Moments before she devoured the Oklahoma State Capitol.

This weekend was our planned (surprise) trip to Virginia Beach to celebrate Kevin’s Pop-Pop’s 80th birthday. As you know, snowed-in, no school, flight canceled, Dune, all that jazz…we didn’t get to go. Eightieth birthdays don’t happen that often and I know I was sad to miss it, I just know it disappointed my husband so much more. Lucky for us, we still get to go out for spring break to visit a few of Kevin’s family members in March.

Kevin, me, and Pop-Pop at our wedding.

Here’s to you, Pop-Pop, on your 80th birthday! We’ll see you after the spring thaw.

Another driving day. You know how I love those. Only this day was better because it started out bright and sunny, no rain in sight.

Goodbye, red barns…

Red fields…

White steeples…

And hello again, bridge. I was thankful that we could see ahead of us while crossing it this time.

New Brunswick really is beautiful and I was glad that we got to enjoy it while driving back through. There’s something about pouring rain and potholes that makes the scenery, no matter how picturesque, a little less important.

I took a few naps on this trip. Much needed because even though I didn’t want to talk about it at the moment, my hands were getting tingly with a potential panic attack at the though that I would be going back to work in 3 days. Yuck. I used all the time to rest that I could and before you know it, we were almost to the border.

All it took to really wake me up from my nap was seeing this:

“What is that?” I asked Kevin. Neither one of us knew. What I was sure about was that there would be pictures of this thing.

Snap snap snap. I was being quite the paparazzo about this thing.

Then, the man turned. I captured just one shot of this glare before I put my camera down. He continued to glare at us until we had passed him. Dude! I just liked your…your…whatever you were driving.

We crossed the border back into the US and the agent that questioned us had a thicker Canadian accent than anyone we’d met on our trip. This is also the part where I smuggled a seashell back into the country. And not that we would, but I can tell you, it would have been totally easy for us to bring something illegal back into the country. They barely gave us a second look. Surprising, given how threatening we both look.

Back in Maine there was more driving and when we arrived back in Manchester, New Hampshire we were both starving. We had dinner that night at Famous Dave’s Barbecue (one of our favorites that we do not have in OKC) and then slept in The Best Bed. I was so sad that our last night (and an early morning to top it off) were to be spent on the most comfortable bed of the trip.

Out of Manchester we flew and we arrived back in Oklahoma later that next afternoon.

Back in our neighborhood with a car full of birdseed…

Across the threshold…

And home…to this:

Ahh!

Thanks for tuning in for this long, drawn-out series. I’ll try to think of another one that might interest you guys in the future. Question is, what do you want to hear about?

But it’s not over. Oh, no. Sufficiently grossed out? Good

It’s really difficult to go back to real life after 1.5 weeks of no responsibilities and lots of seafood. Tomorrow morning I’ll be bringing you our last day of travel and our arrival back in Norman. You don’t want to miss it. There’s some elderly road rage, smuggling across a border, and maybe some carrying across a threshold.

In case you missed any of the other installments, here’s a complete list:
Day 1 – On a plane, no entry
Day 2 – Portland, Maine
Day 2 – Part 2, Cape Elizabeth & South Portland
Day 3 – Portland to Bar Harbor
Day 4 – Part 1, Acadia National Park
Day 4 – Part 2, Sand Beach
Day 4 – Part 3, Dinner at Geddy’s
Day 5 – Part 1, Cadillac Mountain
Day 5 – Part 2, Bar Harbor
Day 6 – Part 1, Leaving Bar Harbor
Day 6 – Part 2, Arriving on Prince Edward Island
Day 7 – Green Gables
Day 8 – Lighthouses & Charlottetown

What a beautiful day this was. I didn’t think that Green Gables could be topped, but the drive around PEI might have done it. We had set aside one day to see as many lighthouses as we could. The fog got a little ridiculous throughout the day, something the locals told us was uncommon. I guess I should be glad that this wasn’t 200 years ago. Because I’m pretty sure if some strange woman (me) wandered onto someone’s island bringing a dark cloud of fog that swept over the entire landscape, she’d soon find herself at the bottom of a lake.

Here we go, our day driving around the island:

These bikers stopped in front of us to wait out the fog.

These folks were drying their Canadian flag in their backyard.

You see that fog? It’s creepin’ on in.

We were kinda up in a lot of people’s driveways. You never knew where you were going on this map.

I took a sea shell from this beach. Shh.

