new "panes"

yesterday our five spankin' new windows were installed. they look as good as one can imagine new windows looking: aluminum clad on the outside and fancy-pants wood on the inside to keep the house looking "originial".

now, not only do i have a clue what we will use as small talk with people regarding the happenings of our lives, but the hubs wants to play the "let's not turn on the heat and see how much the house warms up naturally now that we have new windows" game.

better hunker down. it is going to be a looooong winter.

midnight critters

so we have now moved past the "slapping your wife in the middle of the night" phase to "wake up your wife because you are concerned about the very large critter lurking across the floor of the dining room in the middle of the night" phase.

perhaps it is the weather? change in diet? either way, the dog's slumber seems to never be disturbed by the ginormous rodents playing in the house in the middle of the night.

some nights, he convinces me in my slumber to actually get out of bed with him so we can try to catch it.

homemade

here is my homemade fall wreath. i can just hear the "oohs and ahhhs" now.

this weekend i will try and convince the hubs to go to a pumpkin patch to complete our fall decor.

apparently, i have given up "making" for crafting lately?!

time for a change...

when i first met my husband, he had never mowed the yard before...

ten years later, my hubs is out changing the oil in the car! i'm so proud - he is such a great husband!

$2 if you can name the other voight auto body shop member featured in this photo....

the five-hour rug

did you read that one post about how our beloved dog ate our brand new spankin' rug? oh wait, that's right...i remember now. i haven't been able to really blog about it until now...you know, after the tears settled (i kid).

that's right. he ate a hole the size of your hand in the middle of the rug. i'm sure the poor little buddy didn't mean to destroy our five-hour old rug - maybe the rug was picking on him? calling him names? didn't smell right? either way, something went down in the voight house that night that sure wasn't pretty...

BUT, in the words of my mother's late night text to calm me:

"material things can be replaced. the love and joy that milo has brought you cannot be bought. be thankful the rug didn't bite him back."

the rug is still pretty. we have forgiven the pup. and semi-fixed the rug. life goes on. just remember when our kids use that classic excuse down the road, "my dog ate my homework", it just very well may be true.

see how i cropped out the portion with the hole? you woulda never noticed.... ;)

it's a girl!

so one of my best friends has up and gotten pregnant.

go figure, just when i finally entered the same life stage as her….it was only 3.5 years of a lag between her marriage and mine, was it that much to ask?! selfishly i wished she could’ve delayed a little longer so we could go through this fun stage in life together, but if you know jaci at all, you know this baby was a long time coming. she was ready to be a mom yesterday. but im sure, however, we can coordinate her #2 with our #1 latear down the road...once she is back in the midwest living down the street from us in indianapolis….no pressure.

this sweet baby is a complete blessing to the moores and is going to be so well loved. and as all new-age moms do, she has been comparing her child to fruits and vegetables on her blog, compliments of daily updates via babycenter.com (oh, if you are curious, last week the baby was the size of an onion!)

today, she called me to tell me they are having a little girl! i realized i had yet to blog about this great news over the last few months, so i felt compelled to let you all in on her life today because is so dear to me.

so lookout world – you are going to have a knockout, gorgeous little girl on your hands come next february…complete with high energy, bows, pearls and some evansville west-side inappropriate jokes!

oh, and this is us - in the same life stage...all for about one month!

what's new with you?

last weekend we met up with one of brandt’s old friends from law school. when he asked what’s been going on with us, my husband replied without hesitation, “we’re getting new windows”. i don’t think that was the answer the friend was looking for. it wasn’t mine either.

welcome, fall!

the beginnings of the voight homemade fall décor - compliments of my iPhone as always!

stay tuned...my computer is slow and the others are still downloading!

man-poo (similar to shampoo)

dear suave,

after getting married six months ago, i started to notice a differing ratio between my shampoo and conditioner bottles. i’m sure you can imagine how very confusing and disturbing this was to me, as i, like most women, mastered the art of even distribution between shampoo and conditioner at a very early age.

going through puberty, we want to make sure our hair is thoroughly hydrated to assist us in the de-frizzing of our untamed wigs and help us offset the appearance of colored braces and pudgy faces. this tender young age is most likely when our love for conditioner first began. but then, while living at home, it is more our parent’s purchasing problem, not ours…right?

