Happy Birthdays!

(yes, i know....its been a while...)

Chad is another year older as of the 15th. He's gettin old! :) Tuesday night the two of us went out to celebrate together. We went to this Italian restaurant called Bellini's that we had passed several times but had never been to yet. We walked in and it is this little, intimate (and exactly how I want my kitchen decorated) place. We were escorted to our table, handed the menus, and started deciding on what to get. We ended up splitting an appetizer of gnocchi. It had a brown butter sauce with a little parmesan cheese on top of it and some kind of leaf that was cooked along with it. It - was- EXCELLENT. Different from a lot of the gnocchi I usually have so it was very interesting. We finished the whole thing rather quickly :) We also split an entree of chicken alla vodka. It had this pasta that was a bigger, thicker version of fettuccine along with a tomato and cheese sauce. The chicken was wonderful and all the flavors were just perfect together. It was good to actually go out to eat! Ha!Wednesday was Chad's birthday. We both had to work so we didn't really get to do a whole lot that day but Thursday we went out with my parents to celebrate his birthday and Mom's birthday (next week the 22nd). We went to The Melting Pot and if you haven't gone, it is one of the coolest places I've eaten! It's a 'couples' place meaning that you order a certain combination of foods and it is for 2 people. The combination we all got included sun dried tomato chicken, lemoncello meat, italian seasoned pork tenderloin, fillet steaks, and spicy shrimp. We all had our own colored skewers and then the first course came out. It was the cheese course and it was quattro formaggio with all kinds of cheese in it. It came with breads, apples, and veggies. Now I was wondering what in the world apples were doing with cheese...let me tell you, that was the best thing out there. I LOVED it. Perfecto!

Second course were salads - we all ordered the caprese salad (tomato, mozzarella, and lettuce/spinach with balsamic vinegar). They were very good! Next course was the broth stage. They brought out the big pot of broth and we had all those meats and you would just skewer it, cook it for 1-2 minutes, and then eat it. They brought all types of sauces and stuff to put with it but just the meat by itself was phenomenal. That's when you get to sit around and chat while your meat is cookin! After that it was the CHOCOLATE COURSE!!!! Yeah, I was a little excited :) We got milk chocolate (they had different choices like smores, peanut butter, etc) and it came with strawberries, bananas, cake, brownies, and cheesecake! My favorite thing was the strawberries, of course. We got a few refills on those :)

So this past Wednesday was my Mom's birthday. We had been talking to her about taking her out to eat for it so we went to this cute little Italian place that was decent. We finished up and told her that we were all going to the airport to pick up a speaker that had spoken at our church before. Dad had called Mom earlier to tell her this and so she knew that and Chad and I told her we were coming too. We had to drive separate though so we could all fit..which we thought would give away the upcoming surprise. Luckily, my Mom is a little easy to fool ;) So we arrive at the airport and Mom and I went to the bathroom and Dad, Kevin, Kyle and Chad went to baggage claim. We came out, walked over to them, and hiding behind a huge sculpture was my Mom's sister! We waited for her to react....and waited....but she didn't even see her standing there! SO we finally got her to turn and the screaming and laughing followed. It was hilarious - AND Sandy got the whole thing on camera! Mom staring at her, a weird look on her face, and then realizing who it is, bursting into the giddy giggles. It was hilarious. Hopefully I'll get a copy of that video soon (HINT HINT!)
Sandy's visit was great! Its always a lot of fun when she visits. We played some games and did a lot of talking. We gave Mom some gifts and Sandy had created a quiz for all of us to take about Mom's adventures growing up and guess who won?? Yep, Mom did. Who'd-a-thought. I thought it was funny how I had heard almost all of the stories that were part of the quiz haha Oh mom....

That weekend our church was having a big yardsale to support our mission trip to Honduras this summer. Dad and I had planned a surprise party for my mom with some people from church for Friday night. She had absolutely no idea...again haha. We took her out to dinner at Logan's Roadhouse and then told her we had some stuff to bring up there to the church for the yardsale the next morning. There were going to be people there that night preparing for the yardsale, so when we pulled up and there were a bunch of cars outside, I don't think anything sparked suspicion. We walked in and Dad mentioned showing her the stuff in the back room....we walk down the hall...turn the corner into the room....Surprise! There were several people there and Dad and I had decorated the room the night before with "50's" stuff. We had an ice cream cake (Mint chocolate chip and chocolate cake), sat around and chatted, and then I presented Mom with another gift I had for her. Over the few weeks before I had rounded up friends and family, past and present, and had everyone write down why/what they love about my mom. Everyone had written back, and I had compiled all the messages into a little booklet and rolled it up with red ribbon in a scroll on fancy paper. I presented it with a yellow rose - and prepared for the tears! haha I love you mom!!