Anne fans, recognize this hotel?

Think back to Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel (or Anne of Avonlea, as it was marketed in the States)…

Certainly not a canonical scene from the books, but beautiful nonetheless.

After driving past Dalvay-by-the-Sea, we went on to Charlottetown to have dinner. I can’t remember the name of the place, but it was a little pub that we stopped by. There were hardly any people there (or anywhere) and I was still having some trouble figuring out the schedule these people live on. This establishment at least had a few people sitting outside enjoying their dinners though. It looked promising. Being that we weren’t locals and it felt ridiculously cold to us outside, we chose to dine indoors.

Kevin started with a crabcake.

And I went with the sashimi, which was pretty, but a mistake. Way, way too warm.

Now, for some reason I didn’t end up with pictures of our dinner, but I had this ENORMOUS bowl of mussels in a tomatoey brine and Kevin had…a burger.

Back to the resort we went for our last night in that huge room, with the daunting drive ahead of us the following day. Blech.

And since you made it all the way to the end, here’s a fun surprise:

You asked, now I’m answering!

Anonymous asked:
Why do you use the word ‘goddess’?… it sort of comes across as non-Christian. :/
I’m afraid you may be misunderstanding the definitions of “goddess.” While it often means “female deity,” the word also means “a woman whose great charm or beauty arouses adoration.” And if you’ll look, I don’t say I aspire to be a goddess, period, the end. Nope. Domestic goddess. Literally a woman whose prowess in the kitchen and home arouses adoration. I aspire to have the adoration of my husband, family, and future children in those areas.

Where did you get your wedding dress? It’s GORGEOUS!
At a tiny boutique in Oklahoma City called Pomp & Pageantry. I tried prom dresses on there years and years ago. The dress I ended up with was custom made for someone else who decided they didn’t want it. It took a while to figure that one out, but we realized it when we couldn’t find my dress anywhere. It looks like the skirt of one gown with the bodice of another. It’s by San Patrick and is made mostly of lace, crafted in Barcelona.

Becca asked:
What is the biggest surprise to you concerning marriage?
The biggest surprise to me was how quickly everything about being married felt normal. We hadn’t lived together before our wedding so everything literally happened all at once. It was perfect, I won’t lie. We’ve been extremely blessed and I know that we are both thankful for the great pre-marital counseling that we had. So much heartache has been spared by what we learned about communication styles.

Misti (my long-lost, newly found, second cousin) asked:
What was your favorite tv show growing up?
Tough one, but the ones I remember being excited to watch in the evenings were TGIF shows like Full House and Perfect Strangers. ALF, Family Matters, Reading Rainbow, and Mister Rogers were all favorites.

What song reminds you of your husband?
Man, it’s so cheesy, but “Love of a Lifetime” by Firehouse is it. We made it each other’s ringtone when we were dating and, by accident, it was what we were listening to in the reception hall in our first alone moments after the wedding, right before we ran out to the car to leave. With all that birdseed raining down on us.

If you could have a pet of any kind, what would it be?
I would like a goat, but right now I am really happy with my Scoodle (or Scottie Poo, if you like) and brand new guinea pig (who doesn’t have a name yet).

Do you think you chose the right profession in life? What other path might you have chosen or still could choose?
Sometimes I wonder if I should have gone into marketing. I think I have a good head for it. Which is the countrified way of saying that some of it comes naturally to me. I don’t really have a profession. I have had jobs. Writing is my passion and I plan to stay home and raise a family. And maybe sell custom invitations and stationery.

What is your favorite thing about Oklahoma? I’ve only been a few times and it has been beautiful the times I’ve seen it, but I’m not all that familiar with it.
Everything really isn’t an answer, is it? The landscape. We have everything here. The weather. Again, everything. The sense of family that most people in small towns still have. The richness of culture and tradition.

Jennifer (a former teacher at my high school) asked:
What kind of books do you like to read?
Literary fiction. That is my book snob answer. And classics.

What is your favorite book?
I can never answer this. The last book I read to make it onto my favorites list is No Country for Old Men.

If you were to write a book, what would it be about? Or at least what genre would it be? (Of course, you may have already written a book, and I just don’t know it yet.)
I write Southern Gothic. I like to focus on family dynamics, crazy people, secrets, lies, small town culture, and religion. I have written hundreds of short stories, but never finished any of my novels. At least not by my own estimation. Maybe they are all they ever will be. The first novel-length story I made headway on was an 80 (typed) page manuscript that I carried around in black and white composition notebooks in 7th and 8th grade. All I can say is still waters run deep.

