valentines day

inspired by a dear friend's blog, i decided to post a picture of nic and i's "first date". thinking back on this day, i find myself in an uncontrollable smile and remnants of butterflies linger in the pit of my stomach. oh how i love this man and all the crazy things he does.

it was a fall evening on k-state's campus in manhattan, ks, and my RA (whom i later married) needed to "borrow" hay bales for an event he was putting together for our dorm floor. i somehow manipulated my way into getting him to ask me to go with him.

we pulled up to the well staked out site, grabbed a photo and a few hay bails and went back to the dorms. before you think this man isn't a romantic, i should note that this definitely wasn't our first "official" date. i suppose it was the first time it was just us. doing something only us has a memory of. :)

happy valentines day! ok, i'd better get back to work now.

the internets offerings

two absolutely amazing tools that i use daily.
1. google reader. it's awesome. if you haven't tried it yet, you should. if you have a gmail account, at the top of the page there is a link called "Reader", click it, and start adding subscriptions! if you don't have a gmail account, you should get one.

if you are a skilled blog stalker like me google reader can save you hours of time in a day! all your blog reading delights are in one convenient place! click here to check out a dear friend's photography blog that i subscribe to! (and while you're there wish her a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!).

2. equally awesome is www.mint.com. this is an absolutely great (and FREE!) tool to help keep track of daily expenses, budgets, investments, and financial goals. trust me, i'm an accountant. :)

loose animal

Around 1pm today, my husband emails, "Well, we will unexpectedly be testing Neosho's [our dog] freedom in our own house this afternoon. I accidentally failed to latch one of the gates on his kennel after lunch. I just happened to check his video camera [yes, we have a video camera set up to watch our dog when we are at work] and saw he was nowhere to be found. I watched for a few minutes and he actually came back to his kennel and is currently sleeping within... but I don't know how long that will last."


Around 6:15pm today, I received another email, "Upon arriving home today I discovered that genius-dog Neosho has a healthy appetite for literature, quite literally. Not to mention shower loofahs, cardboard, and as always, our dirty clothing."

Fabulous.