New Year's Eve Surprise

Our photos were published on our Photographer's website today. I didn't know if we would make the cut but we did. It brought back great memories to see all those images. I can't believe it's been 4 months.

The Thomas Family would like to wish you all a very Happy New Year. Let's hope 2010 is as fabulous as 2009.

What To Wear

Well in one week I will be packing for Pasadena. Brent's trip clothes are easy. Bama Polo, Bama long sleeve button down, Bama Pullover. I on the other hand have no idea what to pack. The weather is going to be in the 60's with lows in the 40's. Brent also said "You are a bamer you need to wear bamer clothes". He's kidding but kind of right. I want to be in game day gear and not overdressed. I am traveling with my husband and two other dudes. There are no girls to dress up with. It makes my life much harder than it was while packing in college. I bought a silver free people dress today and thought it would be so cute with tights and black shoes for going out one night. I put it on and realized the vision in my head did not appear on my body. Needless to say it's going back to Belk tomorrow. If anyone has seen any cute white tops out lately please let me know! I'm thinking jeans and a 3/4 quarter length sleeve crimson sweater for the game. I guess I will carry my Bama fleece. It's grey with a crimson "A" on it. I suppose I can carry my houndstooth scarf and throw it on in the third quarter. I bet it will get chilly when the sun goes down. Brent thinks I'm crazy for worrying about this 9 days before we leave. I want to pack light and efficiently though. As for the sightseeing days (Wednesday Afternoon and Friday) I have no idea what to wear. I don't want to look like a big goobe (made up word Brent and I use to describe each other when we are awkward) in tennis shoes, jeans and t shirts. Ah the stress of being a fashion-less twenty five year old!

I guess I should just be thankful that I will look better than these guys...

Merry Christmas... 1 Day Late

There was no time to blog "Merry Christmas" yesterday. We had a very eventful 1st Married Christmas. I had to work until noon on Christmas Eve. We loaded up and headed to Prince Place (Brent's Gradmother's nursing home out in the boonies) and were able to visit with her for about an hour before heading to Hartselle. We then spent Christmas Eve at Grammie's. This year she gave us all poppers as our gag gift. Apparently they are used in Europe and she's working her way around countries and their traditions. My popper did not have a gold crown inside it like all the others. Brent wouldn't give up his crown; he wore it throughout the night. Lori can email me a picture to post of him in it. It looked great! Christmas morning was spent at home with Dad, Lori, Emily & Meagan. Then grandparents came and had breakfast with us. It was great being able to see everyone. We went to Memaw & Papaw's for Christmas Lunch and then to Brent's parents for Christmas Dinner. By the time the three of us got home (yes, Charlie traveled along with us) it was almost 9pm. We exchanged gifts (little ones since Pasadena is our present to ourselves and each other) and then went to bed. Brent woke up in the middle of the night with a terrible stomach virus. He has been down and out all day. I believe he's said maybe two sentences to me since he moved from the bed to the couch (4pm). I've spent the day learning my way around on our new imac. I love it! It makes blogging so much easier. Hopefully Brent will feel better tomorrow and I will not come down with the bug. Here are some pictures from Christmas Day:

Christmas Morning

Family Photo on Christmas

My Two Favorite Boys

Just Hanging Out After Opening Gifts

The Boys Waiting On Lunch

I hope everyone had a wonderful time visiting with family. I know we did. I wish we had an extended period off from work. 1 1/2 days is just not enough! And for all of you who are upset with me for turning in identical Christmas Wish Lists: No worries, Next year I will have a sufficient list ready by Thanksgiving :)

SIDE NOTE: At this moment last year I was calling all of you to spread the word that Brent & I were engaged. I can't believe it's been 1 year. Thank Goodness we had a relatively short engagement. I cannot imagine life any other way!

Childhood Favorites

With Christmas approaching I started thinking about all the toys I used to love as a kid. I googled them and found out some could have actually been worth something (Hello basketball Kevin Barbi doll- $45 on nextag.com) Anyways I thought I'd post a few photos... it's funny to see how much toys have changed in 15-20 years!

Loved Talking Big Bird

I got these Barbies for Christmas but was never allowed to open them!

Also loved Talking Teddy Rupskin

I never got the "Barbie Dream House" just "Folding Fun House"

If my sister had a dollar for every time I made her act out Kevin she'd be a millionaire!