Now, since I'm so good at keeping up with this blog, I'm going to throw in random stories that I have forgotten to tell :)

-We have now experienced our first time of doing Taxes. (cue the awful music). We waited until the weekend before they were due (hm..) and then headed over to my parents house to get some help from them. We did the TurboTax online edition, which I must say is pretty amazing. It was so organized and easy! Thank you TurboTax for making our lives easier! So we sat down, proceeded to file through everything ( I had lost one sheet of W-2 from my last summer OF COURSE but then I figured it out), typed everything in, and then, saw our refund get higher and higher! Yep, for some reason, we turned out pretty good this year. Best year we've had yet :)

-I attended another baby shower this past weekend for one of my friends who is having twin boys! I saw the coolest gift there...she opened a very stylish necklace which, at first, seemed like a rather odd gift at a baby shower. THEN she read what it really was. A teething necklace. Yep - hanging on the string of the necklace was a round circle and it was a big teething ring. It also came with 2 bracelets you could let them slobber and chew all over. Genius idea, isn't it! I just thought that was the neatest thing.

NOTE: I did not re-read over this post because I finished the rest on my lunch break so I apologise for any misspellings, grammar, or punctuation errors :) I just needed to post ASAP so everyone knows we are ok!!

Mom and sandy's seeing each other at the airport. Are they sisters or what!

It went great :) HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!

Oh my family. We're so normal....

This is part of the room so you can see the layout. There were black balloons all over the floor too!

PS: Happy Birthday to everyone else who has also had birthdays!!!!

8 Months In and Goin' Strong!

Well it is our 8 month anniversary today! Yes, we still keep track of months. Before the big 1 year date, what else are you suppose to do? That is coming up soon though - how weird! On one hand 8 months has gone by in a flash...wedding, honeymoon, Searcy, graduation, moving, new job, job search, new job....whew. So fast. On the other hand, I feel like we've been married forever. Not in a bad way, of course, but everything is just so normal it seems like we've always been together (cue the aww's). I think we are doing pretty good though. We've learned more and more about each other and are learning more and more about how to deal with each other...ha. Nah its been a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to many many more years of it!

A few fun stories from the past week for your entertainment...

-we found several coins in a pottery vase along with some scattered randomly around (you know how that is, you pick up an old purse and 68 cents falls out) and so, being in the financial situation we are in (and the fact that I am a nerd and find this fun), we took it to the Walmart Coinstar machine. Now, if you don't know what this is, it is a huge green machine with a screen on it that I'm sure you've passed by a million times and never noticed. You take all your change and you can dump it into the machine and then it spits out a receipt of how much money you just dumped in there. Pretty awesome, right? They take a small portion (nothing is free) for using their system but we poured everything in, made a ton of noise with all our coins, and got our receipt. $32! We were rich!

-We got bored again and went out to DSW to look at shoes. Yes, WE went to go look at SHOES. I have a husband who actually enjoys doing this. (how wonderful!) We went and tried different shoes on. I fell in love a few times...

- So we found something new we like thanks to my grandmother (thanks Grandma!). She saved up a jar of marshmallow fluff because she wanted us to try a new sensation: a Fluffer Nutter. It is a sandwich with peanut butter and marshmallow fluff! TRY IT if you haven't! It's great!

Pranks, Progress, and Proof we're growing up...

Well surprise, surprise...none of the previous post actually happened (Happy April Fools!), although I did almost fall down the stairs. But all is well and we are hanging in there. We have figured out that this next week will be the absolute poorest we have ever been so far, but THEN, after we both get paid, will be the richest we have been so far. Ha! Interesting few weeks we are in for!

