Wow, what a weekend!

Here's what was planned for the weekend... Jason was going to leave for the Men's Retreat ("Bootcamp") Friday after work and I was either going to meet Jenni out for karaoke, or if she couldn't make it, I was going to spend the evening in, watching movies. Saturday was the Philhar-monster with Emelynn, and Saturday night was dancing with girl friends. And then Sunday was to be time with Jason, after spending 2 days away from each other.

Here's what actually happened...

Friday around noon I was offered 2 tickets to see Turandot, the opera that was playing at the Schuster Center. (Click on link for more info.) A friend of mine, Shannon, was in the opera (dancing, though not singing) and I was looking forward to going. Jenni emailed to see if I was still up for karaoke, so I asked her if she was up for an opera, and we agreed to do both!

Around that time, Shannon sent me a text asking for places to go for karaoke after the opera, so I let her know that Jenni and I would be at the opera and that we'd be going to karaoke afterwards. She said she might be bringing a few friends - principals from the opera. (Yeah, right.)

Also around that time, Jason let me know that he would have to work until they found someone to fill in for the woman he fired earlier that week. He was afraid he'd miss the beginning of the men's bootcamp. Later he found out that he would have to work until midnight, when the next person came on. I planned on packing his stuff for the retreat and then he could meet at the retreat location at 8am Saturday morning, just in time for breakfast. About 11:40 pm the midnight person called in and said she wasn't going to make it. They couldn't find a substitute, so Jason had to stay until 8am. That's right, he pulled a 24 hour shift - with nothing to eat from 4pm on. Needless to say, the bootcamp was now out.

If I may fast-forward for a moment, the 24 hour shift was horrible on Jason and he still can't get his sleep caught up on. However, he has earned the respect of everyone he works with. Yesterday everyone was telling him how they heard that he had pulled a 24 hour shift. Even the VP came to his office to apologize and also to thank him. She gave him the day off today. :) (Which he spent getting things done instead of getting caught up on sleep!)

Back to my Friday night. Jenni and I went to the opera and we had incredible seats - Orchestra level, row M, right in the middle. You could see the expressions on their faces!! Synopsis of Turandot. Act 1 went quickly. Act 2 was a little slower. And Act 3 was... wow. I could go on and on about it, but I'll just tell you one part I loved. Turandot (the "ice" princess) has a hardened heart and pretty much hates all men. The prince, Calaf, kisses her and you can see her stiff shoulders suddenly relax, and then her head tilts. Just, wow. (Maybe I relate too well to this.)

So we rushed out of there, text our friends, Kira and Megan, that we're on our way and headed down Wayne to the little tavern down the road from my house. Shannon took forever to get out of there and let us know there's a few people from the opera coming. There was a problem though, they weren't getting there until 11:30 and the tavern closes at 1am. Also, they were hungry and the tavern stopped serving food at 11pm. Thankfully, right before they showed up, a guy from a local pizza place stopped by trying to sell pizzas. I told Shannon to tell her friends that the only food to eat was pizza, and that the place closed at 1am, but we could guarantee that they'd have fun.

Then it hits me. These are people who live in New York, or someplace like that, who have traveled the world, and for an evening out after the opera, I've offered for them to come to this little hole in the wall tavern for karaoke??? I was suddenly convinced that they would have a miserable time, stay 10 minutes and head to Therapy Cafe, or somewhere else a little more classy. I couldn't have been more wrong. :)

Shannon and Tara, a Dayton friend of hers who was also in the opera, come in and prepare us that the principals that are coming are Dongwon, who played Calaf, "Yummy" who played Ping, and Jin, who played Pang. (See the bottom of this page for their pictures.) They had a great time, eating pizza, drinking beer, and hanging out with us.

From left to right, Shannon, Yummy, Jin, Dongwon, and Tara.

Yummy sang "Moon River" while Shannon did her version of interpretive dance. (A first at the Red Carpet Tavern.)

Later Jin sang Josh Groban's "You Raise Me Up" which had about half the people in the bar doing their own versions of interpretive dance.

