Happy Anniversary!

Happy FIRST Anniversary to my wonderful husband!!!

This time last year, we were toasting away the rest of our lives together. A year later, we'll be doing the same thing with one year down.

A year ago today, I made this promise to you:

I take you, Bobby, to be my husband, my best friend…my handsome compliment.
Before God and everybody here, I give you my love without reservation,
looking to Christ as my example.
Both now and in the future, I promise to cherish and respect you,
comfort and encourage you, laugh and cry with you.
I will be beside you in times of plenty and want,
health and sickness, and through failure and triumph.
I promise this as long as we both shall live.

Thank you for being my best friend. I love growing with you and I can't wait to make a lifetime full of memories "from this day forward." I love you!

At Last!

Bedroom furniture!! If you saw this post, then you've been waiting to see this! We now have Pottery Barn-inspired furniture!

5 trips to Lowes, 6 layers of paint, LOTS of saw dust, 1 new Compound Miter Saw, and 1 VERY happy wife later... we bring you, our new furniture! Notice the details that my perfectionist husband put in: beveled edges around the bed, handmade legs, and some brilliant engineering!

It's quite nice, if I do say so myself - Good Job, honey!

The Cat's...Snore?

Killian is snoring. He's hidden himself under the covers because he knows he's not supposed to be there. What happened to normal cats that like to be quiet and sneaky? Not this one... a freight trains -a- comin'!!

Portrait Assignment

So in order to practice our photography "Skiiii-lls," our assignments are meant to get us to move around and be creative.

To be creative, I've blended some of my graphic design "Skiiii-lls" into the mix to really just make that extra effort for that 'A!' I used to hate it when my Mom said that to me... Cue: **Eye Roll**

I still haven't quite mastered my little "Rebel" of a camera yet, but I'm getting there!

What do you think?? (Sorry Bobby, I know you will be mad at me for this one. Thank you for being such a good sport!)

Only the Good Die Young

Note to self: NEVER go to VA Beach again. Ever. Seriously.

Being the nice wife that I am, I offered to drive on the way down to the concert so that my tired husband could take a nap and relax. We took our good ol' time getting down there. Bobby even let us stop at the Williamsburg Outlets (which are awesome, by the way). After making pretty good time getting THAT far, we took our time going shopping. Once we got back on the road, about 10 miles down, we hit bumper-to-bumper traffic. Need I remind you that I drive a stick-shift car? Oh yes, did I also mention that we were still out 50-ish miles from our destination? Lucky for me, though... I had just drank the worlds biggest diet coke at lunch and I had to go to the bathroom already, as in I could-a gone yesterday. Great.

Turns out, the entire state of Virginia was headed to the beach on a Saturday afternoon and they were all backed up around the tunnel to get into VA Beach. UGH. It took us about 2 hours to go 20 miles. Ouch.

So regardless of that horrible experience, we made it to the concert and "WHAT?!?! No Cameras?!?!" I was not feelin' the love, Virginia. So we get into the concert, yea yea...

and then...

Billy Joel appeared!!! He opened up his set with "Angry Young Man" and made his finale the infamous "Piano Man," which was phenomenal. With TONS of great songs in between, this concert made the top of my concert-going lists. I told Bobby, Billy is right next to Dave (Matthews). Seriously... one of the best performers... ever. Seriously.

So because Virginia is ridiculous and wouldn't let me bring in my camera, I have no pictures except what's on my cell phone... anyone know how I can get them on my computer?!

It's Still Rock n' Roll to Me

Yes, you guessed it... The Piano Man himself! Bobby and I are headed to Virginia Beach bright and early tomorrow morning to go see the famous Billy Joel in concert! I will be giving an update once we get back. I've got all my Billy songs loaded up on the ipod for the drive down... woot woot!

Coming soon...

Friday Morning: Bobby was still asleep as this was his CWS (Consolidated Work Schedule) day (every other Friday off - for you non-Government folksies). Before I left for work (yes, we have opposite days off...for now), I strategically placed his cell phone on his night stand. 8:00 a.m. - [cue: Melissa calls from work]. Here's how the conversation went down:

Bobby: "What do you want from me this early in the morning? You put the phone next to my face on purpose, didn't you?"
Me: [In a very cheerful voice] "Morning!!! No, you just forgot to charge your phone last night. I have something for you to do today..."
Bobby: [No words, but I can tell his frustration in his silence]
Me: "I sent you a link of a bed that you can make me... today."
Bobby: [in an EXTREMELY sarcastic voice] "Is this before or after I'm bringing you lunch to work?"