This week Chad has really been enjoying his job - he has picked up everything quickly and everyone there is really enjoying his company (who wouldn't, right?). Work for me has been a little slower than usual because it is SAT testing week for the kids and so no one wants to miss that, but of course forgets to call us and let us know. Its been a nice break though :)

This weekend Chad has the Men's retreat Friday and Saturday and then Sunday night after work he is heading to Memphis to figure out some stuff for his truck he bought up there. Saturday we'll have together because he is off work - yay! We played 'catch' on our tennis courts the other day so maybe we'll go and do that again. I did decent...I can't catch anything in this one area and I 'throw like a girl' but that kind of comes with the package since I am one. Maybe we'll head out to Oak Mountain for the day - nice romantic picnic or walk in the woods lol.

Chad and I got our first (first as a married couple that is...) Library cards this week! I feel like an old married couple already :) We wandered the halls of books but didn't pick any up. We looked at the movies - good choices but none that we wanted to take home. The main reason we were there was because I wanted to get a book on CD. Yep, I know...and yes I am only in my 20's ha. I picked up one called Playing For Pizza by John Grisham because it was about a pro football player who got kicked off a team and went to play in Italy. I saw Italy and decided that was the one for me ha. I wanted a book on CD because of my incredibly long wait in bumper to bumper traffic on a daily basis and why not 'read' a book to calm my nerves? It is actually really good and I completely recommend it! (...ok i officially feel old. i'm recommending books on my blog haha. OH WELL!)

When it rains, it pours...or hurricanes

So yesterday I started not feeling well (surpising that it would be me, right?) and I thought it would just be a bug but this morning I woke up feeling awful. Tis the season for the FLU, and lucky me has caught it. At our wonderful doctor's visit my brand new insurance got turned away and we got slapped (AFTER the visit, mind you) with a $222 charge, all to tell me what I had already figured. SO then on our way home from that lovely stop we got rear-ended and I was about to lose it but thankfully there were no scratches or dings or anything and we both drove away glad not to have to call police and that mess. We finally got home today and as I am walking down the stairs to our apartment, yes, I twist my ankle. The whole thing was swollen about as big as a baseball and I have been laying on the couch in ice ever since. Sorry for the short blog I am just not quite in the mood for my incredibly long drawn out details - let me know if anyone has any better pain pills...and PRAY that its not broken!!!



;)

Spring Break? What's THAT?

So everyone we know is on/ has already been on/ or is going to be on their Spring Break. Remember what that is? A nice long week break from life where you can do whatever you want? Yeah, I almost forgot myself since I've been working this week. Just a plain ol' week. Bummer. Now I really can say "back in the good ol days..."

Last Friday 3 of my friends were back in town from school (remember that Spring Break thing?) and so we all hung out and played games on Friday night. It was really good seeing them again! We've made friends here so far but there's nothing like hanging out with old friends. SO that was fun just playin around that night. Here's where it gets interesting....

My family had gone on vacation (mmhm, spring break) and had left Chad and I in charge of taking care of the millions of animals we have at home. Part of this responsibility included going to the Reptile Show (yes...you read it right) on Saturday to pick up the live mice for the feedings to occur afterwards. So there we were, surrounded by people who were truly the complete opposite of us, wondering what to do. We got the mice and crickets (i held the mice - i actually think they are ok. its the crickets and every other animal in our house i don't like so much ha) and headed to my parents house. We go there and started getting ready to drop the mice in when I heard Chad say "Oh no...". Thats exactly what you want to hear. I turned around to see a cage with the lid that had fallen into it (still not exactly sure how that happened...it may have melted? who knows) and busted part of the light bulb and then the worse part - NO LIZARD in the cage. This lizard is as big as my cat so you get a visual. maybe not as tall but it helps the story. I freak out and back away and Chad is trying to figure out where it is. In the meantime I got a mouse out for Oreo to look at (LOOK at by the way, not eat or anything cruel like that. Its just hilarious to watch her). Anyways of course I ended up dropping the mouse and it ran back behind all the animals into a corner behind this plastic drawer set thing. (great description, right) SO i move the drawers to try and see behind them to get the mouse and what do i see? THIS HUGE LIZARD instead of this furry little mouse. I picked him up and put him back in the cage calmly. haha no I completely freaked out and ran to the kitchen.