Vanessa asked:
If you could meet anyone, from any period of time, who would you choose to meet?
Either Hannah, mother of Samuel or Elisabeth.

I was walking down the aisle on my dad’s arm. The moment I had dreamed of since I was 2-years-old (no lie) was here and very different than I had imagined it. You see, by this point I thought I would be crying. In fact, it’s what I was dreading about the whole thing: getting up in front of all these people and crying so much that they couldn’t understand what I was saying.

But there I was, walking. And there Kevin was, standing at the end of the aisle. It was all so surreal. Instead of looking around to see who was there, like I’d thought I might, I was looking straight ahead, focused on my goal. At this point our ring bearer was pretty raucous down in front of the stage, but Heather finally managed to grab him. When we arrived at the front I kissed my mom on the cheek and then proceeded with Dad to be given away.

I’ll let the video say the rest.

A few things to explain: the violins (that I walked down the aisle to) were not miked and neither was the piano during the lighting of the unity candle. Both were plenty loud during the ceremony, that was just one detail that was forgotten. Scott (vocalist & pianist) did a fantastic job on the song. And my blinking during the vows, well, all I can guess is that I was trying not to cry and I was really focusing on what I was saying. Oh, and my veil almost fell out. Dad got a little too enthusiastic when he lifted it. Surprise! I never cried.

Bridal Chorus as it sounded at the wedding (minus the cello, we had two violins, played by Jennifer White and Kevin Lai):

The day of our wedding I woke up with the June sun shining through the curtains of my room at my mom and dad’s house. Every bedroom I have slept in up to this point has had at least one east facing window and because of this I am a naturally early riser. This morning was no different, with me up hours before I needed to be. Leave it to me to not take advantage of extra sleep on my wedding day.

I had played it through my head over and over how I thought my last night in my parents’ house would be and what it would be like to wake up the next morning, knowing it wouldn’t ever really be the same. Unlike I’d expected, I did not cry myself to sleep the night before. I was too tired. And I know you may be thinking, “Really? Cry?” Yes, really. I have always been a mama’s girl and no matter how excited I was to be getting married it pained me to think that I could really never go home again in the same way. We were going to start a new household. No longer would I be under my parents. It all seemed so new and frightening.

But what did I do? I went to sleep the moment my head hit the pillow and like I said, I was up with the sun the next morning and into the kitchen to make my coffee. My mom was awake, my dad already off to work (he has a 24/7 job in the oilfield), and at least one of my brothers was conscious already. Made myself some breakfast, took a long bath, packed up the rest of my stuff, and headed down to Granny and PawPaw’s to pick up my matron-of-honor and one of my bridesmaids (Heather & Aaryn). Together we drove over to Duncan and went to the nail salon to get all gussied up.

The only decent place to get your toes done (that anyone knew of) in Duncan was the salon in Wal-mart, so there we were. I made a coffee run at McDonald’s (Umm, yes. Again.) then settled into one of those comfy chairs to wait my tootsies’ turn. I think the massage chair did wonders to keep the knots from forming in my back. That’s where I tend to direct all my stress (there and my brain and intestines, but you don’t care about that). Eventually it was my turn and that, my dear readers, was The Best pedicure I have ever had. It lasted longer than any other pedicure and NEVER chipped. Bless their hearts at the Duncan Wal-mart. They know what they are doing.

Excuse me if I have to come back and edit some of this, because I realized that I lost quite a bit of my memory from the middle part of the day.

After we were done there, we went to the church to drop some things off and then grabbed a quick lunch. Next up were our hair appointments. Aaryn had one right before mine and we went to my cousin-in-law Cortney’s to have it done. Elizabeth Diefenderfer, a former co-worker, was doing the photography and she arrived to take photos while we were at the salon. It was right at this point that I started to get antsy. I couldn’t sit down. I was pacing in the shop. I knew what was going on though. Adrenaline was starting to fill my veins and I had that constant “I-need-to-take-a-tinkle” feeling that I used to get before a basketball game. You know, like right before you get on a roller coaster? THAT. At least I wasn’t having a panic attack.

