Sideout!

The Drake Men's Basketball Team has been having quite the impressive season. So when I say that I visited their home, Knapp Center, over the weekend, one would think that I too have caught bulldog fever and was cheering wildly in the stands for our local team. However, that is not the case. Instead, I (along with my pal Jennifer), marched up to the Knapp Center and watched...a state volleyball tournament for 12 and 13-year-old girls. Morgan, one of my campers from Cedar Falls and I are pen pals so her mom invited me to surprise Morgan by stopping by and watching one of her games. I am so impressed with Morgan! She's just such a nice girl and quite the little athlete too. If I had to be someone's big sister, I'd pick her. :)

Here's Morgan and I at Camp Cedar Falls in 2004.

Gnocchi Dokey

Can you believe that Josh and I spent our sixth Valentine's Day weekend together? Sometimes I forget that we've been together for that long, kind of like how I always tell strangers that I "just got out of college" but in actuality I've been out of college for nearly three years now. Where does the time go? To celebrate, Josh prepared gnocchi, (which looks like pasta but it actually has mashed potato in it too), with vodka sauce. It was delicious, like I've always said, 'I've never met a potato I didn't like.'

What presentation! Looks like he's been paying close attention to that Giada he loves so much.

I was reminded that come September 27, we won't be celebrating February 15 as our anniversary anymore. So in honor of our wedding day, I would like it if someone could arrange to have this clever sign displayed somewhere (preferably on a main road where many a passersby can see).

That Jennifer's so funny. She emailed this to me earlier this week and I laughed out loud when I read it.

That'll do, Suds. That'll Do.

After going through a ton of nasal decongestant and Kleenex, I have successfully recovered from my bout with the flu or at the very least, a more severe version of a cold. Suds and I spent a nice quiet evening at home on Friday. Ordinarily, I would've just wrapped up in a blanket and popped in a DVD but someone, (ahem, Suds), decided to knock over our DVD player and now it won't open or shut. And because I'm lazy (and a good direction follower), I didn't want to try to work the PS2 until I had been properly instructed. So while flipping through Friday night TV, I stumbled upon the movie Babe. I'm actually okay with this movie so I went ahead and mentally prepared myself for the antics of that crazy sheep-pig. However, I did not anticipate Suds becoming quite taken with this far-fetched movie also. He sat for a good ten minutes straight watching Babe, Farmer Hoggett and all the other animals live it up on the farm. Finally, he stopped watching for a little bit, but a few minutes later he would end up staring at the TV again, it was like moth to a flame.

I believe this is the part where Babe saves the sheep from the "wolves".

The other excitement of the weekend was celebrating Valentine's Day with Annie and Andrew at the Baymont Inn for their Valentine's Day special. It included dinner, music by Final Mix and dancing. Pretty fun, but a very eclectic crowd. Call me vain, but we were by far the coolest people there. :)

Andrew really needs to start charging for his breakdancing services.

Josh could've learned a move or two from this guy. (Sorry about the view, but I can't figure out how to turn it right side up).

I've Taken Ill

Another reason why winter stinks, besides the awful snowfall--everyone is sick. Josh and I have taken ill. We're chugging all the Five Alive that our Hy-Vee keeps in stock and taking every cold/flu medicine known to man.

Courtesy of University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics

An HGTV moment

Josh and I decided to greet the New Year in style and purchased new living room furniture shortly after Christmas. It arrived last week...but with the wrong tables, (glass tabletop). So I marched myself down to Homemakers and demanded justice and left assured that the mistake would be rectified. In honor of Martin Luther King, Josh and I had spent our day off on Monday painting the woodwork in the living room and yesterday, the delivery truck pulled up with the right tables (solid wood) and voila! An HGTV moment was born, new furniture, new walls, new place for us to watch TV. It's really the stuff that homeowners dream of. My only regret is that I didn't take a before picture.

HGTV, you taught me well and I salute you.

Bullseye!

Josh and I visited Inplay, the Des Moines version of Dave & Buster's or ESPN Zone with some friends last night. We thought this might be a good site for our rehearsal dinner since it was different and had the whole arcade game/entertainment factor. Unfortunately, it didn't quite make the cut for us. The food was pretty lackluster and the games were fun but there weren't very many of them. Plus, I might have suffered a minor concussion when I was standing by the football throw game and got hit not once, but twice! Honestly, what are the odds? All I could do was laugh by the sheer shock of it! Perhaps we'll visit again at our friends request, but I don't believe we'll be dining here after our wedding rehearsal. Below is a reenactment, courtesy of YouTube of last night's events.

Tom enjoying one of Inplay's fine video games.

Josh tried to be the "King of Hammer".

That's not Lora

My wedding dress has arrived! Hooray! Naturally, it's in desperate need of alterations since it's a good foot too long (or I'm a good foot too short), but nonetheless I insisted on trying it on ASAP. So I stopped by my dad's house and slipped into my bridal gown and for the first time ever my dad saw the dress that I will be wearing when he escorts me down the aisle. Do you think he shed a tear about his little girl getting married? Absolutely not, instead he wondered about my choice since it's not the kind of wedding dress that he's seen on TV recently. (Has my dad been watching WEtv too?) But, my aunt was able to provide a reasonable and simple explanation for why I didn't choose the dresses my dad had in mind..."That's not Lora."

This is not my dress but I thought it was very fashion forward with the collar on the halter. I found it on the Venus Bridals website.