This poor little mouse then runs back out towards us and this lizard starts following him which would have been perfect but then he caught the mouse and ran back to his corner. I was trying to think of a way to lure him out there again with another mouse while Chad put gloves on and tried to catch him but then I kept thinking about how that plan could go horribly wrong, especially since I would be the one holding the mouse that he would be running toward -ha.

Chad ended up grabbing a broomstick and took the handle and started pushing him out from the corner. This only made the lizard more upset and he proceeded to hiss and growl at us. Thats right, hiss and growl. He was scary at first and this just made it worse. It was LOUD too - loud and freaky. Anyways seeeeeveral minutes later Chad finally drug him out by his tail and i planted a laundry basket on him and then took the lid off a new tank and chad lifted him into it. Talk about an unexpected afternoon. What an experience - I hate that thing.

So if you know me, you know that i love animals. Any puppy we pass on the side of the road cues an automatic, high-pitched "awww look!! puppy!!". There's no way we'd get one anytime soon BUT i did take 2 of the mice (yes, i know. but they are cute when they barely have their eyes open running into everything) and put them in a cage to bring home with us. It was going to be a few days and then back to the death house BUT....and thats where our story begins
We bring them home and a couple days later Chad woke up in the middle of the night and said "where are the mice?" randomly so I just thought he was talking in his sleep. Should have payed more attention...The next morning we are slowly waking up. Chad looks over to his right and there is a little mouse climbing up to greet him. Talk about bleehhh! So we scramble ALL over the place chasing this stupid thing and then we finally had him trapped under the dresser. We both had bowls and cups out and Chad goes to scare him out but then randomly he pops out of the FRONT of the dresser instead of the back and jumps right onto me and scurries away. I scream, of course, and didn't see where he went. We searched everywhere but couldn't find him at all. We looked in the cage and it looked like he had attacked the other mouse and somehow escaped in the night? Who knows how that happened. So we started to continue on our way and then saw him again, freaked out, cornered him, scared him out and Chad tossed the bowl on him!....and he ran out as it bounced up on the carpet. UGH. This stupid little ball of fur was sending us running and jumping all over our apartment. Looking back it is hilarious how much we were freaking out but at the time, not so funny. I finally saw him under the couch and to make a long, detailed, weird story short- i picked up the swiffer handle, blocked his exit, and made him run along the handle only to find Chad at the end with a bowl thrown on top of him haha. WHEW. And that is the point we laughed. There goes 2 hours of our lovely Saturday morning :)

Besides animals ruining our lives, we've been doing great. I'm SO PROUD to announce that Chad HAS A JOB!!! It's at a country club that is about 15 minutes away from us and he starts tomorrow! The first thing he said when he told me is "WE CAN EAT!" haha which is true! I can actually cook REAL things now! yay! And we can pay bills! That's always a plus, right? But really we are so thankful to God for answering our prayers and this can also open up several more doors for future employment opportunities! Thanks for everyone's prayers :)

Coming up...New job starts tomorrow, this weekend we're going to a concert-thing at church with Kevin's band and one called Act Of Congress with coffee and deserts so that should be fun, We're going to a baseball game end of April! AND once again, hopefully i'll keep up better with this thing...have i said that every single time? :)

RANDOM PICTURE CATCH-UP!

we went to the HUGE Bass Pro Shop that was just built here to check it out...here's us attempting a pictures. attempting being the key word :)
OK so here is the story first. I was baking a pasta casserole and its in a pyrex dish that has one of those lids that you can put on for when you put it in the fridge or keep it warm. Anyways I was cooking it and apparently had placed the lid on one of the burners which apparently is a "warmer" when the oven is on and the range isn't. I have never known this but found it out VERY quickly when Chad found the lid half melted to the eye. Haha now I will always be reminded that one of them is a warmer...

We got SNOW! In Birmingham! Who knew! It was gorgeous with the view we have but by 2 it was gone and over with....we have proof though!

How 'bout a quicky?

So just a simple, quick blog post to keep all you excited readers and frequent blog-checkers excited and frequent, respectively.

Let's give a work update. Cristy is working, bringing home the bread, loving the kids, all that good stuff and I'm very glad she is.

Me-I recently interviewed with LazyBoy Furniture Gallery for a sales job. It was a quick interview, it went well, and the boss said he would go ahead and send my application through to HR and he would call by the end of the week. I can only take that as positive, but I also know how many times I have heard similar comments by potential employers and then been ignored. So wish me luck!