The remainder of the evening was mostly goofing around with everyone, singing at the top of our lungs, and a lot of laughing. Absolutely surreal. If I didn't have pictures, I don't think anyone would believe me.


The entire time I was at the tavern I was texting Jason and missing him so much. It was one of those moments that I wish Jason would have been there. (But if he hadn't been working, he would have been at the bootcamp anyway.) When I got home I had to call Jason and tell him all about my evening, which probably took almost an hour. I didn't get to sleep until almost 3am.

Jason got off around 8:30 am and got home at 9:30 am. I got up and he fell asleep. I took some time to work on my costume and then got ready to take Emelynn to the Philhar-monster. My costume was a poodle skirt and saddle shoes, and Emelynn was a fairy princess ballerina.


This was Eme's first philharmonic experience and she really enjoyed it. One of her two favorite songs was "Extraction of No. 8" (as in tooth number 8). They actually held up cordless drills and ran them at one point, and we got to scream a couple of times. The composer is from Yellow Springs and his music is quite... interesting. The other song she loved was The Sorcerer's Apprentice (from Fantasia). She asked if brooms were going to come out. She's cute. :)


I dropped Eme off at their church where they were doing Trunk-or-Treat and a chili dinner. I was originally supposed to eat with them, but since Jason was home, I headed off to do dinner with him. Then Belynda came over and we went out dancing at Julia's. The other two friends who were supposed to come had to cancel, but it was a good night with Belyn. It was so good to catch up and just hang out like old times. Jason came along with us to watch the table and to fend off the leaches.

Sunday we got up for church and we were both dragging. I offered to cook lunch so Jason could rest and Jason requested that I make tuna pea casserole, one of my personal favorites. So we hit the grocery store and got everything we needed. I hate cooking, but I definitely love making that casserole. I swear I could eat the entire thing if I could. So yummy!! The rest of the day was spent napping and doing very little. The perfect Sunday. The perfect ending to an incredible weekend.

Pumpkin Carving and Ginger Update

I got the Cinderella pumpkin idea from hallmark.com. Jason and I had a great time trying to find the bits and pieces. The top is a lap final, the "hubcaps" are buttons, and everything else is scrapbook elements. (I added the purple rhinestones.)





We went to Kentucky this past weekend to visit Jason's parents. Ginger has doubled in size! Sometimes her legs work pretty good and other times she's dragging them quite a bit. She likes to jump off things (tables, chairs, counters...) and I think the landing is hard on her back legs. She plays constantly and she's so sweet!

Disappearance of tall pants, Jason's promotion, and whatever else comes to mind

I've been trying to lose weight, but after 16 months (and two weddings, one being mine) and no weight coming off (actually gained a few), I'm giving up. I walk 3 days a week (average 8,000 steps/day), I do yoga, I try to eat healthy without dieting. (Diets make me gain weight because after starving myself for weeks, I give up, eat everything I've been denying myself and end up gaining weight.) At this point I'm just fighting to not gain weight. I know I need to join a gym and kick it up a notch, but I need to find the TIME.

Anyway, I decided that I was sick of wearing old, worn out pants. Only a few pairs still fit me and I hate wearing the too-small pairs with a long sweater. I was going out tonight to buy a couple new pair of pants for work. I have 4 pairs of black pants, so I was hoping to find navy, brown, gray, or stripes.

I went to Lane Bryant, where most of my pants have come from for the past 6 years. They no longer carry tall pants in the store, but I can order them online. I don't want to order them - I want to try them on BEFORE I pay for them. So then we go to JCPenneys, and once again, they no longer carry tall pants in the store, but I can buy them online. Pass.

So we hit Macy's and Elder Beermans. All these places have tall jeans, but no tall pants. We hit a few other stores that carry my size, and still no tall pants. We go to Fashion Bug and no tall pants. I had to fight feelings of being huge and ugly. I'm sick of hearing people say "you're so lucky to be tall." They have no idea how frustrating it really is. No one says "you're so lucky to be short" and petite people have entire stores that cater to them.

