Catching Up

There is still so much blogging to catch up on the current happenings of life. :) I'll pick up where I left off after the post about our second wedding shower. I didn't have a bachelorette party because that's just not me. The final month leading up to the wedding my Mom and I put the finishing touches on everything. God blessed me with the most wonderful mother. My Mom was the best support system during the wedding planning process, as for my entire life. Between the two of us, with some help from my loving husband and some other friends, I would say we put together a beautiful wedding. Granted, everything wasn't perfect and smooth...what is ever perfect and smooth in life?! There were the typical "wedding day bumps," but the ceremony was beautiful and the end result was perfect...I married the most amazing man and my best friend, Adam Thomas.

Thank you Mom for all you do for me and for helping me plan a spectacular wedding. I love you.

Back to Blogging

I haven't blogged in quite some time so, now I have some catching up to do. Trying to keep up with this blog has been a lot harder than I anticipated. I am determined, however, to stick with it. I especially want to keep it up now since Adam and I live several hours away from our families and some of our friends.

So much has happened since my last blog about my first bridal shower. Adam and I were lucky enough to also have a couple's shower thrown by some of his mother's friends. I still don't have any pictures from this shower. Shalie, Greg's wife (Greg is Adam's best friend), took the pictures for us and I just keep forgetting to ask her for them. She is pretty awesome at taking pictures.

Anyway, I was glad Adam was able to be there for our second shower. We were showered (again) with many gifts from family and friends. Once I have some pictures from this event, I will make a follow up post. In the meantime, thank you to everyone who made both of our showers a memorable experience. We love and appreciate all of you. :)

Bridal Shower Fun

So, I realize I had hoped to be caught on my blog by now, but that obviously hasn't happened. I'm not giving up though. I have a little bit of free time today and thought I would take advantage.

This summer is when my engagement began to feel "real". I guess it didn't really hit before now because I've been busy with school and other life events, and also because we've had a long engagement. I wouldn't have it any other way though. I've enjoyed the engagement and planning process.

The first weekend in June, two of my Mom's friends threw me a bridal shower. It was a lot of fun and we got some really neat gifts from our registries in our hometown. The food was great and the decorations were in our wedding colors, blue and yellow. :)

It was nice to get to share some special time with family and friends. And of course the gifts were nice too! ;)

Here are a few pictures from the shower.

The picture table. Pictures taken throughout our 7 year relationship! :)

The gift table.

A cake stand. That I was very excited about! :)

We got some of our Fiesta Dinnerware! A cream and sugar set from my uncle, aunt and cousins.

Fiesta heart-shaped ramekins/bowls.

Painted goblets that match the cake stand.

An apron from my Mom! :) Love the satin blue trim and polka dots.

My Mom, my Nana, me, and my future mother-in-law.

My Nana, my Mom, me, and my aunt Tika.

Flower arrangments that were on the tables. So pretty.

There were more pictures of everything, but these were some of my favorites.

Justin's High School Graduation

Life has been crazy and I haven't done too good with the blogging. So much has happened and I'm going to try to catch up with everything in order. My posts might be a little behind because of this, but oh well! :)

This May my cousin, Justin, graduated from high school. I am so proud of him! It seems like just yesterday he was coming home from the hospital. (I know everyone always says this, but it's really true.) I'm an only child, but have three boy cousins. I love each of them as if they were my brothers. We all grew up in the same town and are very close.

He's decided to go to college for Ag and judging. He's good at it and really enjoys it. Here are some pics from his graduation.

Gran (Our Great Grandmother) and Justin

Brayden, Tika, Christopher, Justin, and Chris

(Justin's parents and brothers)

Leslie (My Mom), Justin and Me

Justin...the 2010 Hobbs High Graduate!!!

The Beauty of Life

"Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain, and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams." - Ashley Smith

 I stumbled upon this quote and found it to be really inspiring. I don't know anything about the person who said it or where it came from, but it reminded me of my Grandad. He loved to look around and just enjoy the scenery and beauty around him. Wherever he was, it didn't matter, he was always happy and having a good time. Not a day goes by that I don't think of him. Whether it's a pretty sunrise, or a child swinging, he's always in my heart.

I haven't done very good about blogging lately, but I've been so busy enjoying life that I haven't really been on the computer much. So, for the few people who read my blog, I thought I would post an update.

The spring semester is over, thank goodness! Now, I'm working on the last step to obtain my Master's degree, my internship. I found out in April that I would be able to complete my first choice of internship at the Lubbock County District Attorney's Office in the Hot Check Office. I couldn't wait to get started! My adviser told me I could start as soon as my classes for the spring semester were over. After the semester ended, however, I took a week off to go home and help my mom since she had surgery. Anyway, today is the third week of my internship. It's going great and going by a lot faster than I expected.