After our hair was all done we went back to the church and started getting ready to take a few photos before the wedding. Just the ones without Kevin and I together though. Yes, we’re traditional. I hate being griped at for it. And I’ll be honest, I totally judge people who go ahead and see each other before the wedding. Sorry. I think my mom and my bridesmaids helped me to get the dress on. It’s a heavy sucker. Before I really knew what had happened, we were all completely dressed and ready to go take some pictures. Those went fairly quick, since I’d made a list beforehand of everything I wanted and I didn’t have any ridiculous bridesmaids. Thank you, ladies.

While all this was going on, Dad kept approaching me with his phone to show me pictures of Kevin (who was back in the choir room) and all of his groomsmen playing Phase 10 (whatever that is). I guess that’s a bit of a cheat, but whatever. Blame Dad.

When we were done the four of us (me, Heather, Aaryn, and Delisa) were ushered back into the lounge outside of the ladies’ restroom to wait for everything to begin. Oh boy. My tummy is turning just thinking about it. We had about an hour left to go and this time went by more quickly than anything else. There were a few people in and out of the room; Lindsay, the wife of one of the groomsmen, to deliver a letter from Kevin to me (I sent her back with one for him); a few aunts who couldn’t quite contain their tears; my grandmother who brought by the hair pin that I secured my veil with (belonged to her mother, my Nannie) and the handkerchief that I carried (belonged to PawPaw’s mother, my “Granny Christ” [pronounced KRISS] or Grandma Maggie Johnson to the rest of the family) and left quickly because she wasn’t going to be able to hold her tears in; and a few random people to say “hello.” (If you were there and you remember more of this, please share in the comments. I have lost a lot of it!)

I don’t know how it all went by so quickly, but suddenly my dad was peeking through the door to tell us that the video presentation was almost over and that they’d be seating the families within minutes. That meant it was almost time. Oh. My. Lands.

(Since you all haven’t seen it, unless you were there, here’s the slideshow we played. YouTube quality is AWFUL, but the DVD version is great.)

There were a couple of small snafus with the timing and people knowing when to be queued in (blame me for being the wedding coordinator at the rehearsal), but it all worked out without me knowing.

I was standing there, the music was playing, and my girlie friends were walking down the aisle. The doors closed and then there were violins. Without any warning, I was on my dad’s arm and he said, “It’s all going to be fine.” The doors opened and there we were. And there, at the end of the aisle…was him.

Tomorrow – Reflections on the Ceremony WITH *tada* The Wedding Video!

The day before the wedding Heather showed up at my house early in the morning and we drove over to Duncan to help around the reception site. My mom and I had helped the wedding coordinator and her assistants quite a bit the evening before and things were really coming together by the time we arrived that morning. We doled out the tiny Mason jar cards at every place setting, along with one birdseed bag for each.

We picked up Kevin’s mom from their hotel and went over to the mall where we had our nails done. That was nice and relaxing. To myself I still seemed really calm. I don’t know how other people saw it, but I was freaking myself out a little with how calm I was. The rest of the afternoon we spent helping with all the decorating.

Sometime before the rehearsal started Jolene arrived and she immediately hopped in to help us out wherever we needed it. Before I knew what was happening, I had 45 minutes left to get ready, so I headed over to the main building to put on my dress and makeup.

Once the rehearsal got started, that’s when I really felt kinda…overwhelmed. Not with what was happening, but because (unexpectedly) no one was there to help direct the order of ceremony, show people how to walk in, etc. The person who was supposed to help with all that was tied up and it was left to me to do all the coordinating at this point. I was exasperated. Some of my family members don’t take direction well, and some of them (my brothers, ahem) hardly take it from me at all. There were just so many details, so many things to consider. There is always going to be something that you don’t expect and something that just won’t work out. But man. I was tired.

A few photos from that evening:

SOMEBODY needs an anti-anxiety pill. And it’s not one of the minors.

He didn’t want to walk down the aisle.

And he wasn’t glad to be onstage. Don’t worry. He sprinted down the aisle on the big day.

Doing what I do best: bossing my baby brothers.

And after all of this (I think the photos clearly delineate my descent into a frenzied state) I went to the bathroom to grab my stuff, already running 30 minutes late to the dinner, with a number of people on my heels, all with questions to ask. I broke down. Put my hands over my face and said, “I need to compose myself.” Before I moved my hands everyone had left the room. I stood there catching my breath for a few moments, remembering what Chris (our main officiant) had said to us earlier: “No matter what happens, at the end of the day, you will be married.”

I gathered my bags, went outside to meet Kevin for a few more pictures, and to enjoy my last evening as an unmarried woman in the company of many friends and family members. It was wonderful.

Next up, The Wedding Day…