My options are now to go back to the Eddie Bauer outlet store and hope for another pair of tall pants that have been returned. (They're usually super cheap and a great fit for me!) I know what pants I like at Lane Bryant, so I know I can order them with confidence that they'll fit. There is also a tall store in Dayton where I actually feel short and the pants are way too long. I'll head over there and drop the $60 for a good pair of pants. It's worth it if I can start feeling good about my height again.

Next topic, Jason's promotion at work. I tried to blog this last week, but wasn't hooked up to the internet. I typed it in a program that doesn't have auto-save. I found this out the hard way. Anyway, a couple weeks ago Jason got an email about an Operations Manager for the adolescent residential program at Sojourner, where he works. (Link to Sojourner.) He submitted his letter of interest that afternoon. He interviewed with his future boss and the VP of Sojourner the following afternoon. The next day they offered him the position. Unfortunately it wasn't much of an increase from the position he was in, so he turned it down. There was some discussion and they agreed with him, that the position deserved more money, and they met his counter-offer.

They believe in Jason, they believe he's perfect for the position, that he can turn the program around. They need a leader who isn't afraid to make people do their job and fire them if they don't. His first official day in his new position was today, and he's already fired someone. He now has to work on hiring a couple new people. Jason has plenty of experience running this type of program, including hiring the right people to work with. I'm excited about the lives he's going to change. I know it's more stressful, but it's hopefully going to be more rewarding. Please pray for Jason has he tackles the difficulties waiting for him. It's going to be rough at first, but it's all going to work out.

I have Ginger updates, but they'll have to wait for another day. I need up do some laundry, hem some pants, and if I have time, finish my pumpkin... and it's 10:30 pm. Okay, maybe the pumpkin will wait until tomorrow.

Looking back 7 months and a few days...

to our wedding day. I've been thinking about how much things have changed since Jason starting living 24/7 in my little house, 7 months ago. I try to remember what it was like when I was single and just did my own thing around the house. My last single morning was the wedding day. What a crazy morning. I had stayed up the night before trying to write my wedding vows. (I didn't mean to wait until the last moment. I was waiting for inspiration to say something great. I work well under pressure, so the inspiration finally came while I was laying in bed the night before.)

I woke up the next morning with all the things that were left to do - mostly ironing my veil, and fluffing my crinolines one last time. Jason came over and was helping me get things together for the rehearsal. (Rehearsal was the morning of the wedding. I highly recommend it for small evening weddings.) Jason came up from the basement and asked what my stress level was. (I'll never forget that.) The basement was flooded. Well, almost half of it was. It was the drain, it wasn't draining after my super long shower. Oops. (My poor brother couldn't shower until the water went down, but he didn't need to be at the rehearsal thankfully.)

I remember getting to the church late, rushing into the rehearsal, but then finishing in plenty of time. I remember walking around taking in all the family and friends who had gathered for that moment. Lunch was wonderful, but I wish we had made a toast or introduced important people. We planned on this but then didn't. It was informal, maybe it just didn't feel right to stand up and be the center of things, but just to let people mix and mingle and relax.

Afterwards, Melissa and I went back to the church to start getting ready. We goofed around a bit before going to get our hair done. After that it was rush rush rush. I still took in each moment knowing that this was the only chance to have everyone around and hear them all chatting and laughing. I wish we had more pictures taken. I wish I would have had pictures taken with the friends that helped us out so much. Our photographer was awesome and got pictures I never imagined would be taken, so for that I'm grateful. (I didn't make a list of pictures I wanted. I should have made a list...)

The rest of the evening is a blur. Laughter, tears, more laughter, more tears, almost setting my veil on fire - a couple times I think. (And technically, it wasn't my veil.) It's all on video, which we have, but for some reason I've never watched it. We're looking forward now. There's so much to come, and yet we have no idea what it is. I feel like I'm still taking in every moment trying to get as much out of it as I can.

