Coupon-ing!

I have started coupon-ing. Although it may sound self-explanatory, they have workshops about coupon-ing! My bff Katie Newsome and I went to one, after our other bff Molly White gushed about how much she loved it and how much money they had saved in just a few months. Katie found a workshop that we could both go to, so we went!

It was quite an adventure. If you really interested in one, check out their website. I learned a few things about coupons that I didn't know before, but more about how to use them in a polite way. For instance, instead of shouting at the cashier because your expired coupon won't scan, go through your coupons and send your expired ones to military families overseas. Instead of taking every single box of Kraft Mac and Cheese, call ahead and tell them you're going to buy a case of it...things like that. I've gotten into printable coupons, which you can print from the internet. They change every month and I can choose which ones I want to print, that way I don't waste paper and ink on ones we'll never use. Right now my coupons vary from "$1 off assorted Valentine's Candy" to "$1 off Pilot Precise V5/V7 capped and retractable pens." Internet printables can be used anywhere, and FYI Bilo doubles coupons every day! So if I can find those pens at Bilo, it'll be for $2 off! Woo hoo! Every nurse needs tons of clicky pens...

Our first grocery store trip with coupons, we saved $45.46 at Bilo and $19.43 at Publix. The coupons weren't the bulk of that though since we're just starting out. It was maily Bilo Bonus Card, Buy One Get One Free deals (Bilo and Publix), 10 for $10 deals (Bilo), and Meal Deals (Bilo). I'll keep updating as we get more into it. Coupon-ing takes a lot of planning.

Awesome deal I'll pass on! Restaurant.com is having a deal--$25 restaurant certificates for $3! **Type in "MEAL" as a promotion code and click 'Apply.'** You can only use them on select restaurants in Chattanooga. My favorites are: The Station House, The Melting Pot, Blue Orleans, and Foodworks. Those are pretty pricy places (alliteration! woo!), BUT if you get four (like we did) $25 certificates, that's a $100 meal for only $12!! And they don't expire!

Lexington, TN

School has started off with a bang. The snow pushed school back a week, and some people (not me, thankfully) have exams on Saturday. Yuck! The good news is that May graduation did not change. Thank you, UTC! We had some intense make-up class time last week. This semester I'm only at school one day a week, but last week I had to go three days, from 9 to 4! After not having been in class, those long days wore me out. I found out great news though! I will be completing my preceptorship in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit!! There were slim chances of finding a preceptor, but I have one. God must have heard my many pleas during all the previous semesters' clinicals. Before I was even in nursing school, I shadowed a nurse in both the well-baby nursery and in the NICU. I fell in love with the atmosphere, patients and the nurses. We spent one day in the NICU during third semester and that was my shot to see if I thought it was still for me since I had gotten into the thick of nursing school. I still loved it! So since the beginning, I've known I want to be in the NICU and I'm so excited. I know that some days will be really bad. But God has a purpose for this intense passion of mine for the NICU, and no matter what happens He is with me and guiding me through it all. I will hopefully start my preceptorship next week with three 12 hour days in a row! Certainly starting off with a bang as well!

After three long days of classes, I got to drive to Lexington, TN with Molly. **Thank you for waiting on me to get out of class so I wouldn't be all by myself!** It was a fabulous drive, believe it or not, until we got off at the Natchez Trace exit. It eventually got us there but we found out later we could have gotten off the interstate and not been so creeped out. We drove through the curvy roads of the Natchez Trace State Park at night, in the dark, and could not help but start talking about scary movies. We were pretty freaked out! But we still made great time, and got there just in time for worship.

It was the first church this year that the band helped teach Bible studies and my first time being a Bible study leader, so the guys each had a Bible study and stayed in their respective host home. I did not know it was going to be this much fun! Molly and I co-lead the 8th grade girls. I love middle schoolers, especially girls, and this group was incredible! They knew a lot of deep concepts in Scripture and I was blown away. I kept thinking, "I didn't know this stuff 'til last year!" Molly helped me out a lot since I had never taught at a Disciple Now, which is different than the way I lead my Bible study with the middle school girls. It was an awesome experience.

I learned a lot this weekend:

-When Seth, Steve, Drew and Alex are really, really, really tired, they are goofy and so much more fun than the usual tired, where they're just grumpy. They're always fun, but when they're past the point of no return on fatigue, you'll know!
-GPS's don't always tell you the best way to go.
-Someone playing with the sanctuary lights is extremely distracting during worship.
-When I'm asleep, I apparently like to snuggle with whoever may be sharing the bed. *Not on purpose*
-Your body may be exhausted but praising God restores energy!

