Monday, August 18, 2008
Friday, August 15, 2008
brand new puppy!
his name is stanley.
he's a one-year-old jack russell terrier mix.
we picked him up from the humane society.
we had to rename him because his former moniker happened to be the same as mine.
we didn't want to disturb the neighbors when they heard someone yell, "noah! stop licking monica!"veronica and lily seemed to like him.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
girls will be girls
monica's best friend, stacy, came to visit us this week.
we went to the book store.i was enjoying a book about logos.
what did the girls immediately locked onto?
a book of nude art photos.
so mature. ;-)
Friday, August 08, 2008
Thursday, August 07, 2008
murphy: 2001 - 2008
what a bad day.
our dog died two days ago. he ran under a car while trying to bite the tires.
monica was almost inconsolable.
he was the best dog.
we're gonna miss him.
our dog died two days ago. he ran under a car while trying to bite the tires.
monica was almost inconsolable.
he was the best dog.
we're gonna miss him.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
aaaaawwwww!!!!
i scored some major points with my in-laws last month when i created the photoshop image below of audrey in her princess dress.
we framed it for her and gave it to her to put in her princess bedroom.
i asked her to close her eyes and when she opened her little 3-year-old eyes, her jawed dropped and she said in a whispery voice, "(gasp) it's byu-full!"
we framed it for her and gave it to her to put in her princess bedroom.
i asked her to close her eyes and when she opened her little 3-year-old eyes, her jawed dropped and she said in a whispery voice, "(gasp) it's byu-full!"
Sunday, July 27, 2008
grandma's garage
lordy, lordy!
we spent half the day last saturday cleaning out grandma's garage.
we're hoping to get it set up so that she can actually park her car in there.
she said it would be the first time since she's lived there... for 23 years!!!
lots of stuff was hauled away and she was a little upset over how much was being pitched but we tried our best to keep the good stuff and get rid of the clutter.
anyways... a few treasures were found.
emmett swiped an AWESOME darth vader mug that had been my uncle's in 1977.
totally not fair!
he also picked up this rockin' serving tray advertising an old beer from pittsburgh.
grandma also took pictures of all of us medlen boys flexing our muscles with our shirts off.
there's a lot of whiteness there.
i'll see if i can get the pic and post it later.
---
we spent half the day last saturday cleaning out grandma's garage.
we're hoping to get it set up so that she can actually park her car in there.
she said it would be the first time since she's lived there... for 23 years!!!
lots of stuff was hauled away and she was a little upset over how much was being pitched but we tried our best to keep the good stuff and get rid of the clutter.
anyways... a few treasures were found.
emmett swiped an AWESOME darth vader mug that had been my uncle's in 1977.
totally not fair!
he also picked up this rockin' serving tray advertising an old beer from pittsburgh.
grandma also took pictures of all of us medlen boys flexing our muscles with our shirts off.
there's a lot of whiteness there.
i'll see if i can get the pic and post it later.
---
Saturday, July 26, 2008
honeymoon pix
on this our 70th day of marriage, i wanted to share 2 pictures from our honeymoon.
this is the beer that i purchased for the special occasion.
this is our fantastic honeymoon casbah.
and for those daring enough to view, a little home video from our wedding night.
this is the beer that i purchased for the special occasion.
this is our fantastic honeymoon casbah.and for those daring enough to view, a little home video from our wedding night.
Friday, July 25, 2008
200 posts!
if you haven't read the backlog, you've got a little bit of reading to do.
i've had several people in the past few months mention that they enjoy the old weblog.
i hope you keep reading... feel free to post a comment and let me know that you're out there.
excelsior!
njm
i've had several people in the past few months mention that they enjoy the old weblog.
i hope you keep reading... feel free to post a comment and let me know that you're out there.
excelsior!
njm
pinky promise!
megan asked me 2 sundays ago to keep blogging and i said i would.
i've got some catching up to do, so sit back for the next few weeks for REGULAR UPDATES!!!
here goes...
when monica was packing her stuff up for the big move before the wedding, she had her best friend's daughter, veronica, help her pack up her apartment.
pretty adorable, right?
well, being the diligent and intelligent 5-year old helper that she is, she decided that monica should pack the boxes while she labeled them.
here is a box of coats that she lovingly labeled for us.
also, in case veronica's parents are reading this, it should be noted that their other daughter, lily is equally adorable and intelligent. ;-)
i've got some catching up to do, so sit back for the next few weeks for REGULAR UPDATES!!!
here goes...
when monica was packing her stuff up for the big move before the wedding, she had her best friend's daughter, veronica, help her pack up her apartment.
pretty adorable, right?
well, being the diligent and intelligent 5-year old helper that she is, she decided that monica should pack the boxes while she labeled them.
here is a box of coats that she lovingly labeled for us.
also, in case veronica's parents are reading this, it should be noted that their other daughter, lily is equally adorable and intelligent. ;-)
Thursday, June 26, 2008
not a belly itcher!
my work hooked me up with some rockin' tickets to the dayton dragons game.
later, monica and i speculated whether or not there was a soul man beneath his foamy exterior.
i seem to recall him asking me to give him "five on the green hand side" and when i didn't he called me a "jive turkey." ... weird.
what a great night!
