congrats to the barns

erin ruth was born at 1:51 this afternoon. check out their blog to read the play-by-play. i am awed at what a blessed gift her birth is.

5 years plus one day

happy anniversary yesterday to my hubs. you're my favorite and i love you.

jubilee celebration

this weekend i was blessed to have been able to attend the jubilee mass and celebration for several nuns in the order of the missionary servants of the most blessed trinity. it was a beautiful celebration and a renewal of my own mission to be a servant. i only wish that i can be half as faithful to my call to service as those 10 women who were celebrating their 25th, 50th, 60th, 70th, and 80th years of service.

philly zoo trip

despite the short length of time (and the heat!), i had a great time saturday visiting with family and trampsing around the philly zoo. it'd been ages since i'd been there and i was pleasantly surprised by the renovations to exibit spaces and the updated collections. the sheer number of animals, etc. that they have on collection is pretty vast compared to the cola zoo. however, they have so much that you almost get the feeling they don't have the space to keep everything, which, if i recall accurately, was the general sense i got last time i was there. so i have to say if i had to choose, i still think i like columbia's zoo better. but philly's zoo (the first in america) will always hold a fondness in my zoo preference.

you can see more pictures at flickr.

cell phone advice?

so i think the time has come for us to get a "real" cell phone. i know, i know. we've tried to fight the system for so long and have managed relatively successfully. a few years ago chris's parents gave us a pay-as-you-go cell phone to use in case of emergencies or for when we're traveling. other than work phones that i've been contractually obligated to use, we've managed to keep the personal use of cell phones to a minimum.

but now, all of a sudden, i've found myself married to "that cell phone guy." he's always on it! all right, all right, it's mostly because of his job*, but still, that thing rings constantly. and over the past few months we've been spending astronomical fees because we've been going over our meager 200 alloted minutes a month.

which brings me to this post. i'm now in the market for a no-frills cell phone plan that will give us like 400 or 500 minutes a month with as minimal cost as possible. we don't need texting, we don't need internet, no bells or whistles. just talk. for cheap. preferably. and if they threw in a free phone for signing up, that'd be great too!

i'd take any suggestions if anyone has any. for those local to the area, anyone have good experience with suncom? it seems like they have the most cost-friendly plans, but i want to make sure i'm not limiting ourselves with crappy service.

*ironic that chris uses the cell phone the most for his job which is really not a job exactly. it's an internship. and he doesn't make any money to work there. yet they call his cell phone like nobody's business. i'm not blaming them, but it just ruffles my feathers a little bit.

two more april birthdays

happy birthday yesterday to erica and mamaw bane! 29 and 80 respectively. i wish them the happiest year yet!

prayer request

chris and i have taken a quick trip to mississippi to help out with his mom and we'll be here for the next few days. continued prayers for her and the family would be so appreciated. thanks!

a real vacation?

at the end of this month chris and i celebrate 5 years of marriage! woohoo! i feel like it's a big milestone. so to celebrate and, heck, just to relax a bit, we've decided we're going to take a real-life, honest-to-goodness, vacation at the end of may.

puerto rico, here we come. we've found some out-of-the-way place to spend a few days just relaxing, hiking, looking at nature and resting. i can just smell the pina coladas now!

feeding addictions

it's been a few weeks since i finished watching season two and season four of project runway. i've not had a chance to check any other seasons out since then (we've been busy!). but in case i was going through withdraw, i was fortunate enough to have seen nick verreos from season two give a talk at usc last week. (i took some pictures but they came out too dark to post here).

let me tell you, that guy seems like a sweetheart. he was very energetic and lively. and he seemed very likable. i was a little disappointed that he didn't dish the dirt too much about the show. but maybe he got to that after i left. i stayed for over 2 1/2 hours and he was just up to the q&a! there was supposed to be a meet-and-greet after that which i, of course, missed. it was 20 till 10 pm so i decided to split.

speaking of tv addictions. i'm mad at desperate housewives because they have not updated their website with the rerun episodes they had been running on tv each week. i was tuning in every week to the website to help me catch up on the gazillion seasons i've missed. but for the past month or so, they've not really put anything up. i guess they're trying to build anticipation for their new show this weekend? but anyways, since they didn't have any new episodes when i checked on saturday night, i decided to try another show out via website. dancing with the stars. i started watching that and within the first few minutes i was hooked. i LOVE it! i guess i really am a junky for "reality tv" as long as they show some sort of talent. ha! (i've only watched a few episodes, so please don't give any spoilers about any of the seasons in the comments.)

2 birthday surprises!

tonight i was talking to my mom and she said, "oh, did you get the sugar scrub i sent in your birthday package?" i said, "no. there was no sugar scrub in the package." after a moment of confusion i realized, OH!, there was a present under the chair in the living room. so i got an extra present.

plus! check this out for another birthday surprise.

watching talkin' funny is chris and my new favorite addiction! they're just so funny. so we often will end our day with an episode or two. this evening i realized that they posted the first episode of their new season so i sat down to watch while eating my dinner. but i realized quite quickly into the episode that there was a birthday surprise! check it out!

p.s. clown warning for those (like me) that aren't too keen on clowns! (she's not too creay though.)

dirty 30

thanks to all the do-gooders, well-wishers, and (not-so-) distant relations who wished me a happy birthday the other day. 'preciate it.

not-so hard trivia quiz: which one of these little cuties just turned the big 3-0?


the hair probably gives it away (or is it the award-winning smile?).