Memoir Monday

Well my friends, the winter pasties and the holiday chubbies have officially hit Mrs. Ruby.

Ugh.

And I am still trying to rustle myself loose out of an intense food coma.

Thanksgiving weekend was so fantastic. (Even though I had to work Friday...boo.) Lots of food and lots of friends.

Begin with a Bang. As you can see, we started off the Thanksgiving weekend right by chowing down on AMAZING Spanish Paella from one of our favorite restaurants. So delish. And so not nutrish.

Giddy. I can say that I know a celebrity. Well not a celebrity per se, but an inventor. Yes, I know the inventor of the Knork. His family was like my second family while growing up.

"Uhh. Really awesome, Mrs. Ruby. But what the heck is a Knork?" you ask?

Well, it is a fork with the functionality of a knife. And I get SO excited when I actually see it out at restaurants. So rad.

Thanksgiving Day. Unfortunately, we did not spend TG with family, but we did spend it with AMAZING people who live nowhere near their families either. Oh, and I made sure to wear leggings because I knew that I would not be able to zip up my skinnies.

Mommy practice. There were so many little munchkins to love on. :)

The Smorgasbord. (This is not even half of it).

The hosts. They know how to throw one bad bum Thanksgiving Feast. I mean, they're food is just as good as Grandma's used to be. And they never even grew up celebrating...because they're from Guatemala!!!

The Infamous Grilled Cheese. No seriously, this thing was amazing.

The Grilled Cheese Pass. So amazing in fact, that we passed around my grilled cheese like a hot potato. (But in this version, everyone took a bite).

Handbag Check at the Bowling Alley. I mean, everyone carries a bra in their purse, right?

Boys.
Girls. (With a boy highjack).

Fierce Competition.

Boys versus Girls. I contributed to the team a whopping 54 points.

Stylin.

Gettin our groove on.

Double Strike. Yes, me and my hubby were up against one another and both actually got strikes. I was too excited!

Dessert to finish it off. Duh.

How was YOUR Weekend? Are you still full too?

A Very Thankful Thursday

source

"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever."

Psalm 107:1

So many things to be thankful for:

Family. Who we don't get to see this Thanksgiving, but hopefully this is the last holiday we ever have to spend apart. ;)

Friends. Those I've known since kindergarten (who I get to see over Christmas!!!). College pals. Our Rhode Island family. And of course my bloggy friends. I am blessed.

Jobs. Although everything may be incredibly hectic with decisions, plans, and our future, we are very lucky to have jobs. Many others out there don't.

Pups. Our fur babies make us SO happy. And I am forever grateful that we had the means to save lil' Sienna earlier this year.

My husband. Seriously, I am the luckiest girl in the world. No, really. He is my other half, best friend, confidant, favorite comedian, personal IT help desk, and stabilizer when I am crazy. Which is a lot.

And much more. Including but not limited to: freedom, health, being DONE with school until student teaching, my G12 camera, really good books, my MacBook, chap stick, gum, Mexican food, pinot noir, and laughter.

I hope each and every one of you have a very HAPPY Thanksgiving. I will be spending mine cheating the Black Friday system by shopping online early, staying in pajamas until 1:00, cooking, baking, and heading to our dear friends' for a magnificent feast.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Gobble. Gobble.

Symbol of Wedded Bliss

Alright. What is the significance of this photograph?

(No, it's not that my fingers look deformed or that it is quite obvious we never practiced exchanging rings. Seriously, what was I doing?)

But, this moment was quite significant, my friends. The moment where we showed each other, our guests, and God how much we truly love one another by exchanging rings. The rings symbolize our commitment to one another and will always serve as a reminder of the vows we proclaimed on the happiest day of our lives.

Pretty powerful if you ask me.

Oh, and a little side note. I engraved Mr. Ruby's ring with: "At Last June 17, 2006". This was not only our first dance song, but we truly couldn't be more excited that we were FINALLY going to be together after 4 years long distance, and two deployments to Iraq. At Last.

So, you'd think Mr. Ruby would treat his ring like a 200 million dollar treasure, right?

Wrong.

You see, my sweetie has a problem with constantly playing with his ring. I can't tell you how many times I hear "ching, ching, ching" (the sound of the silly thing dropping and rolling to an unknown location).

Or, take for example, the time Mr. Ruby lost the ring for 9 months.

Yes, you heard me correctly. 9 months.

Luckily, right before I sold my Honda, I had a "feeling" and decided to have a friend's dad who owns a body shop take a quick peek in all the nooks and crevices.

And guess what? He FOUND it! The day before I sold my car. It had fallen into a hole that I didn't even know existed.

Oh, and this weekend, Mr. Ruby took me to a nice Mexican dinner. We were in the middle of a wonderful conversation when I heard that all-too-familiar noise: "ching, ching, ching".

I gave him the "death dagger" eyes. Poor thing looked terrified...like he was about to get hit by a car: Deer in the Headlights.

It had rolled under the table of this family who was trying to enjoy their burritos and enchiladas. Luckily, the father picked up the ring, walked over to our table, and looked at my hubby and said, "Is this important to you, Young Man?"

Ha!

You'd think he would learn his lesson, right?

Again, wrong.

The NEXT night, Mr. Ruby was playing with his ring at a friend's house and dropped it. He decided to keep watching football because he figured he'd find it later.

So, I did what any loving wife would do and took the opportunity to teach him a lesson. I took the ring and kept it for awhile.