it isn’t until around the time you enter college and begin to supply your own hair care products that you realize how inconvenient it is to run out of conditioner weeks before you need shampoo. not to mention is it not very cost effective. this, dear suave, is when a young women masters her skills of “even distribution”.

so over the last several years, i have perfected my usage, timing it just so perfectly with my wal-mart runs every few months. it was glorious. that is until recently.

after i returned from the honeymoon, i noticed the ratio was off. how could this be?! but this time, to my amazement, it was reversed - there was no shampoo and too much conditioner! how does this happen, right?

after carefully wathing for a few more weeks, i bring it up to my new knight-in-shining-armor only to find out that shampoo is his go to gal. this one bottle is used for his head AND body. what? and then, to top it off, he BYPASSES the wonderful conditioner bottle?

this was crazy. i had married a man of laziness. why can't he just use the body soap we have in effort to keep our ratios even?

but last week, at wal-mart, i noticed your product. and would like to thank you for your thoughtfulness. a shampoo, conditioner and body wash all in one. genious!

apparently there are other men out there like my husband…

phases

i know, i know...you've missed me. you've noticed, right? perhaps you felt you just havent had as much motivation to help you through your week? you couldn't figure out which direction was up without the images of voight dinners and dog tails/tales? lucky you. being the good friend that i am, i am here to save you with yet another post and insight into the voight life.

when i chose the blog title for today, i meant for it to reflect more on the fact that i (along with my husband) am guilty of taking on "phases" of life. for him, his phases are things like learning french, candle making (hey, i hear all the hot men do it these days!) and rock carving. for me, well, mine tend to be along the lines of planning events, things to do and the ongoing diets. and apparently this blog...

putting our efforts together makes us one hot mess. our love for short-lived phases has allowed the phases in our lives to prosper and multiply. remember that one post about flexitarianism? yeah. we still think about it. but must admit our meat intake has not fluctuated much at all. however, i do recognize our phases and can call 'em when i see 'em...so that's a step, right? i guess we are just big dreamers, and no harm in that!

but as i was thinking about our phases and how i may have lost your loyalty as a reader, i started to ponder more about the relevance of the title and how it applies to my life right now. thus, inspiring me to address my struggle for finding my place in this phase of life.

for those of you that know me well, you know just how sensitive and emotional i can be. and going through phases at times when others are not, or vice versa, is a big power struggle for me. which has brought me to my current place of trying to identify those living relationships in my life and letting go of old ones.

and that is hard. how do you define the relationships that are relevant and thriving, and at the same time, let go of old ones? this is where i really struggle. however, in thinking about this, i am finding that many of those relationships most likely died a long time ago and i am only just now realizing it.

and then the turmoil sets in. i take it personally. finding the staleness in those relationships makes me feel guilty, like maybe i should have done something more. but then i think about the efforts i made, and how maybe they let me go a long time ago, but i never noticed...i just kept struggling to keep lines of communication open for the sake of great memories. but then again, why do i feel as though i am responsible for this? they let me go too. so why do i feel guilty? why do i wonder why they don't seem to care about letting go of my friendship?

i know that many friendships in life serve a purpose. some are lifelong. some are merely meant to get you through the drama of high school, the confusion and fun of college or perhaps pull you together during a tough time in life. but i feel a sense of loyalty to those phases in my life that i cant let go. even though they are not loyal back. but im learning, that to be content in life, in my marriage, i need to do it. i have to pull up my pant strings, or shoe strings, or however that saying goes, and fix my emotional problem and just let them go.

the list goes on and on thinking about all the wonderful people who have played a role in my life...i wouldn't be where i am today without them. so thank you to them! however, you can't be everything to everyone and those who are in the now, those invested in me today, are the people that i need to focus on. not the lost college friends who don't make an effort. or the high school friends that left emails unanswered. or the single friend reaching out to other people now that i share my life so much more with one other person. i need to focus on those present day encouragements and great friends who miss me when i take a break from party planning. and find joy in the wonderful man i married.

friendships were not meant to wholly define us or give us our purpose in life. they are just one blessing from God - one that allows you to grow closer to Him. like my husband, our marriage was designed to bring us closer to God. and if that isn't happening, something is failing. i think this applies to friendships. friends should bring you closer to God - whether they are believers that encourage you in your walk or are those who simply challenge you to think about how your relationship with God is being displayed - friends should allow you to grow closer to God. not distract us by causing us to mill over the past or focusing our efforts on keeping the friendship afloat...