Monday, June 16, 2008
Friday, June 13, 2008
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
that dweam wivvin a dweam
i promised a recap of the wedding, so hunker down, this may take a while.
pre-wedding stress
where to begin?
a good friend told us two weeks before the wedding, "this next two weeks will feel like 5 minutes... under water."
boy, was he right.
here's a short laundry list of what went down in those two weeks.
it was worth it. :-)
wedding day
what a beautiful day it turned out to be!
the weather was perfect. the pictures turned out beautifully (thanks, jairus). the food was delicious. the ceremony was lovely.
everyone seemed to have a great time.
audrey was the most perfect little flower girl.
monica looked beautiful!
see the pictures from my previous post below.
if you were there and took pictures, please email them to me and i will post them.
now for probably the funniest story of the whole experience.
monica's friends, lee and janet, were so kind to get us a hotel room nearby for the wedding night.
they even checked in for us and gave us the room key-card at the ceremony.
the hotel was on a strip about 5 minutes from my house.
because of their close proximity, i've never needed to stay at one of these hotels before and have never really paid much attention to the buildings themselves.
after the wedding, we hugged and kissed everyone goodbye and quickly drove up the highway, eager to consummate our new union.
i saw the sign for our hotel, "country inn & suites" from the highway and got off on the appropriate exit.
we pulled into the parking lot, carried in our wedding night goodie basket that monica's friend, kim, made for us and quickly entered the hotel.
we followed lee's instructions exactly; past the concierge desk, up one floor and to the left, room 206.
we found the room and i kissed my beautiful bride once more before inserting my key-card to unlock the electronic door mechanism only to see a blinking
RED LIGHT.
i inserted the card again.
RED LIGHT.
i jiggled the handle and inserted again.
RED LIGHT.
i tried sliding it slower, i tried sliding it faster, i tried it backwards.
RED LIGHT. RED LIGHT. RED LIGHT.
then to my surprise, an eight-year-old boy opened the door from the other side.
now i was confused and a frustrated at the thought of having to deal with this hassle when i really wanted to be with my wife in a private, marital way.
i put our goodie basket down and turned to monica, still in her beautiful gown.
"there must have been a a mix-up," i said, stating the obvious. "stay here and i will get this cleared up at the front desk."
i hustled down to the desk and, upon catching sight of the counter and it's contents, i immediately did a 180º turnaround and ran back up to where monica was waiting.
i quickly hefted this basket and with a nervous laugh said, "let's go! we're in the wrong hotel!"
the sign that i had seen on the counter before our rapid egress had quite plainly indicated that we were not, in fact, at the "country inn & suites" but rather had pulled into the "courtyard by marriot."
it seems that i had acquired a particular case of tunnel vision in my excitement to be in union with my bride and had turned into the first hotel lot with a sign starting with the letters "C-O".
there was also a "Comfort Inn" on the strip but thankfully i didn't make the same mistake twice. ;-)
the honeymoon
the next day we drove to our honeymoon cabin.
it was so beautiful there.
the weather continued to be in our favor as we hiked and lazed about in our secluded getaway.
we saw several deer and made terrific use of our hot tub and fireplace.
on monday, we went into town to do a little shopping.
we went to an antique store where monica found an old green bible and then to a bookstore where we got a really good novel about a boy with autism called "the curious incident of the dog in the night-time".
after these two great finds, we pulled in to wal-mart to buy some groceries for the remainder of our stay.
we loaded up our cart with plenty of food and headed for the checkout.
we had such a long day to that point that i was desperately looking for the shortest line.
i looked in our cart to seem if we could possibly squeeze through the express lane.
i estimated that we were only 10 items over the 20 item limit and decided to go for it.
monica started fussing with me that we had way more than that, but i was so ready to go and the cashier didn't seem to mind.
ooooh doggy! wal-mart must only be hiring mensa candidates these days because our clerk was a flippin' genius!
once in line, monica began counting our items. "... 41, 42, 43 items! i told you we were way over!" she exclaimed.
"you're right, honey. you're always right. you've been right the entire time we've been married." i responded sarcastically.
the woman behind us in line chuckled a little.
monica turned around to her and explained, "we've only been married for 2 days."
this must have been exciting to our cashier because she enthusiastically interjected, "Y'ALL GOT MARRIED TWO DAYS AGO?!?!?! WHEN'D Y'ALL GET MARRIED?"
i was a little confused by the question and slowly replied. "saturday?"
then she became distracted by one of our items of produce.