Kaylyn, this is for you!

I found The Sound of Music trailer.

Found out Mary Poppins came out before The Sound of Music. We were wondering that when we watched it. Also, this won the 38th Oscar for Best Picture (this is from the title of the video)!

South Carolina, Snow and The Sound of Music

I finally got to travel with the Seth Medley Band last weekend to Lancaster, South Carolina, pronounce "Lank-aster" not "Lan-caster." Since I'm know a wife of a member, I get to travel if there's a place for me to stay that's not an inconvenience to the band (like in a host home, or if we pay for the hotel ourselves). Molly and I stayed with an awesome chic named Catherine (sp?) which was great. Surprisingly, it was nice to have a bed away from the noisy boys! We got plenty of time with them during the day and on the trip! **We had a return to the war conversation prompted by me mentioning how much I liked Irresistible Revolution, that included raised voices and lots of repetition...it was not fruitful, except that we learned to maybe never discuss politics in a car.** It was great to watch Alex, my hubby, praise God and lead worship as a part of the SMB outside of our church. It was great to be with the guys in fellowship and on the road. I was very much looking forward to it and had so much fun!

Sunday night is started snowing......I've never NOT wanted snow so much! It never snowed this much in Chattanooga during my childhood when I didn't have to drive in it. Monday was fun, waking up to everything white and getting a text saying that work was closed. However, after many episodes of 30 Rock and finding things to do around the apartment, I was restless. It would have been much better had one of our friends (cough cough) let us get snowed in at their house, but no, that did not happen so we were all bored. Tuesday I did more chores then we headed to my parent's house to sled!

After 2 times down the hill we were done. Playing games and watching movies with my family was a lot of fun. Thursday we finally ventured out because of work. Now I just hope that UTC won't have to push graduation back since we missed the first week of spring semester. :-/ This has been the longest week! I'm looking forward to more of a routine this coming week.

The Seth Medley Band headed out again yesterday for Nashville to play at First Baptist. I had prior commitments today so I stayed home which wasn't terrible. First night at the apartment by myself and I survived! Pretty proud of that, especially since we don't have any animals yet. :) I spent some much needed time with Jon and Lizzy last night and after some delicious taco fun and a few crazy rounds of Bananagrams we watched "The Sound of Music" which is such a great movie. I'm pretty sure I said, "I love this movie," about 2500 times during the movie! It's been stuck in my head since then too.

In other news, Alex (my husband--I love saying that!) is starting a blog! It will be way better than mine because he's an excellent writer and it'll pertain to more than just the thoughts floating around in his head, like my blog is! Check it out.

Also, wedding pictures are done!!! They are so beautiful. Check them out here.

The typical routine on a Sunday night after church is to hang out with the band guys, Molly and anyone else that happens to join us that night. We usually hit up the same places, either Plaze del Sol, Logan's, Steak n Shake, or Cracker Barrel. The conversation usually goes the same way, either we talk about band stuff, church stuff, friend stuff, or have a theological/big religious issue discussion. As you can tell, we're pretty wild...

This past week we went to Steak n Shake. Somehow Seth and Molly's conversation ended up involving the whole table, in which Steve just shook his head because he is not a fan of theological/big religious issue discussions. The conversation involved politics and the War on Terrorism or whatever it's being called these days. We talked about presidents, their decisions--some good, some bad, what should have been done and what we should be doing now. I'm not a huge politics person and I don't keep up with any of that stuff, nor do I remember anything historical, but I like hearing what other people have to say, especially when it's something I don't know. Long story short, one opinion was that Bush did what he thought was best for the protection of the American people after September 11th and people don't give him enough credit. One was that America doesn't need to be pushing democracy in every country's face when something goes wrong.

Interestingly, I started reading a book a few weeks ago called The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne. The chapter I got into yesterday was about the war, September 11th and a response that would be much more Biblical for Christians than supporting the war. For example, Shane (the author) went to Iraq with a group of Christian peacemakers and he spent time with children, families and homeless of Iraq, showing them love, discussing the gospel. Many of the Iraqi people he met were Christains and were confused. Why is America bombing their country when they proclaim Christianity? Many of them didn't see a difference in the Muslim extremist terrorists blowing up buildings in the name of Allah, or America bombing Iraq in the name of the safety of their country. I'm really glad that's where I was at in the book after the conversation Sunday night.

Sunday night I was pretty confused about how I should feel about the war. I also before this chapter wasn't too excited about finishing the book because it seemed like it was just huge advertisements for all the ministries and communities Shane is involved in and a way of showing off how great of a person he was because he really talks a lot about what he's done in his life. Perhaps within that feeling was really conviction to take the Gospel more seriously.

