A May Day

My weekends in May (and every other month it seems) have been really busy.

May 15, 2010 - Ben and Kyra's wedding in Jacksonville!  They both were so giddy during the ceremony...I don't think I've ever seen two people more excited to get married and share their lives together.  It was really cute.  Kyra looked absolutely beautiful in her dress.  What more can I say?  :)  It was a perfect wedding shared with old friends.

Ben and Kyra sealing the deal

 Old Friends

Cake Time!

May 22, 2010 - My Bridal Shower!  Thanks to everyone who came and helped out with the shower!  I truly am blessed to have great friends and family.

Beautiful food table = yum, yum!

  

The presents were amazing!  Thanks SO much!  :)

 The whole gang (minus a few).  I love you all!

May 29, 2010 - Eric's B-Day Party with Family!  Food, sun, swimming, family, presents = one amazing birthday!  Eric and I had a wonderful time sharing his birthday with both of our families.  I really couldn't think of a better way to spend a Saturday.  The nieces and nephew always crack me up and I got to work on my tan a little bit (yes...we all still know it needs work, lol.).  Much love to the fam!

Doesn't our family seem really huge?

May 30, 2010 - Eric's REAL birthday!  Well...we were supposed to have our engagement pictures taken, but it got rained out.  I felt really bad because I spent hours trying to get ready for the pictures, yelling at Eric because I was stressed out about burning my hand on the curlers (among other things), and it seems all for nothing (and on his birthday none the less).  But we did salvage the day by staying dressed up and going out to eat at Chili's.  And...I get to see Eric again next weekend for try #2 of our engagement pictures.  :)  Hopefully, circumstances will fall in our favor this time.  If not I seriously need to learn how to take a chill pill.  Also, if anyone knows how to use a curling iron...I seriously need some help!  I am terrible at curling hair!  I think I need some fake hair to practice on because I'm going to end up burning mine to pieces!

Birthday Dinner Ready

Until next time!  :)

Where did March and April go?

I am WAY overdue for a new blog post.  Seriously...where did March and April go?  This year is going by WAY toooo fast.  Before I know it I'm going to be married, having kids, and watching my own kids get married.  I blink my eyes and it is the next day.

Here is a quick re-cap of my life as of late:

March 27, 2010 - Went to the SEC Gymnastics Championship with Namrata and Brittney...and...the GATORS WON!  :)

Also went with Eric, Stephanie, and Namrata (all different days) to the Gymnastics National Championship in Gainesville.  While the Gators placed fifth, I was still happy.  You did a great job!  Go Gators!

April 4, 2010 - Easter!  All the kids looked so cute hunting for eggs!  Thank you Jesus for dying on the cross for me (well and everyone else)!...and rising!  (As you can tell I really like to write ... ).

April 10, 2010 - Disney with the family!  We got to use our free day we received for volunteering.  We choose to go to the Magic Kingdom and had a great time.  The best part was dad getting picked as "That Guy (the guy who they keep showing during the show/making fun of him)".  It was too funny because I was telling everyone before we got in there that Eric got picked the first time we went to it because he looked creepy with his long hair and beard and that they only pick creepy men for the role.  And then my dad gets picked!  lol.  Mom thinks it has something to do with whoever I sit next to gets picked.  And I got my joke told, so that was awesome.

April 17, 2010 - Rusty died.  He was a great dog...always so happy and slobbery.  He lived a good, long life and now my family is taking a vacation from owning pets (well dogs).  It is going to be sad going home and not having to put my hands in the air to make Rusty go find a new victim to get slobbery/stinky.  We had many good times.

April 20, 2010 - Pastor Ken passed away.  I am sad that he is no longer with us, but joyful to know that he is in heaven with our Lord celebrating and praising.  We will meet once again.  Thank you for baptizing me after I decided to accept Jesus as my Savior at the age of 9.  Here is a news article printed in the paper - http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2010-04-20/story/head-injury-couldnt-keep-argyle-pastor-his-pulpit 

Pastor Ken's Celebration of life that following Saturday was very moving.  The service and praise music was absolutely perfect.  Please keep the family, friends, and church in your prayers.  God has great plans.

April 28, 2010 - Went with some of the girls (and Krystal's boyfriend) from work to Satchel's for a going away party.  I'm going to miss working with Stephenie, Christina, and Tammy!  How rude they leave me before I left them!  :)

May 1, 2010 - I helped Eric move down to Naples.  :(  How convenient for him to leave right before the wedding, so I get stuck with all the planning!  I did get to go to the beach Sunday for the first time in FOREVER and it was really nice.  The water felt amazing and I got just a pinch of color...which is way better than no color.  

And now I am sitting here waiting for Kristina to get back from Costa Rica, Jenna to come back to school, and Eric to come back for good.  Trying to get wedding planning done, but I'm not very good at it.  Some how the wedding adopted a bird theme.  Funny how these things come about.

