay together. I think most people who have been married a few years and are happy know that marriage is awesome, but it is work. It isn't great by accident. My proudest accomplishment thus far is my marriage to Chad. We've been married for 7 years now and there have definitely been some "burnt toast" times, but we have worked really hard to make our marriage good. That's what I liked so much about this book was all the people who were willing to write about such a private thing like marriage. Maybe if more people talked about marriage and the work of it, rather than just all the wedding day hype more people would actually stay married. Anyway, this is a great book with an even better cover!

July Birthday Dinner

Both Chad and my brother Fielding have birthdays in July, so we usually go to Outback to celebrate. This year my mom was in town too, so the whole family was there. Here is me & Fielding with our mom and dad.

Here's me & Fielding - I had to include a picture of him without sunglasses!

Here's me & Chad.

Happy Birthday to Chad!

The birthday cake I made for Chad.

Chad's official birthday present was an iPod, but I gave that to him before we went on vacation. So, on his actual birthday he got his cake, some candy, a six-pack of Newcastle and this balloon. What says "Happy Birthday" better than a six-pack of beer anyway?!

Misty Mountain Inn

Here's the Bed & Breakfast where we stayed in GA.

Here's our room.

We stayed at the Misty Mountain Inn & Cottages in Blairsville, GA.

Alyson's Wedding

Chad's sister Amy and her husband Kevin dancing.

Chad & Kathryn dancing.

Me & Chad - another opportunity to get all dressed up!

Always the librarian

Here is me beside the sign for the Blairsville library. Unfortunately we didn't get to go inside because they are only open on Saturdays for a few hours. Always the librarian - we try to get pictures of the local library when we go on vacation.

A Mule Ride

Here are me and Chad with our nieces, Kathyrn and Karissa, on a Mule at Uncle Guy's farm. Chad said that this is his tribute to Matt Roloff from the TLC TV show Little People, Big World. On that show Matt and his family use Mules to drive around their farm - Chad always says that he gets a Mule when we get our dream house on lots of land (which is still a long, long way off!). So, he got a little practice driving one while we were in GA.

Uncle Guy's Farm

Chad's uncle Guy raises cattle on his farm in GA. Here are some pictures of his cows.