"LOOK AT THESE BABY ORANGES!" she shouted.
The items that she found so thrilling were actually cumquats.
"LURLEEN! YOU EVER HAD THESE CRUMPETS?" she shouted to the woman behind us.
"NAW! I AIN'T NEVER HARDLY DUN HEARED OF 'EM" she replied in an equally obnoxious fashion.
"WELL, THEY'RE REALLY CALLED CUMMETS BUT I DON'T LIKE TO SAY THAT WORD, SO I CALL 'EM CRUMPETS."
"Actually, it's pronounced 'kum-kwat.'" monica said, emphasizing the phonetic qualities of the word.
"KRUM-KWAR. KOOM-KAHT." the clerk struggled. after several attempts, she gave in to the limitations of her rural articulation. "WELL, I'M JUST GONNA KEEP CALLIN' 'EM CRUMPETS. I LIKE THAT BETTER."
i smiled and once we got back in the car, i looked at the clock and said, "it's 4:00, monica. time for high tea and cumquats. "
yikes.
...
here's us at the cabin, as well as a shot of the special beer that i purchased the night before to take with us.
...
and the rest...
we got back in town on wednesday night and enjoyed the rest of the week being together, shopping and generally being frivolous with our time.
here's some highlights:
monica, i love you and i truly could not have done any better than choosing you.
143
finally to commemorate the occasion, i little clip from my favorite move of all time.
pre-wedding stress
where to begin?
a good friend told us two weeks before the wedding, "this next two weeks will feel like 5 minutes... under water."
boy, was he right.
here's a short laundry list of what went down in those two weeks.
- moving day for monica
- one-day religious assembly
- head gasket blew on my car
- power steering went out on monica's car
- monica's personal shower and bridal shower
- bath tub drain/seal broke causing flood in carpeted kitchen
- washing machine pump troubles
- lawn mower malfunction
- jared jewelers dummies ordered ring 2 sizes too large and botched line of credit so we couldn't buy my band from there
- rental hall for the ceremony called and said we couldn't get in until 10AM the day of our planned 1PM wedding
- stress from friends who were offended that they weren't invited
- requisite pre-wedding blowout argument between bride and groom.
it was worth it. :-)
wedding day
what a beautiful day it turned out to be!
the weather was perfect. the pictures turned out beautifully (thanks, jairus). the food was delicious. the ceremony was lovely.
everyone seemed to have a great time.
audrey was the most perfect little flower girl.
monica looked beautiful!
see the pictures from my previous post below.
if you were there and took pictures, please email them to me and i will post them.
now for probably the funniest story of the whole experience.
monica's friends, lee and janet, were so kind to get us a hotel room nearby for the wedding night.
they even checked in for us and gave us the room key-card at the ceremony.
the hotel was on a strip about 5 minutes from my house.
because of their close proximity, i've never needed to stay at one of these hotels before and have never really paid much attention to the buildings themselves.
after the wedding, we hugged and kissed everyone goodbye and quickly drove up the highway, eager to consummate our new union.
i saw the sign for our hotel, "country inn & suites" from the highway and got off on the appropriate exit.
we pulled into the parking lot, carried in our wedding night goodie basket that monica's friend, kim, made for us and quickly entered the hotel.
we followed lee's instructions exactly; past the concierge desk, up one floor and to the left, room 206.
we found the room and i kissed my beautiful bride once more before inserting my key-card to unlock the electronic door mechanism only to see a blinking
RED LIGHT.
i inserted the card again.
RED LIGHT.
i jiggled the handle and inserted again.
RED LIGHT.
i tried sliding it slower, i tried sliding it faster, i tried it backwards.
RED LIGHT. RED LIGHT. RED LIGHT.
then to my surprise, an eight-year-old boy opened the door from the other side.
now i was confused and a frustrated at the thought of having to deal with this hassle when i really wanted to be with my wife in a private, marital way.
i put our goodie basket down and turned to monica, still in her beautiful gown.