In other news, Cristy is the current Burris family Monopoly Champion. She went to town on me and a "simulated" 3rd player in our new St. Louis Cardinals 2006 World Series Champions Edition of Monopoly. She was cocky, making claims like "I knew I had it all along" and "Nobody tops me, the Monopoly Guru" and "Psh, I'm internationally ranked at this game". I wish I had her Monopoly skill. Actually I wish we had her amount of Monopoly money in real life money. Now that would be nice.

But all kidding aside, we had fun playing Monopoly against each other. Can't you just see us sitting at our table playing Monopoly at night? Awwww how cute.

Well that does it for this miniature blog post. So here is a new rule- if we mention you in any blog post from now on, you are obliged to comment in response. Let's try it out, HI AUNT SANDY! THANKS FOR OUR 6TH MONTH ANNIVERSARY CARD!

Now Aunt Sandy has to reply. :)

-Chad

by the way, this is cristy and i said no such things in playing monopoly. i was extremely humble as i always am and was proud of my husband for trying his best....which just wasn't good enough apparently. so humble.

Snowed In/Atlanta Trip

Who would have thought that Birmingham, AL would have provided nearly 3 inches of snow in March. Global warming, eh? Take that!

So we woke up this morning to the sound of Chad's phone alarm and an almost simultaneous text message from Kyle letting us know "IT SNOWED". Then we found out that nobody was going to church, and while we could have taken a sled down the hill to the church building, we decided to officially declare ourselves "Snowed In". This is our favorite kind of day. We slept late, we made breakfast and coffee, watched a movie in bed, and stayed in our sweatshirts.

Currently, its about 2 o'clock, and the rest of our day looks as follows:
We are about to watch the movie (in bed) American President, which is Mom C's favorite (or one of her favorites) movie. I think it's kind of a chick flick. After the movie, we are thinking of playing a game of Monopoly, the St. Louis Cardinals World Series edition, or maybe an Xbox game, a card game, or something. We aren't tied down to anything. Then dinner, maybe another movie, maybe a tv show. Who knows, but I wish we could get paid for being snowed in, because we are having so much fun we could do this full time.

On to our trip to ATLANTA last week end. It was a blast, so I will give you full details! Friday night we left around 6:00, when we had actually planned to leave around 4:00. There is an interesting story behind all of that, but I shouldn't blab as it might embarrass those involved. Even though I shouldn't blab, I'm going to. Kevin drove Mom C's car to school, and the plan was for him to get out of school, come home quickly and we all leave for Atlanta. BUT....Kevin comes out after school to head home and gets in the car only to have the engine not crank. So he checks the battery. Bad news. Mom C gets an urgent call "Mom, someone stole the battery in your car!" So Mom and Dad head to the school, call the police, begin filing an official report when Kevin and the cop notice that there is a certain battery cover that they conveniently forgot to look at. Well the battery was present and accounted for, the cop made fun of Kevin (rightfully so), and they discovered that the lights had just been left on all day and the battery was drained. So jumper cables were provided, the car was revived and all was well again.

We hit the road. Cristy and I in one car, the rest of the fam in the other. We made the drive, lost an hour due to crossing into the Eastern time zone, and arrived at total strangers' house close to 11 PM. They were nice people, I don't remember their names, and we talked briefly and went to bed. Sleeping in a strange bed was strange, and the morning was very welcome unlike most other mornings. We woke early, and headed to the Georgia Aquarium to start the day's activities. Now some pictures to prove it!

We met the founders, and had a great photo op!

Here is the official sign!

We saw these cool Jelly Fish that Cristy tried to point to.
Cool Reef Shark in a glass tank above us.

This is the one of the coolest things I have ever done. I got chosen out of a group of people to feed the fish. I had never even put on a wetsuit before then!A very cool and gigantic Manta Ray
Cristy being eaten by a HUGE Grouper!
Stupid Flash was on...
Underneath a Sting Ray
Another Huge Grouper!

And the Highlight, a very cool and very large Whale Shark. You cannot see these anywhere else in America! (it's a baby and it's 24 feet long)

Anyways, the aquarium was great. We then went out to eat at a cool Italian place, and soon after made our way to THE Turner Field. We were out to buy one ticket and get one free to see the Atlanta Braves take on our St. Louis Cardinals. But of course, the box office was closed, and we got stuck in crazy traffic and it took forever to get out of there.