I hope to salvage/ find some of these in the future. I'd love to pass them along to my future children. I think my parents and grandparents did a relatively good job storing some of these in plastic boxes and shrink wrap.

*Side note: We are watching Home Alone. I remember my Memaw taking me and my sister to the movies to see this. Hilarious! Home Alone 2 will be viewed tomorrow night*

Saturday Morning

Brent and I went to the gym. We are now one month away from Cancun. Any chance of dropping 10lbs before then? I highly doubt it but I'll give it a shot. Married life consists of lots of eating and laying on the couch. It's caught up with me! Well back to the blog point: Charlie took a slam in the house while we were gone for one hour! What is this? Terrible Doggy Twos? He hasn't did that since he was a baby. He will spend the rest of his day in his baby size kennel. Poor Charlie, when will he ever learn?

Shaggy Head

The above dog: Previously none as Charlie; now none as "Little Devil" has had a very active week. To top it off he managed to find Brent's sore throat spray, drag it into the hallway, open it and spill red dye EVERYWHERE. Our carpet is now pink. Any suggestions on how to clean it will be greatly appreciated and thoroughly tested. I can't imagine life without the little booger though; I can only imagine how all you with Children feel. Let's just say it's good for Charlie that Brent and I don't plan on starting a family for a few years. He's the only child we need now and for that matter could afford.

Lack of Blogging

Beautiful Bride

I apologize for the lack of blogging lately. Not too much has been happening in the Thomas family. We decided to bypass Christmas gifts and treat ourselves to a trip. Pasadena here we come. Crazy adventure, once in a lifetime trip-- we decided to do it while we are still young!

That being said we've been busy shopping for everyone else! Brent's finished his gift list but I am no where near done. On top of this busy season I found a way to finally get sick for the first time this fall/ winter. Not Good! My best friend, Jessica Bradley was married this past Saturday. Matron of Honor had to be there and was not allowed to cough,sneeze, or sniffle through the ceremony. Thankfully my shot kept me feeling good until Sunday. Now I'm just working my way thru it. The wedding was beautiful and I can't wait until she's back to hear all about the Dominican Republic.

Pictures from the wedding:

Slow Week

I had to take Charlie to the vet after work today. He was so excited to put his collar on and jump in the car. I think he thought he was going to Hartselle. When we arrived at the vet he began to trimble. Poor thing was shaking to death. Everyone in the lobby was staring at him because he kept making a loud whimper noise. I guess he remembered the last time he went there. They took his manhood away and he really held a grudge! Once we were in the exam room he tried to bite the Vet lady. It was embarrassing. He snapped at her like I'd never seen him do to anyone before. They determined that he had an ear infection and drug him into the back room to clean out his ear. He ended the trip by leaving a big present on the floor of the exam room. What a pup... Now we have to put drops in his ear 2 times a day. I just love him, especially when he costs me good Christmas shopping money!

Brent decorated our house from top to bottom last Saturday. It looks great! We have 3 trees in our town home. I doubt anyone else can say that. My favorite is my snow baby tree. It's in our foyer. Charlie only messes with the one tree in our bedroom. He drags the fake "snow" out from under the tree skirt every day while I am at work. Every day he gets in trouble. Poor thing just won't learn!

Our Bedroom Tree

Our Snow Baby Tree

Our Living Room Tree

Front Door Sign

The Front Porch all ready for Santa!

New Table Setting

I have officially realized that I am an old woman. I get too excited over dishes and new placemats! Here is a photo of our new M.Bagwell Simply Christmas plates on our new charges. I got these for my birthday. I love them! I picked up the place mats and napkins at Bed, Bath and Beyond. Let me know what you think! Hopefully Brent & I will spend Saturday decorating the house for Christmas.

As for Charlie, He ate the edge off of one of Brent's hardback books today. I rushed to Books-a-Million to find the book but they only had it in paperback. I gave it to Brent and he told me it was okay and I could return the money and get my money back. How Sweet! But how sad to have a dog with separation anxiety. I feel bad for him but really wish he'd lose his goat like tendencies. If only we had a live in dog sitter (attention EM: the perfect job for you!)

Charlie Experiment: Day 2

Little bud was a perfect Angel. Let's hope day 3 goes just as well!

Letting Charlie Roam

We are experimenting with letting Charlie roam the house during the day. Day 1: He managed to get in the bathroom (I promise I shut the door prior to leaving for work) and tear up all of the bathroom trash. Other than that he was a perfect angel. I will update tomorrow as to what he does on day two.