As far as wedding planning goes, I'm still working on it and hope to blog about everything very soon!

Spring Break and Family Fun

It's been a while since my last post. School is taking first priority right now with everything else following behind. With that in mind, I did get to have some fun with family the last couple of weeks. Two weeks ago it was my spring break! It was a much needed break from school. I went home and enjoyed time with my Mom, cousins, and the rest of my family. We went to one of my favorite parks one day to fly kites, but it was too windy. :( On a happier note, I took a picture of the scenery.

This past weekend my Mom and my cousins, Chris and Brayden, came to visit for the end of their spring break. All of the years I have been in school, our spring breaks have never lined up. It's kind of a bummer, but we make it work! We had tons of fun and some good, quality bonding time. Here are some pictures from our fun at the mall...

Wedding Website

I started looking at wedding stuff right after Adam and I got engaged. I had heard about theknot.com from friends and magazines. I created a website during the first month of our engagement, but never got around to finishing it until now! School and other things seemed to take priority in my life, but I am done with it and wanted to share it with everyone. There isn't any information about registries or our honeymoon because we are still working on those areas. I will update the website as the information changes. Let me know what you think!

http://www.theknot.com/ourwedding/AmandaMalone&AdamGreer

Have a great week! :)

I have the BEST Family and Friends

I am blessed with wonderful family and friends. Monday night when Adam and I got back to Lubbock, we went to Sam's to look for a TV...again! He had called some places in the DFW area and didn't know if he would have better luck there. We ended up getting a Vizio and I really like it! Thank you to all of my family that pitched in for my awesome gift! :)

Erin and I went to Zumba yesterday like we do every Thursday. Okay, almost every Thursday! Afterwards we went our separate ways to get ready, but we were going to meet back up for dinner. Erin told me she had to run some errands and she would call me when she was done. She told me it was a surprise! I didn't know what she meant, but I figured I would soon enough. When she got to my apartment, she had brought me some personalized stationery! Anyone that knows me knows that I am crazy about stationery! Kristi had someone she knew in Lubbock make it for my birthday! It is so cute! I can't wait to use it! :)

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!!! The Big 25

It's official, I'm a quarter of a century old! Ha ha! My birthday was technically yesterday, but since it fell on a Saturday, I celebrated all weekend! I usually celebrate for a couple of extra days, if not a full week or weekend, since my birthday is the day before Valentine's Day. And I'm blogging today because obviously I was enjoying my actual birthday yesterday.

Adam came into to town. I was so excited he was able to come for the weekend because he has President's Day off. I hadn't seen him since MLK Jr. weekend in January, which is far too long! He made it to Lubbock early Friday evening, but we didn't go to on to Hobbs because he had a surprise planned. I got a Wii for Christmas from my Mom. I've really been wanting one. There's just one thing, my TV is pretty old. While I'm not really particular about TVs, Adam thought I should have a new one for better Wii use. So, he talked to my Mom, my Nana, and his parents and they all went in for my birthday to get me a new TV! WHAT A GREAT GIFT! :D We spent our evening on Friday looking for one. (That's another story for another time.) We ended up getting one at Best Buy. We took it to my apartment, hooked it up and it worked great for about 30 minutes. All of a sudden these green, vertical lines appeared. They eventually went away, but Adam didn't want to take any chances. So, we packed the TV back up on Saturday morning and took it to back to Best Buy. They had more of the same TV, but we both really liked the LGs and Adam didn't think it was a good idea to get the same TV again. Right now is the time of year that TVs from 2009 are being phased out for the new 2010 models to be released. This meant they couldn't order the LG for us.

What to do, what to do?! Adam is going to look for a TV in the DFW area. If he can't find one there we have a problem! Lol! It was kind of a bummer that things didn't work out, but now this just means Adam will have to make another trip back to Lubbock to bring me the TV and I will get to see him again! :) My Mom and I were going to do some more wedding stuff this weekend so, I think he is going to bring it then and do the wedding stuff with us. It's very exciting to get to see Adam two, count that two, weekends in a row!

The rest of my birthday weekend was wonderful! We came to Hobbs on Saturday after taking care of the TV stuff. I love being able to spend time with my family. We didn't have my party on my actual birthday because my cousin, Justin was out of town for FFA. Instead we got together on Valentine's Day. Adam and I have to head back to Lubbock tomorrow because I don't have President's Day off from school...BOO! On a happier note, here are some pictures from my birthday!

Erin brought me cupcakes for my birthday!!! :)

Chocolate and Red Velvet! What could be better?!

Isn't it pretty?!

My birthday cake!

My (favorite) uncle Chris! He's the life of the party! ;)

My aunt Tika!