What I enjoy most about marriage (*cheese alert*), those moments that I savor and want to hold on to as long as possible, is when Jason and I have our arms around each other, and we're looking at each other making faces. Who else in this whole wide world could I do this with? Who else in the whole wide world gets me, and understands me, and knows what I'm saying when I make a face at him, and in response, he makes a face back at me. And we laugh. :)

I just wanted to share my blog from myspace that I posted March 16th. This blog wasn't around back then, but I wanted to make sure I have it over here too.

Sunday, March 16, 2008
Memories from the wedding day & Honeymoon Diary

I wrote all this down a couple days after the wedding. I thought I’d share. (Done in my usual incomplete thoughts style.)

- Tried to sleep in, got up at 7:45 am. (Supposed to be at church at 9:30 am.)
- Typed up vows & direction from church to the Schuster Center (where the rehearsal lunch was.)
- Decided I could iron petticoats and steam veil later.
- Long shower – basement flooded.
- Got to church at 10:00 am.
- Rehearsal started at 10:15 am, ended around 10:40 am.
- Walked around church until 11:15 and then headed to luncheon.
- Food was very good, had a wonderful time with everyone.
- Passed out gifts, never got around to making speech/toasts for everyone.
- Melissa & I went back to church to steam veil. Gayle (Jason’s mom) ironed petticoats.
- Got to Liza’s at 2:00, my hair took 40 minutes. (This is where the schedule starts to get off a bit.)
- Melissa’s hair done by 3:00 pm.
- Went back to house to finish packing & get forgotten items.
- Back to church, almost 4pm. (Now running 45 minutes late.)
- Brush teeth, teeth-whitening, make-up, under garments – took so long!
- Put on dress (petticoats inside dress & then stepped into both) & Melissa laced me up.
- Dress too long in front, keep stepping on it. No idea how to fix this. (Had to kick dress out to keep from stepping on it.)
- Jason comes in to see me – he looks incredible in a tux!!
- Pictures upstairs by windows of Jason and me.
- Family pictures next (trying to get corsages & boutonnières on everyone & get them into the church).
- Off to hide, Nancy & Melissa try to fix my hem, double-sided tape didn’t work! Realized that two pick-ups had pulled out, Melissa sewed stitches back in. Dress now perfect length! (Thinking it came from dress shop this way.)
- Jenni & Becca wouldn’t let me put lotion on, didn’t want to get it on my dress, so they put it on for me. Too funny!
- Time to go. Melissa was started too early, during Moms lighting candles. Thankfully she walked really slowly.
- Kevin announced for everyone to stay seated. (Said it humorously, like it was for everyone to see MMEEEEEEE!!!)
- Hosanna starts & Dad and I start walking, he’s walking so slowly!
- Get to look around and smile, everyone smiling right back.
- Dad passes me off to Jason.
- Kevin does Declaration of Intent & first prayer.
- Sing "Beautiful One" and "How Great is Our God." Songs seem long but stood there listening to all the voices.
- Melissa & Bryan didn’t have words, faked the singing pretty good.
- Walk up to platform after song is over.
- April & Nancy do readings. Noticed they were looking at us while they read. (Reading to us instead of to the guests. Kevin must have told them to do that.)
- Kevin reads scripture from Ephesians and did message – to us, but for everyone.
- Kevin teased about humility (everyone laughed, I almost caught the veil on fire).
- Kevin also said to bear with one another, not be a bear to one another. I told Jason that was for him.
- Read vows to each other through smiles & tears. (I almost dropped my vows.)
- Exchanged rings.
- I was tearing up, so Jason gave me a tissue. (Exchanged vows, rings, … and tissues.)
- Unity candle & communion while Kate sang "How Beautiful." (Left parents candles burning.)
- Kevin served us communion – cup was HUGE ceramic thing; bread was a small hoagie roll.
- Kevin asked people to come up to pray for us, about half the guests came up. (Surprising!)
- Steve Bowen told us he saw two streams coming together and God was the banks holding us in. (He’ll write it out for us.)
- Mark Eggenschwiller & Connie Hunter also prayed for us. Kevin prayed last.
- Kevin pronounced us husband & wife, before he can finish everyone starts yelling & clapping.
- We went ahead and kissed. (Kiss, hug, and another kiss.)
- Announced us as Mr. & Mrs. Jason Parsons.
- Music starts & we walk out. Melissa & Bryan follow.
- Wait a moment and go back in for receiving line. (Just Jason & me.)
- Ushers dismiss people to come up and greet us before going downstairs for reception.
- Greeted everyone with hugs. Was so wonderful to have a moment with each person.
- Service was 55 minutes long!
- Melissa bustled my dress. Decided to leave veil in. (Probably couldn’t have gotten it out of my hair anyway.)
- Got downstairs and everyone eating or in line.
- Chocolate fountains & fruit – surprise from Pat! (Our caterer.)
- Mingled for the first part of the reception.
- Kids kept ringing bells to see us kiss. (Fun at first, annoying after awhile.)
- Karaoke DJ got there & played my CD for us until we were ready for karaoke. Did announcements for us.
- Didn’t eat much; wish I would have had more fruit.
- Snuck upstairs so Melissa could help me put the petticoats under the bralette that was scratching me pretty bad. Emelynn was taking pictures of this. (Melissa got to tease Jason she got under my skirt before he did…) ;)
- Cut cake. Was nice to each other, but managed to get a bit of cake on each others’ noses. (Jason let me walk around a bit unknowing I hadn’t gotten it all off…)
- Bouquet toss upstairs from balcony with a ton (20-30?) of single women.
- Did a fake-out like Darrin (photographer) suggested. They weren’t happy. Rachel Leibold caught the bouquet!
- Back downstairs, did 1st dance together & then started karaoke. About 9:00 pm.
- People started to leave after 9pm, the last left around 10pm.
- Was worried that things weren’t cleaned up and presents wouldn’t get back to house, but family & friends took care of everything for us. (Thank you thank you!!)
- Took limo to Therapy Café. Got our Appily Married martinis and did some salsa dancing. Darrin joined us and got more pictures. Bunch of friends joined us there.
- Left around 11:30 pm (got to give Kira a ride to her car in the limo).
- Rode around Dayton until midnight and then checked into hotel.
(And that’s where the details end.) ;)