Tomorrow is my birthday- the big 25. How depressing... I'm only kidding. This year has been amazing. In order to realize how blessed I am I thought I'd list a few of the great things that happened:

• Got engaged to Brent
• Married Brent
• Went to the best concert: Dave Matthews Band
• Gained several new family members (Hey Thomas Clan!)
• Went to Saint Lucia
• Almost about to have a promotion at work
Those are just the highlights. I never imagined 24 would be such an eventful year in my life. Let's hope things just keep getting better from here.

This past weekend I hosted a Christmas Shower for my best friend Jessica. She got some great things! I got a clean house! (Thanks Memaw) I think the shower went well. I was so excited that Melissa and I were able to do it for Jessica. I can't wait for her wedding-- less than one month away :)

Jess, Melissa & I after the shower

The new rug in our kitchen

Detail of the new rug

Flowers from the Shower

Another Lazy Sunday Comes To An End

The weekend really goes by too fast. Friday, I went to Christmas Village with my future sister-in-law Jennifer. We had a good time! I  bought some soup packets and found a vendor who I'm working with to create a photo album to hold all pictures from and leading up to the wedding. I can't wait to have them all organized and displayed here in our home. My next project is to find a bookcase/ cabinet for our living room that can hold all our albums and display some of our photos. We purchased a new TV and stand recently and that removed all my decorating space that was in our old entertainment center. I'm not complaining though.. the TV was a serious upgrade. If anyone knows of any antique/ good deals on a piece of furniture that resembles a bookcase or curio cabinet let me know! I'm definitely in the market to buy one. Saturday was spent watching football. Thanks to Alabama I no longer have any of the fingernails I grew out (for the first time in my life) and maintained since Brent & I got engaged. Now it's back to square one. Wish me luck. On Sunday one of my grandmothers came down to visit. We had a great time catching up and running a few errands. Charlie loves it when family comes to visit. He gets so excited and practically sits on top of them the entire time they are here. The weekend was capped off with a sit down family dinner! Salad, Spaghetti & Garlic Bread... my favorite meal of all time. Charlie even managed to find time to take a bath tonight as well (Thanks Brent!). Life's good as a Thomas...

Two months in..

Just a little update: Two months have passed and this marriage thing keeps getting better every day. I'm the luckiest girl in the world to have found Brent. He not only loves me but puts up with me! Sometimes it can be a hard job... Well I'm off to cook dinner for my husband. It's taco pie night.. YUM!

On a different note... take a minute to check out my friend Jessica's engagement photos. I think they are beautiful! She will marry Michael Rutledge on December 12th of this year. I can't wait to be her Matron of Honor. Congrats Jess!

Happy Birthday & Happy Halloween

Yesterday we celebrated Charlie's 2nd Birthday. Emily even came up to spend the night with us so she could join the party. Happy Birthday Charlie!!

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Happy Halloween Everyone. We are enjoying a day of nothing except watching football (not our team) on our new TV. We spent last night at "game night" at our friends the McG's house. It was fun! Hopefully we will go get some yummy fast food here in a minute. Nothing beats a lazy Saturday.

Hump Day

I never really understood why people called Wednesday "Hump Day" until I started working full time. I swear I have a new abundance of energy Thursday morning just knowing that we are over Wednesday. Today was a typical Wednesday at work...LONG!

As for the Thomas family we are doing great. We upgraded TV's recently and are getting HD and DVR tomorrow. I am so excited. I've been begging Brent for DVR for as long as I've known him. I had it in college and it's been a rough 2 years without! Maybe Brent and I will get back in the gym once it's all set up and our favorite shows are being recorded. I've noticed that "wedded bliss" sure can add a few lbs. We are kinda like that nursery rhyme "Jack Sprat could eat no fat, his wife could eat no lean..." Metabolism changes are not fair!

As for tonight there are a few exciting things going on in our house. 1. Brent has lost his phone, no idea where he put it.. and it's on silent. 2. Leftovers are on the menu (Brent made some really good chicken and rice soup last night.) 3. Dentist appointment in the morning and Brent's got the full day off. Let's just make it until 5pm on Friday.

One last Question: Any thoughts on a couples Halloween Last Minute Costume? We may be attending a Halloween party Friday night but we just found out today and are costume-less.