Here's Mr. Ruby sweating it out, feverishly looking for the ring:

Finding nothing but some really old, stale candy:

I didn't let this continue much longer. I held out the ring. He shook his head and simply said, "I've gotta get this thing re-sized".

Good idea, Babe.

Do any of you married ladies' husbands have trouble playing with their ring?!?!?

Memoir Monday Countdown

By Friday, I felt like I'd been hit by a Mack truck.

And that Mack truck was last week...who ran me over and over and over again.

After 4 major assignments, an angry parent who made me cry, a 171-question final comprehensive exam, and an unexpected visit from Child Protective Services (to evaluate my after-school site), I just needed the weekend.

Countdown Snapshots of the weekend:

5 couples battling it out in Pictionary

4 hours spent on a SATURDAY working on more homework

Two positives to this: I got to be accompanied by 1) a vanilla chi latte AND 2). Mr. Ruby who needed to work on some stuff too!

3 number of weeks it's been since we cleaned the house

Disgusting. I have never seen so many dust bunnies. Don't judge. We've been horribly busy. But just to give you an idea, check out this pic I snapped just before cleaning time. )Make sure to look at the accumulated mess on our ottoman. Oh, and Mr. Ruby is eating his cereal out of a plastic tupperware container because all of our bowls were dirty). Sick.

2 puppies snuggled up to make me feel better while I study on a Saturday

1 truly amazing hubby who took me out for Mexican food and cleaned the entire house (refer to #3) after my really rough week.

How was YOUR weekend? Go ahead, play along with Memoir Monday! :)

I can see clearly now

We have lived in Rhode Island for three years now.

After living here and fully immersing ourselves in good ol' Little Rhody and New England culture, I can finally see what everyone was talking about:

People in the midwest have accents.

I know. I'm shocked too.

When I first came out to Rhode Island for training in 2006, I was the center of every.single.joke. I was laughed at and imitated constantly because of my "accent".

I would retaliate by saying, "Umm, you have NO idea what you're talking about. They send newscasters and actors to the midwest to learn how to speak without an accent!!!" (This was always my defense.)

Well. I can finally see clearly now, or hear rather. Just about every time I talk to someone from back home, I can hear it! Not Southern. Not twangy. Not even country. Just Midwestern.

So there. I admit it. I have an accent gosh darnit.

What do the accents sound like here? They add "r"s where they're not needed and take them away when they are! Like "idear" instead of "idea" or "pock" instead of "park".

Case in point:

I was looking at one of my second grader's writing assignments yesterday, and this is what I saw:

"When I was walking yesterday, I sore some geese."

I can imagine this is so confusing for little RI-ers!

Have any of you been told you have a strong accent, and you didn't think you did?

I'm Lovin It

Thank the GOOD LORD it's Wednesday. Wednesday is seriously one of my favorite days...because the week is almost over! And this week has been a doosie...So, I'm excited to share with you What I'm currently LOVING. Link up with Jamie if you want to play along.

1). I'm LOVING that even after one of the worst days ever (no seriously, I even cried in front of a parent) I still passed my teaching comprehensive exam!!! (P.S. How do you teachers out there not take things parents say personally?!?! I MUST know the secret)

2). I'm LOVING two of my favorite verses right now:

"I can do all things through him who gives me strength" Phil. 4:13

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" 2 Cor. 12:9.

(I told you it has been one rough week.)

3). I'm LOVING my sweet blogger friends! Like adorable Kari at It's a Wonderful Life who gave me the Stylish Blogger Award. Made my day.

Seriously, it is so nice to hear some of the very sweet comments you all leave...but I have to say, the belly-busting-hilarious ones are my favorite! ;)

4). I'm (still) LOVING the Shutterfly blogger promotion! My Christmas cards arrived today...stay tuned for which ones I picked.

5). I'm LOVING Kashi's Oatmeal Dark Chocolate Soft-Baked Cookies. Delicious AND nutritious. My fave!

6). I'm LOVING impromptu weekend happenings! When there's no plan, crazy-fun is bound to ensue. For example, this weekend we busted out a serious cocktail dance party. Then, we stayed up until 2:30 in the morning talking about serial killers and tonsil stones with BEST friends. (Picture below NOT from this weekend - I broke my camera, remember? However, it is from one of my favorite impromptu nights were we stayed up until 3 am karaoke-ing.)

or the night we broke out into a SERIOUS game of man-hunt (in our friends' "adult neighborhood")

7). I'm LOVING the side pony! Yes, I'm aware this was defined in the 80's, but I decided to whip it back out in college. And as of recently, I've been bringing it back out on the town. It's perfect when my hair has gone awry.

8). I'm LOVING last-minute breakfasts! I'm not a huge breakfast fan, but when it is impromptu and I'm hoping to procrastinate on studying/cleaning/preparing for my after school program, I am likely to say "yes"! (This was one of the best breakfasts I've ever had. Note the pumpkin pancakes.)

What are YOU loving?!?! Happy Wednesday everyone!

Some things never change

That's right, some things never change.

In fact as the years go by, they only enhance...

For the past few months, I have been organizing my pictures from college to today. As I was deliriously going through ALL of my photos, I noticed that I make two very specific goof-sauce faces in probably 1 of every 10 pictures. Now, that is a LOT of goofy faces, considering I have thousands of pictures.

Let me show you exactly what I mean.

Exhibit A: "The Venus Fly Trap" (If pay attention you'll notice as the years go by others catch on to the awesomeness of the face)

Where it all began:

Or

Exhibit B: The "Careful-or-you'll-strain-a-muscle"

When I first discovered this face:

I guess old habits die hard.