Well...I better get to bed.  I'll try to keep up with this thing more.

Love, Christa

Forever

I haven't been keeping up with this thing!  I think I'll have a lot of blogs soon...maybe, lol.

Just to let ya'll know, because I know you are probably hanging on the edge of your seat with anticipation wondering if we ever got to see Andy Samberg, we did in fact get to see Andy Samberg.  I'm not sure they should have payed him $72,000 to answer some questions about himself for about an hour and a half, but...I still like him.  He is funny and weird and well what more can I say.  A very nice tv boyfriend if I do say so myself.

Mud Run and Ms. Karen's B-Day

Saturday, my family and I woke up early to volunteer all day at the 2010 MS Mud Run.  The National MS Society website describes the mud run as "...a 10K (approximately 6 miles) race with boot camp style obstacles that have been surrounded by or consist entirely of mud.  People cheer as teams of contestants slip, slide, and slosh their way to victory".  It was very interesting to say the least.  The station we manned was the first obstacle.  The contestants ran 3/4 of a mile then low crawled through a pit of mud and water.  I think I might like to try something like this some time, but I would have to be in much better shaped!  Some of the people looked like they were about to pass out at our obstacle (and it was only the first of many!).

You can see pictures of last year's Mud Run at http://eventfln.nationalmssociety.org/site/PhotoAlbumUser?AlbumID=124052&view=UserAlbum.  The money raised during this event went to the the National MS Society to help those affected by multiple sclerosis.

Also, next time I plan on being outside for 8.5 hours I will be smart enough to wear sunscreen.  My arms, face, and legs are burned to a crisp.
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Saturday night the girls went out to celebrate Ms. Karen's B-Day at Roy's!  We had such a great time celebrating!  When we got to the restaurant and opened our menu's they had put an insert in with Ms.Karen's name, happy birthday in Hawaiian, and the date.  What a great surprise!  All of the food was amazingly delicious!  We can't wait to go back again!

After our dinner, we returned home to finish the night off with red velvet cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory.  If you haven't had this cake you have to try it!  You will get addicted for sure!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY Ms. Karen!

       

Unusual Tuesday

Tuesday, Eric informed us that Andy Samberg would be at the O'Connell Center for free that night.  I was really excited because...well...he is one of my many tv boyfriends (as I call them).  So...Jenna, Eric, Chad, and myself pile in the car to go see Andy.  When we finally got to the O'Connell Center it was deserted.  Some guy walks by and we ask him about Andy.  He tells us the event is next week.  Man did we feel stupid.  At least we didn't miss him...hopefully we can get a good seat this coming Tuesday.

To mend our hearts broken from the disappointment we headed to the mall, then I took everyone to BJ's for a Pizookie Party Platter.  This is a humongous cookie (4 kinds: Chocolate Chunk, White Chocolate Macadamia Nut, Peanut Butter, Oatmeal Raisin Walnut) with a pile of vanilla ice cream on top.  Yum!  The description of the desert asserts, "Perfect for groups of five or more!"  We had four people and finished the whole thing off!

I think we all felt like how Chad looks in this picture after we finished the Pizookie (lol).

Jenna and Owen's Engagement Party

Last Saturday was Jenna and Owen's engagement party.  Everyone looked great, the food was yummy, and the singing (karoke)/dancing was phenomenal (we may need a little more practice before the big day, lol).  Wishing my roomie the best!  Love you!

   

Cake Eating,Taylor Swift, & Papa's B-Day

Eric, Jenna, and I went to taste cake last week at an event for Posh Pastry http://poshpastry.blogspot.com/.  At first the cake tasted great, but by the end the sugar was getting to me and I was actually forcing myself to eat it (can you believe it?!).  A catering service was handing out little hors d'oeuvres and one of them had capers in it!  I gasped and the lady was like, "What's wrong?"...lol.  I never knew what capers were before and now they are just popping up everywhere (I'm pretty sure I still don't know what they are except that they come from a bush in the Mediterranean or something) .  Here is a creepy picture of Eric and all the cake we got to sample-

Last Friday night Jenna and I finally got to go to the Taylor Swift concert!!!!  I think I bought the tickets last October, so I really had been waiting a long time to see her...and she didn't disappoint.

She seemed genuine, sang well (despite everyone getting on her for it), and was very entertaining.  If anyone knows her you can have her contact me because I know we would be the very bestest of friends.  :)  At one point she came out into the audience to sing and she was at the end of our row (if only we had been there!).  At the end of the night she sang "Should've Said No" and went under falling water.  Eric says she should have done that for Teardrops on my Guitar (Eric - I'll be sure to give her your suggestion when Taylor and I become best friends).  All in all it was pretty much the best concert I've ever been to (Gloriana and Kellie Pickler were great as well!).  

  
Last...but definitely not least...Papa's birthday was Saturday!  Happy Birthday Papa!  I love you!  :)