A picture from last weekends tailgate- ROLL TIDE

Organization

Is there something about getting married that makes you want to organize your house? I'm feeling this in spurts. I went crazy and decided to organize our downstairs (should be for coats) closet. It's now a storage room for extra kitchen things. The one downfall of our town home is the lack of storage in the kitchen/ dining area. I've completely run out of room! My next organization project is my girly things.. ex: stationary, markers, stamps, tape, you name it. I bought two plastic boxes at wal-mart and am beginning to make some progress. I have a desk upstairs but who really keeps things in those drawers? I'm always too lazy to go upstairs and get what I need. I'm sure the new storage shelves in the closet downstairs will have room for my box of goodies.

Charlie is running crazy laps around the living room as I'm typing this. I'm not sure why he gets so wound up around 8pm. The silly dog sleeps all day then plays all night. Brent's upstairs cleaning for the company we have coming to stay this weekend. It's going to be a busy one- We are heading to Cullman Friday after work for a wedding tool/gadget shower then to Tuscaloosa Saturday for the game. Brent just asked what I'm doing and when he saw blogging he said "I'll blog you." Not sure what that means but it sounds like code for "Come Clean Now" so I'm off. Will post more Thomas family pictures soon!

Random Question, help needed...

Has anyone ever noticed a slimy bug in their kitchen sink? I call it a "catfish" bug because it has whiskers and looks a bit like a fish. Needless to say I have seen four of them in the past 2 months and am starting to freak out! I googled the bug last night and it is officially called a "Silverfish". It's disgusting. The postings say they live in damp places so finding them in our sink makes perfect sense. If you have ever had these please tell me how you got rid of them. I am begging Brent to call a pest control company but he doesn't see the big deal if it's only 4 bugs. He just kills them and keeps moving- I whine, kill them, then get really grossed out. Google it if you want to see a picture.. it's disgusting!

Finally Fall

Another great weekend in the books for our little family. We spent yesterday watching football games all day long. Charlie was a good sport again. I think he likes it when we stay home instead of actually going to the game or to tailgate. He wore his jersey and cheered on the Tide with his dad. Yes, Brent will kill me when he reads that sentence... he will say "HE is a dog." and yes, he is a dog... but he is also one of my best friends. I don't know what I'd do without that little guy. Sunday was also a good day. We went to church and then to eat lunch at Jim n' Nicks. After lunch we went and bought a pumpkin. I have no intention of carving it, I just want to sit it on our front porch. After that I was off to Arab to Jessica's first shower. She got some really great things. I LOVE her everyday Christmas dishes. I may have to look into investing in a few pieces myself. After the shower I was able to meet Brent and his parents at the Assisted Living facility where his grandmother stays. It was nice to see her. I know she gets lonely there and it makes her day when family is able to stop by. Prior to meeting Brent I made a fabulous purchase: A bale of hay and two mums... all for $16.96! The only issue was that I had no idea bugs like to live in damp bales of hay (is that even how you spell that?) Brent's mom looked at my goodies and bugs began to fly every where. I hate bugs- I don't do well with nats and they were swarming all around the back of the 4Runner. Brent took care of the situation once I got home. He cleared out the car and sucked all the bugs out with the shopvac. What a great husband! Being the dog obsessed "mom" that I am I then had Charlie pose on our front porch. What a great Weekend!

Road Trip, Roll Tide

Well we have officially knocked Commonwealth Stadium off our list of SEC places to watch an Alabama football game. The fans were...okay, but definitely not as nice as the people who worked at the local Skyline Chili or at the Great American Ballpark (home of the Reds). I'm glad there was only one crazy CAT fan in our area. (Thanks Candice for keeping us in a good section!) The trip was interesting though- Apparently Coach Saban and his wife were on our floor at the Hyatt because Saturday morning when I walked out of the room to go to breakfast I ran into Mrs. Saban coming out of her room and down the hall. How nice, now I wonder if they called the noise complaint on our friends who were 3 rooms down from us. How funny would that be? We also saw the team load the buses while eating our breakfast in the hotel lobby restaurant. I like staying at the same hotel as the team and all of the Alabama fans. I was able to catch up on my sleep though because I went to bed early each night while Brent went out with the boys. Note to all you other girlfriends/ wives... come on road trips-- I could use a shopping buddy!

Good Weekend

Another good weekend for the Thomas family. Spent Saturday watching football at our good friend Zeb & Jana's house, spent Sunday visiting with Brent's family and catching up on things around the house. Charlie had a big day playing outside at his "Memee & David's" house (aka Brent's mom & dad's). He even had to get a bath tonight because he got so stinky!