We then went to one of our favorite places, IKEA. We hustled through, to catch up with the rest of the family who had been there a while shopping for a new bedroom set for Kyle. He picked out a very cool bunkbed/loft and desk and we cannot wait to see it set up. Then we headed home, and welcomed the comfort of our bed which we dearly missed the previous night.

So I hope you enjoyed yet another blog post. We enjoyed giving it to you together, and the "American President" is a good movie so far. Despite it being a chick flick.

Now, if you enjoyed this post, leave us a comment!

-Chad and Cristy

An update from the other Half

Hello all. I say other half, because this is Chad writing, and the "better" half is busy at work. But seeing as I have a bit of free time on my hands *joke joke, I didn't think it would be all that awful for me to jump on the blogging bandwagon and say hello to all of you! So hello!

As it is, the job search has still been a fruitless endeavor, but we all know that I cannot go my entire life unemployed so there is an end to this lifestyle I have taken up over the past 2 months. When that end decides to show up, I have no clue; but I'm hoping sooner rather than later. In my "free time", I spend about half the day sending emails, looking up jobs online, calling potential employers, and sending my resume' to as many people as I can. The other half of my day is spent being a housedad, although without children. What is the official term for my "job title"? HouseHubby? Manlymaid? Honey-Do? If you have a good job title for me, please leave it in a comment below and I will add it to my resume'. Every little bit helps.

To explain a bit further, (and for lack of a better term, we will use Manlymaid) I am finding out early that when the time comes for kids, and Cristy quits her job to become a full time Mom (which is something we decided together! It is what Cristy wants to do), that I will appreciate everything she does so much more than I would had I not had this time at home. So maybe it's a good thing I'm jobless for a couple months? To learn just how much work running a house is? And I am only keeping a 2 bedroom apartment clean, doing laundry and dishes for 2 people, and I don't have a toddler and a screaming baby on my hip during the whole process. To all the moms who will read this blog- BLESS YOU. May I never ever forget what I am learning over this time. And if I do forget, remind me.

There, now that I have earned my brownie points for the day I shall say goodbye. Please keep reading the blog! Keep commenting! It makes us feel good.

-Chad

Cause for celebration!

So this past Monday (the 9th) was our 6 month anniversary!....aw, i know. so sweet. Wipe away that tear from your eye. Chad got me some beautiful flowers - gerber daisies, spider mums, daisies, carnations, etc. all bundled together. Gorgeous. HE IS SO SWEET! We decided to celebrate and go out to eat! Thanks to a certain Christmas present from an aunt of mine (you know who you are) we were able to go to Red Lobster and it was great! Its always fun just hanging out and talking over dinner, relaxing when you get home. Half a year. Its flown by but it seems like we've been together forever. I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful teammate by my side. Let me just take a second to tell you why i feel so blessed.... He is able to do ANYTHING! Ladies out there saying 'i wish i could find a guy who ____' you missed him because that is my man. He is a strong spiritual leader for me, He helps around the house without complaining, he cooks, he talks, he listens, he loves, he supports, etc etc. AND he's not afraid to go after things he believes in. He makes me laugh like no one else and he is my best friend in the entire world. OK. enough bragging, sorry about that. Hope i didn't embarrass him too much :)

This past weekend my parents had some friends fly in from Houston that came to our church to give a presentation about Mission Lazarus which is a mission program in Honduras. SO thursday and friday Chad spent the day at the parents house painting and helping out with some projects and Friday Chad went to a hockey game in huntsville and I went over to help finish up a few things. We had roly poly....i got the chicken pesto and i am writing this in here to remind myself not to get it again. OK. Moving on.