All of that to say, I'm praying that the church becomes alive. Shane points out how stagnant Christians are, just attending church, going through the motions, saying the right things, pretending as if they have their life together. I've heard that for years, "Don't let God and church just be motions you go through, or something you check of your to-do list." But it's so much more than that. Instead of being a church that points out only the parts of the Bible that make us feel good (blessings and love and forgiveness--which are important, don't get me wrong), let's challenge ourselves, our country, our world, to think beyond ourselves! What about "Take up your cross and follow me" or "You must hate your mother, your father, your brothers and sisters to follow me" or "Sell everything you have and give it to the poor, then follow me" and really break down what they say. I pray that the church is challenged and persecuted, so that real disciples will be made! So that we will finally be in a place where we desperately need God. Shane works with the homeless and points out how little they have and how strong their faith is because they literally depend on God for the next meal. I don't know anyone like that.

Shane points out the verse where Jesus says, "The poor will always be among you" and kinda slaps the church on the back of the hand for misinterpreting that. A lot of people say that as an excuse not to do anything with the poor and destitute other than throw money to charities and again check off something on their to-do list, but Shane points out that if the poor are always among you it means you must be among the poor, or be around the poor. It seems so obvious but his points in the book are really difficult things when you've been fed nothing but morals at church.

Alex and I are going to be challenged with being married, and adjusting to that. But I pray that we are challenged with the Gospel, and that we can challenge the middle school at our church, and our friends and together put it into action.

I love being married.

The wedding and honeymoon are over...holidays (Thank the LORD) are over! Alex and I are slowly getting into a routine that unfortunately will have to include school next week. I still haven't completely moved all my things into the apartment due to hectic holiday get togethers but that will hopefully happen this week. Good thing is my family lives in Chattanooga so it's not a huge deal about me moving my stuff immediately.

Here are some recaps of what's happened. It's long and drawn out but I just want to document it while it's still fresh on my mind.

Wedding:

Everything went perfectly, although the days leading up to it did not lead me to believe it was going to go very smoothly. The Sunday, Monday and Tuesday before the wedding I was sick with what a Nurse Practitioner thought was a milder version of the flu (thanks so much flu shot!) because my brother's flu test was positive. Not only was the bride sick, so was a groomsmen. Did that stress me out? I'll let you guess...my blood pressure was 135/76...it's normally 115/70. I didn't feel stressed but my body for sure was. So I missed work, did horrible on the last test I had to take for school, and laid around the house because I was too weak to work on last minute wedding stuff. What last minute wedding stuff did I have left? Oh, only DIY stuff that I spent money on and was too stubborn not to do. I made wreaths by tying bows around a wreath form that hung on the doors to the reception and the door to the church. I also made paper illuminaries by cutting paper doillies and glueing them inside white paper bags. We had to fold the programs, finish the slideshow, finish the playlist, and catch up on thank you notes before the motherload of presents came in. With the help of my wonderful groom and parents, we got everything done Tuesday night and Wednesday.
Well, lucky me when Wednesday rolled around (the bachelorette party was scheduled for Wed night btw) the weatherman started predicting some nasty, icy weather to roll in around evening time and leave some ice on the roads until morning. So while I was supposed to be relaxing while I got a manicure and pedicure Wednesday afternoon, everyone in the world starts texting me about this nasty weather. Not something the bride wants to hear let alone could do anything about. I also couldn't text back because my hands were all gooey and wrapped up. My phone was buzzing the whole time and there were threats of not having a flower girl! She had had pneumonia and her baby sister was fighting ear infections and her dad (also a groomsmen) was sick. I tried my best to just let everything roll of my back and not get in a tizzy before the party. The bachelorette party was a blast, and even while rain was falling and freezing on the roads my friends and bridesmaids toughed it to Apison to celebrate! The rest of the details of the night are not to be mentioned... ;). Don't worry...we didn't go wild, believe me. It's hard to do anything crazy when cars are sliding off the road and the interstate is shut down. It was the perfect bachelorette party for me...good, fun times with my best girlfriends.
Thursday came and went quickly! I woke up and drove home since the roads were fine the next morning (Thank the Lord!). I still had to pack some things for the honeymoon and straighten up my room and get all the wedding stuff in the car and take a shower and get ready for that night because I was not coming back home! Whew! Somehow I got it all done and we were only 20 minutes later than we had planned getting to the church. With the help of his mom, my mom, Jon, Lizzy and Abbie, we got the room ready for the rehearsal dinner and as many decorations up as we could for the reception. There was a surprise when we went into the sanctuary and the stage wasn't cleared off and we couldn't find the altar table therefore couldn't decorate it for the next day. But the wedding coordinator, Kelly Stack and the rest of my bridesmaids and friends and groom told me over and over that it would get done and not to worry about it. I then went to the mall with Kaylyn to exchange some things and then rushed back to the church for the rehearsal. She was amazing and went to pick up the cake for the rehearsal dinner which was a Coca-Cola cake from Cracker Barrel...one of Alex's favorites.
The rehearsal was surreal and it really hit me then that "Oh my goodness, this is really happening...tomorrow." It was fun and weird and nerve-wracking! The rehearsal dinner was a blast. We borrowed something from our friends', Jon and Lizzy, rehearsal dinner where friends and family attending were invited to say something about the bride and groom. Several of our friends and our parents got up to speak and it was really, really amazing to hear how much each person had to say. Once the rehearsal was over we got the room ready for the reception and headed home! I said my final goodbye to my studly fiance as he headed out for his bachelor party and I went home, took a bubble bath and watched Friends until I knew I was going to fall asleep and stay asleep.
The next day I woke up nervous. The second I opened my eyes I felt butterflies in my stomach. My mom and I again loaded up the car with my luggage and things for the wedding I needed that day. We headed to Walgreen's for more last minute things and then headed to the Bridesmaids Luncheon at a tea room in Collegedale. My grandmothers, aunts, cousin, both mother-in-laws, sister-in-law, neice and bridesmaids were there and we had such a fun time! It was both relaxing and made me more nervous as it got later and later in the day. After that it was time for me to get my hair done! Unfortunately, she was behind schedule and took me 30 minutes after my scheduled appointment. That threw off my schedule a little bit but I was not worried. The photographer was there which made me more nervous and excited than ever! Before I knew it, my hair was done and we were heading to the church. All the girls were ready by the time I got there so we all headed to the bathroom, I mean we all went, and they watched my attempt to do my own make up. I say attempt because before I did anything I would say, "Like this?" or "Does this look ok?" or "What do I do?" With the help of 6 of my favorite girls in the whole world, I got my face put on. Then it was time to put my dress on and start taking pictures. Gah! You cannot imagine until you are in that place how nervous a person can be. I have never and don't think I ever will be that nervous again. Pictures went by and then it was chill time before the ceremony. Right before the ceremony I asked if Alex and I could do an around the door picture. Alex and I weren't planning on seeing each other until I walked down the aisle but this way we could get a picture of us holding hands, with me on one side of the door and him on the other. As soon as I heard him say hi, I broke down. My eyes watered up and I could not believe I was getting married in less than an hour! I'm so glad we did that. :)
The ceremony was perfect. Unlike some people that say they don't remember anything from their wedding, I obviously remember everything. I remember how I felt when we said our vows and put the rings on each other's fingers. I remember his face when I was walking down the aisle and his face when we had our first dance. It was the most fun I've ever had. Everything went perfectly. Just as I wanted it to. All of a sudden it was about 11:15 pm and we were ready to leave. We left to sparklers and a few inside jokes yelled to us as Alex helped me into the car! Drew chaffeured us to the Sheraton downtown. :)

Honeymoon:

We woke up and went to Alex's college graduation. Ha! Everyone said we were crazy and while we did not want to wake up and do that on the morning after our wedding I'm so glad we did. After lunch with his family we finally were on the road to Charlotte, NC for the first leg of the honeymoon! Why Charlotte? That was the only place he could find a direct flight to Cancun, Mexico without a layover! We saw "It's a Wonderful Life" as a radio show (way cooler than anything we'd ever seen before) and "The Nutcracker" ballet in Charlotte, ate at some amazing restaurants, got room service like nobody's business, and relaxed, relaxed, relaxed. The weather was perfect and we got bonus hotel upgrades, so our room in Cancun had an ocean view and balcony along with 24 room service at no extra cost! Except for our car not starting as we were ready to leave for the airport to fly to Cancun, and the taxi lady in Cancun forgetting to give our credit card back, everything was perfect. The Hilton sent someone out to jump our car off, and we still got to the airport with an hour and a half to spare before the flight. The taxi person drove us back to the airport so we could get our credit card back, then drove us to the hotel. :) No problemo! Perfect after a stressful wedding week! Alex did a AMAZING job planning and surprising me with that!

So after everything has come and gone, I am more happy than ever. I love being able to go home to my husband after a long day at work. I love having a home that we get to put together. I am looking forward to what this new year holds and thanks be to God that Alex and I have each other through the good and bad of it all!