My Mom and Justin. He's a goofball, but it's what I love about him!

Here's the normal one.

My Gran!

Justin and Nana!

Me and Adam

Mom and Me

My Valentine's Day flowers from Adam! Daisies are my favorite! :)

Daybreak

I'm trying to be really productive this semester and complete my course work in advance. I always get things done on time, but I'm trying to take advantage of free time and complete things early. So, I'm at Daybreak (a coffee house) studying with a friend. Yes I know, you're probably wondering how I can be studying if I'm blogging; I'm taking a break.

I get all kinds of ideas from Kristi about a lot of different things! Recently she posted a blog called 101 in 1001. It's a list of 101 things you want to accomplish in 1001 days...kind of a small bucket list on a timeline. I thought this sounded like fun so I'm going to start my list. I told my mom about it and I think she is going to make one also! That will be fun! It may take me a while to complete my list because I want to think of things I really want to do and I have school work to focus on. I think I will read more in this semester than my entire college career, undergraduate and graduate, combined! Ha ha, but seriously! It's going to be intense. Thank goodness this is my last semester. I will just have my internship left this summer and then it's graduation in August! :)

Christmas Vacation Has Come To An End

My Christmas vacation is officially over and the new semester has begun. I love the time I am able to spend at home with my family. The first part of my break started with a trip to visit Adam and the remainder of my break was spent at home with my family and friends. One would think I took advantage of the time off from school to accomplish some wedding planning, but that didn't happen. I took a break from all things school and wedding related. Ha ha!

Adam came to Lubbock last night for the weekend! :D I was so excited! We are going to the bridal fair tomorrow with my Mom and her friend Linda. My friend Erin, and fellow blogger, might go. I tried to lure her with the free cake samples. Lol! I can't wait for that and to get back into the wedding planning full swing. My Mom is a great organizer and I really appreciate all of her help. She takes great notes and pays attention to all the details. Plus it is fun to do all of the planning together. I love that she is willing to be a part of everything. She is my best friend. :)

What have you done?!

A friend of mine posted this blog and I thought it seemed like fun! Here are the things I have done. I still have some to go, and there are some I will probably never do. :) Hope everyone is having a happy beginning to the new year!

What have you done?!

RULES: There are 100 statements and you bold the ones you have done. Grab it and play for yourself!!

1. Started your own blog 2. Slept under the stars 3. Played in a band 4. Visited Hawaii 5. Watched a meteor shower 6. Given more than you can afford to charity 7. Been to Disneyland (World) 8. Climbed a mountain 9. Held a praying mantis 10. Sang a solo 12. Visited Paris 13. Watched a lightning storm at sea 14. Taught yourself an art from scratch 15. Adopted a child 16. Had food poisoning 17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty 18. Grown your own vegetables 19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France 20. Slept in an overnight train 21. Had a pillow fight 22. Hitchhiked 23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill 24. Built a snow fort 25. Held a lamb 26. Gone skinny dipping 27. Run a marathon 28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice 29. Seen a total eclipse (solar) 30. Watched a sunrise or sunset 31. Hit a home run 32. Been on a cruise 33. Seen Niagara Falls in person 34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors 35. Seen an Amish community 36. Taught yourself a new language 37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied 38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person 39. Gone rock climbing 40. Seen Michelangelo’s David 41. Sung karaoke 42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt 43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant 44. Visited Africa 45. Walked on a beach by moonlight 46. Been transported in an ambulance 47. Had your portrait painted 48. Gone deep sea fishing 49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person 50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris 51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling 52. Kissed in the rain 53. Played in the mud 55. Been in a movie 56. Visited the Great Wall of China 57. Started a business 58. Taken a martial arts class 59. Visited Russia 60. Served at a soup kitchen 61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies 62. Gone whale watching 63. Got flowers for no reason 66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp 67. Bounced a check 68. Flown in a helicopter 69. Saved a favorite childhood toy 70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial 71. Eaten caviar 72. Pieced a quilt 73. Stood in Times Square 74. Toured the Everglades 75. Been fired from a job 76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London 77. Broken a bone 78. Been on a speeding motorcycle 79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person 80. Published a book 81. Visited the Vatican 82. Bought a brand new car 83. Walked in Jerusalem 84. Had your picture in the newspaper 85. Read the entire Bible 86. Visited the White House 87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating 88. Had chicken pox 89. Saved someone’s life 90. Sat on a jury 91. Met someone famous 92. Joined a book club 93. Lost a loved one 94. Had a baby 95. Seen the Alamo in person 96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake 97. Been involved in a lawsuit 98. Owned a cell phone 99. Been stung by a bee 100. Read an entire book in one day.