Low and behold, I get home from work and Bobby is huddled in front of the computer, pencil-pushing the measurements to build me a new bed! Eight trips to Lowes later... Houston, we have a bed! ...but it's not finished yet, so you'll just have to wait. In the meantime, here is the bed we are trying to copy:


Oh, did I mention we're going to refinish our dresser to match? Here are some before pictures... I will post the "after's" once it's complete!


More to come!!!

Happy Birthday, April!

Coming from such a large family, I am realizing that there are birthday's (quite a few of them!) almost every month! So for this month, it is my big sister's birthday, April!

For countless mornings in elementary school, my twenty-something sister would be woken up so that she could French-braid my hair before school. Prestigious accountant that she was, that was probably the last thing she wanted to do at 6:30 in the morning after 80-hour weeks during tax season. However, without complaint, she would always wake up to braid my super-fine hair with such precision! I got so many compliments with that hair...

Today, my (ex) football-cheerleader and Parisian-influenced sister is a proud (and busy!) mother of three. If that doesn't impress you, they are all under the age of five. Did I mention she's homeschooling them? Oh, the patience! Good thing her first born is named just that... Patience!

Over the years, I've continued looking up to my beautiful, big sister, but I love the fact that we're such good friends to boot. I know I'm a day late in posting this, but Happy ___th Birthday, April! (...and yes. I know how old you really are!)

A Good Man is Hard to Find

Look no further than to the Wise household and to the Barrick household.

I have been thoroughly blessed to have such a wonderful Dad. Kind, loving, and...practical as he is, he has been a constant, steadfast, Godly leader of my family. As the youngest of five, I think I saw my Dad at the end of his energy rope... that is until I saw him become a Grandfather of seven VERY active grandchildren. Five weddings (including 4 girls), endless cars, a few dozen family vacations, a few HUNDRED swim meets, countless car trips and enduring five very strong-willed children later... here's to my best Dad! Although I didn't appreciate it at the time, when I was in middle school, I would never have boys over because they were all scared of "Mr. Wise." However, one boy wasn't scared away by my sometimes intimidating father. I took a walk last year that was the best walk I ever took with my Dad. He walked with me down the aisle on my wedding day to a man he approved of, to a man who possessed all the qualities that my Dad taught me (by example) were most important. Thanks for everything Dad!

Happy Father's Day, Dad Wise!

On that same day, I gained another Father. One who is very caring and compassionate and one who cherishes family above everything. While his childish antics (a.k.a. pulling my pony-tail as he walks past) I think keep him young (just kidding, Dad!), I can certainly tell that he is most proud of his three outstanding sons. I am convinced that one of his favorite places to be is in his kitchen, sneaking cookies while drinking his coffee on his freshly mopped floor, but I do know that by spending time in the kitchen is a chance to spend time with each one of his family members that passes through that door. One of the first times I called the Barrick household after Bobby and I were married, Dad answered. Without hesitation, I excitedly said "Hey Dad!" With that, he proceeds to say, "Hello? Who is this?! I think you may have the wrong number." I guess never having a girl call you "Dad" will do that to a person... I am so blessed to have such a wonderful Father-in-law (Bobby thinks you're pretty good, too!)!

Happy Father's Day, Dad Barrick!

Learning Curve

Needless to say, ya'll, I am LOVING my photojournalism class. We have been (slowly) learning how to manipulate our camera's functions in order to get a very "artsy" style and make the most out of every photo opportunity. Here are some pictures I've been playing with. They're not stellar, but maybe a little interesting.



I'm looking forward to the end of the semester where we get to complete a photo essay like you see in Time magazine or such. It has to consist of at least 5 really good photos that encompass emotion and feelings as well as tell a story by the elements of photography that we've learned throughout the semester. I need some ideas for this one... any suggestions?!