Saturday was valentines day! Its our first v-day as a married couple....aw another tear. We slept in late, layed in bed and talked, got up and made coffee, hung out, did NOTHING. It was wonderful. Chad had already gotten me flowers and I said that I had a gift for him. I got this Monopoly game that was a Cardinals 2006 World Series version (we had talked about how we wanted to get monopoly....this wasn't just a random idea) Ok...now the story behind it....SEVERAL weeks ago I was randomly looking on Ebay and saw this game on there and thought wow, how perfect, we just talked about monopoly. I'll bid on it....so i bid, time goes on, my car breaks and we have to get it fixed, money is getting tighter, i completely forget about the game. Of course. SO i get an email saying "Congratulations! You've won this item" and I was like oh, wow I don't even remember that. Anyways so I won by chance and that became a surprise valentines/partial birthday gift...yay!
That night we WERE going to make pasta (mom gave me a pasta maker she had never used) but we decided that was going to take to long to make, dry, bake, etc. SO we went to walmart and got a few things. I really wanted to FINALLY use my new mixer and we had just gotten some great potatoes from some in-laws of mine ;) and so we decided to make mashed potatoes and green beans. For the main course i was looking around online and found this GREAT (because its easy) recipe for salmon and thought that would be perfect. We got the salmon and i put lemon juice, lemon circles, and rosemary on the bottom, then the fish, and topped it with lemon circles, rosemary, salt, and olive oil. Put it in foil and cooked it for 20 minutes. It was so good!! I was so happy it turned out because I was a little nervous, but it did! (and yes...i took pictures, those will be up later because I don't have my camera with me right now). Chad was doing the potatoes. He had never peeled potatoes before so I said 'today's the day' and he went to work. He did great! Peeled them, chopped them, and then boiled them. The only problem is neither one of us has done mashed potatoes on our own before. (shocking, i know) SO we did 6 potatoes (and let me tell you they aren't normal sized, they are huge) and got them all cooked and put them in the mixer with the milk and butter. Started to mix and potatoes were falling out, pieces were flinging to the counter and faces because we had obviously made waaaay too many. Chad did a great job containing them all in the bowl though and we sat down and had a very romantic valentines dinner. Salmon, potatoes, green beans, and bread. Sounds good right? Hope you've eaten so my culinary skills don't tempt you to snack. SO we're putting everything away and let me just say, even AFTER Chad and I were done eating, the potatoes left could literally feed the rest of both of our families. I had to pull out my biggest Tupperware that i've never used before it was so much food. Call me if you want some.

So this week...what's ahead. HOPEFULLY no more huge posts catching everyone up on months. Tonight there is a free concert at a place down the street from us so we may be going to that. I'll let you know how it is. I promise. And yes, many empty promises has been made in this blog, and i am sincerely sorry for that. I am. Don't give up on me.

--pictures soon!

Our humble abode

Well here we are! A few weeks in and still hangin in there! Nothing extremely huge to talk about really but it has been fun figuring out where we fit in in our new life. Our apartment is feeling more like home - we were needing a floor lamp and guess what! Chad was driving out of our place and a guy was THROWING AWAY a lamp! SO Chad asked if it worked and the guy just put it in his truck. So we have a wonderful silver lamp now - thank you random guy!

We went to memphis this last weekend and had a blast of course. We introduced them to the game Catch Phrase and if you haven't played it yet - play it soon! It is so much fun. You have this disc that has a database of words on it and you get a word and you have to get the other people on your team to guess that word by describing it without saying any part of the actual word. Anyways this isn't a lesson just play it some time. We also played Foosball which I, by the way, am horrible at but it was still fun. Just frustrating when I'm scoring for the wrong team haha. Our first night there we were taken to Olive Garden (which i LOVE if any of you didn't know my amore for Italian food yet) and it was wonderful as usual. We got to catch up on a lot of stuff and have good conversation. Saturday we got to hang out and play games and watch Hallmark movies (always a must at the Burris house :) ) and just get to spend time with them. Sunday was church and so we got to see a lot of people that we hadn't seen since Christmas! Everyone is so sweet and I love seeing them all! We went over to the youth group class to say hey and ended up talking for a long time and slipping into the adult class with about 5 minutes to spare haha. We were so sad to leave BUT we will definitely be back soon because we absolutely love seeing them. AND we missed Chelsie because she picked some cool interior design trip instead of us (hehe) so we'll be back soon for sure.

Our next few weekends are looking pretty good so far! Next weekend is valentines weekend and Chad is going camping, the weekend after that we're headed to Atlanta to celebrate my Dad's parents 50th anniversary, the next weekend is the guys lock-in that Chad has been planning so that will be a blast i'm sure.