"there must have been a a mix-up," i said, stating the obvious. "stay here and i will get this cleared up at the front desk."
i hustled down to the desk and, upon catching sight of the counter and it's contents, i immediately did a 180º turnaround and ran back up to where monica was waiting.
i quickly hefted this basket and with a nervous laugh said, "let's go! we're in the wrong hotel!"
the sign that i had seen on the counter before our rapid egress had quite plainly indicated that we were not, in fact, at the "country inn & suites" but rather had pulled into the "courtyard by marriot."
it seems that i had acquired a particular case of tunnel vision in my excitement to be in union with my bride and had turned into the first hotel lot with a sign starting with the letters "C-O".
there was also a "Comfort Inn" on the strip but thankfully i didn't make the same mistake twice. ;-)
the honeymoon
the next day we drove to our honeymoon cabin.
it was so beautiful there.
the weather continued to be in our favor as we hiked and lazed about in our secluded getaway.
we saw several deer and made terrific use of our hot tub and fireplace.
on monday, we went into town to do a little shopping.
we went to an antique store where monica found an old green bible and then to a bookstore where we got a really good novel about a boy with autism called "the curious incident of the dog in the night-time".
after these two great finds, we pulled in to wal-mart to buy some groceries for the remainder of our stay.
we loaded up our cart with plenty of food and headed for the checkout.
we had such a long day to that point that i was desperately looking for the shortest line.
i looked in our cart to seem if we could possibly squeeze through the express lane.
i estimated that we were only 10 items over the 20 item limit and decided to go for it.
monica started fussing with me that we had way more than that, but i was so ready to go and the cashier didn't seem to mind.
ooooh doggy! wal-mart must only be hiring mensa candidates these days because our clerk was a flippin' genius!
once in line, monica began counting our items. "... 41, 42, 43 items! i told you we were way over!" she exclaimed.
"you're right, honey. you're always right. you've been right the entire time we've been married." i responded sarcastically.
the woman behind us in line chuckled a little.
monica turned around to her and explained, "we've only been married for 2 days."
this must have been exciting to our cashier because she enthusiastically interjected, "Y'ALL GOT MARRIED TWO DAYS AGO?!?!?! WHEN'D Y'ALL GET MARRIED?"
i was a little confused by the question and slowly replied. "saturday?"
then she became distracted by one of our items of produce.
"LOOK AT THESE BABY ORANGES!" she shouted.
The items that she found so thrilling were actually cumquats.
"LURLEEN! YOU EVER HAD THESE CRUMPETS?" she shouted to the woman behind us.
"NAW! I AIN'T NEVER HARDLY DUN HEARED OF 'EM" she replied in an equally obnoxious fashion.
"WELL, THEY'RE REALLY CALLED CUMMETS BUT I DON'T LIKE TO SAY THAT WORD, SO I CALL 'EM CRUMPETS."
"Actually, it's pronounced 'kum-kwat.'" monica said, emphasizing the phonetic qualities of the word.
"KRUM-KWAR. KOOM-KAHT." the clerk struggled. after several attempts, she gave in to the limitations of her rural articulation. "WELL, I'M JUST GONNA KEEP CALLIN' 'EM CRUMPETS. I LIKE THAT BETTER."
i smiled and once we got back in the car, i looked at the clock and said, "it's 4:00, monica. time for high tea and cumquats. "
yikes.
...
here's us at the cabin, as well as a shot of the special beer that i purchased the night before to take with us.
...
and the rest...
we got back in town on wednesday night and enjoyed the rest of the week being together, shopping and generally being frivolous with our time.
here's some highlights:
- both of us got new running shoes. i've never had a pair of shoes that were this comfortable in my life!
- in columbus, we went to a great grocery store called "whole foods grocery"
- while waiting for our pictures to be developed, we went to see indiana jones on opening day. monica was super psyched about it. did i marry the right girl or what?!?
- we went to border and got a couple of cool books. mine was all about the amazing comic book illustrator, jack kirby. hers was call "mirror, mirror" by the author of "wicked".
- on saturday we had a little picnic in the park and took our dog, murphy, for a walk.
- on sunday night we went over to my non-related, but sort-of surrogate parents' house and played board games while the twins stuck random food items in their deep fryer. (they said they were inspired by this:
- on monday, we had my cousin timothy, his wife, mikey and their daughter, savannah over for dinner to thank them for all of their help and support with our wedding and during our courtship.
monica, i love you and i truly could not have done any better than choosing you.
143
finally to commemorate the occasion, i little clip from my favorite move of all time.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
wedding pix
recap to come... enjoy!
first, here's set up and rehearsal...
the ceremony...
the food...
the dancing...
the family...
formal pictures...
what a great day.
:-D
first, here's set up and rehearsal...
the ceremony...
the food...
the dancing...
the family...
formal pictures...
what a great day.
:-D
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
i'm back, baby!
i've heard from my dear readers that they missed me while i was on my sabbatical from blogging.
but fear not!
the break was time well-spent wooing my new wife.
you know what that means, more stories of me making an idiot of myself.
look for that, plus wedding pics, high-larious stories from the honeymoon and (since my header is now majorly outdated) a blog redesign.
later, taters.
njm
but fear not!
the break was time well-spent wooing my new wife.
you know what that means, more stories of me making an idiot of myself.
look for that, plus wedding pics, high-larious stories from the honeymoon and (since my header is now majorly outdated) a blog redesign.
later, taters.
njm
Friday, April 04, 2008
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