This will be a short week because we are leaving Thursday night to go to Lexington, Kentucky for the Alabama game. Brent & I have never been to that stadium. After this weekend I will only be lacking three SEC stadiums: Arkansas, South Carolina & Georgia. Hopefully we can conquer them all one day.

Here's a photo of Charlie... I sure wish he could come sit with me all day at work like he does at home. Got to love having a lap dog!

Love, Love, Love

Lazy Weekend

Brent & I can say that this was one of the best weekends we've had in a while. The wedding was great, honeymoon was relaxing, and last week's Alabama game was fun to be at but man it felt good to have NOTHING to do. We did make progress on the house though- I cleaned all morning Saturday while Brent went in to work. He made it home in time for Me, Him & Charlie to begin a 12 hour day of football watching. Big highlights: Pizza for dinner, an Alabama win, and Charlie sporting his jersey. What a fabulous Saturday.

As for Sunday, we made it to early service at The Church at Brookhills, lunch at Zoe's and then became members at COSTCO. We spent the afternoon doing price comparisons on items we will now be buying in bulk. One thing we learned: we are both terrible at trying to do math in our heads. It's sad when you have to walk around the store with an iphone trying to calculate which price is better. Let us know if you want to go as our Guest- we'd love to take you!

As for tonight, Brent's got a meat loaf in the oven and the Cowboys are on TV. Life is good- my husband is great- and our dog's still as funny as ever.

Snapfish

I got really stressed out with Webshots. The quality of my photos wasn't so hot so I'm trying out a new site. From here on out check for updated photos on our new Snapfish Account. It works best if you click "play slideshow".

(someone comment and let me know if you are able to view this; I'm not sure if it will let you if you don't have a Snapfish account...help me out here, I'm struggling!!)

Also, anyone use Picassa? If so, is there any way to use it and it NOT TRY to upload every photo on your computer? Thanks for the help :)

Pictures from Saint Lucia

I was able post the Honeymoon pictures on our webshots site.

There are no comments under the photos... so I will give a brief description of where we were. We stayed at Sandals Grande in Saint Lucia. We had a great week. It took about 4 hours to get there from Atlanta. The staff at the resort was fantastic. We would love to go back to a Sandals resort again. Hopefully I can talk Brent into going to a Sandals in Jamaica within the next 2 years!

Professional Photos

Just wanted to share the links to our wedding photos. Click here to view the slideshow that Nolen Photography created. You can also view all four galleries which include all the photos that were taken on our wedding day. I have looked at them way too much since Erin emailed me the links today. I am so glad that we purchased the rights to the photos because there are so many I want to purchase and/or give as gifts! Let me know what you think!

I think I've decided that this picture is my favorite of them all.

**This is my second favorite. I love their sweet faces in this picture.

Thank goodness it's the weekend and tomorrow is game day. Brent and I will be attending our 1st Alabama game as a married couple... I can't wait. ROLL TIDE

It's Official

Well we are finally Mr. & Mrs. David Brent Thomas. I think that is a pretty nice name! We got in from Saint Lucia late last night. No worries, pictures will be posted sometime later in the week.

I just wanted to share one quick note then I've got to get back to helping Brent unpack and organize all the things we seem to have accumulated during the past ten days. We can't believe that the wedding was only a little over a week ago. It seems like it's been forever since that great day. I can't wait to see the professional photos. As for now I'm having to hope friends and family post on Facebook so we can relive that magical night.

Now that I've rambled I will finally get to the point of the post: Nolen Photography (they really are the best in my opinion) published our engagement on their website this past week. Take a look- I loved the majority of our pictures. Please disregard the ones where Brent and I have uncomfortable looks on our faces... we were photo rookies at the time.

Check back for wedding pictures. As soon as I find a good one (come on facebook friends) I will upload one to our blog.

New Adventure

I always said I would never have a blog. (A) I probably don't have time to keep up with it. (B) I have no idea how to customize it. (C) Who would really want to read it? Well I've decided that Marriage (Brent & I are getting married in 4 days...) is worth documenting! We have friends and family who can use this to check up on us and Charlie (the best dog in the entire world...get ready, lots of photos will be posted). So here goes nothing! Probably won't be back on here until after the big day. Expect plenty of pictures!