Honeymoon Diary

Saturday, March 1st, married 1 day.
Left Dayton around 1:30 pm and drove to Gatlinburg.
Got to cabin around 7:30 pm.
Went to Pigeon Forge for dinner then got groceries.

Sunday, March 2nd, married 2 days.
Made Cinnamon Twists for breakfast (our first meal made together).
Watched TV all day, had frozen pizza for lunch.
Went into town around 4pm and shopped until 6pm (stores closed).
BBQ for dinner.
Ghost walk around Gatlinburg at 8:45-10:00 pm.
68 degrees during the day, but down in the 40’s at night.

Monday, March 3rd, married 3 days.
Cereal & bagel for breakfast.
Went into Gatlinburg around 1pm; lunch at Bennett’s. (Also BBQ.)
Took skytram to Ober Gatlinburg. Watched skiing; stayed about an hour.
Drove up into Smoky Mountains; 68 degrees at bottom, 48 degrees at top!
(Almost ran out of gas, coasted most of the way back down the mountain!)
Jason’s meatloaf burgers (what I call them) and tater tots for dinner.
74 degrees during the day, back down in the 40’s at night.

Tuesday, March 4th, married 4 days.
Cereal & bagels for breakfast.
Decided to stay in all day, raining out.
Did laundry and ran dishwasher. (Yes, housework during the honeymoon.)
Sat on porch swing outside and watched the rain. (Sun came out a couple of times.)
Played pool, we both suck. I figured out I could beat Jason if I cheated.
Lasagna & peas for lunch. (And Girl Scout cookies.)
Went into Gatlinburg for dinner, ate at the Peddler. Wonderful dinner!!
50’s during the day, stinkin’ cold that night.

Wednesday, March 5th, married 5 days.
Cinnamon rolls for breakfast.
Packing & cleaning; check-out time was 10:00 am.
Rain had ended, but ice on the deck.
Went into Gatlinburg to finish shopping & get Old Time Photo.
Headed back to Dayton around 2pm. Got home and opened presents.