Evil/Genius

My boss Mike subscribes to WIRED magazine - a very geeky, technologically savvy read. I'm neither geeky nor technologically savvy, so the magazine usually isn't something I would pick up and read without being forced to do so against my own free will.

What caught my eye about April's issue of WIRED as it sat on the kitchen counter was the graphic on the cover: the Apple logo wrapped in barbed wire. The title underneath stated "Evil/Genius." I was interested.

I read the entire article, all of the information in the sidebars (Breaking the Rules and Our Bad), and laughed out loud several times. Who knew that reading about business and technology could be so much fun?!

Having a husband who is most definitely a geek means that I am often times subjected to hearing him talk about computers. I thought it would be fun to read the article from WIRED and then go home and tell Aaron what I had learned. He was very impressed with my new-found knowledge of the Silicon Valley, all of the businesses that reside there, and why the people who run Apple are truly Evil Geniuses. Of course, he already knew everything I had learned...but he thought it was cute that I tried to talk about computers with him :)

More Painting...

I'm pretty sure that a few months ago I vowed never to paint another stroke of color on any wall ever again. The first round of paint that went on the walls in our new house (13 gallons!) did me in...or so I thought.

I guess I've forgotten how painful painting is (or perhaps I've lost my mind) because we're planning to paint the 2 guest bedrooms this Saturday. With the help of Sean and Courtney, Aaron and I are hoping to knock out the paint in the guest bedrooms very quickly. My ambitious mind has me convinced that we can have the walls painted, trim completed, and furniture moved back in by Saturday evening.

Yeah. We'll see about that...

YAY!

I usually have a hard time getting my brain to operate sufficiently enough to blog on a Monday morning...but I just wanted to take a moment to congratulate my brother. He made it through Recognition Day this past Saturday (as we all knew he would) and he's no longer a Knob. We're so proud of you, Bryn!

I searched the internet for photos of Saturday's events at the Citadel and could only find two. Of course, all of the freshmen look the same (with their bald heads!) but I managed to find my Brynnie in one of the photos:

Bryn is in the front of the line to the far right (next to the only guy in the photo with hair).

Aaron and I can't wait to see Bryn march in his last Citadel parade of the year on May 2nd. I'm looking forward to getting some great photographs and spending time with my family in the most beautiful city on Earth :)

Old Citadel Prayer

"Give me a boy, Oh God, who is willing to learn the true value of honor, the necessity of perseverance and loyalty, and the meaningfulness of devotion to God and country. And I shall take this boy as does a blacksmith take a crude piece of metal, and place him over a forge whose liberating flame of education is fired by the bellows of strict military discipline. Into this ingot of a man I shall temper self-respect and self-discipline, fear of God and respect for mankind, appreciation of freedom and awareness of what sacrifices must be made in order to preserve freedom, and above all an insatiable desire for truth and honesty. And when all these things I have done, I shall brand my finished work with a ring of gold to let all of humanity know that I have given back to the world a...Citadel man." -Old Citadel Prayer

You are all of this and more, little brother. Work hard tomorrow and keep "makin' moves" :)

We love you!

Randomness

I have lots of things running through my mind today as I attempt to put together an interesting blog. I don't know if any of this is interesting, but I'll blog about it anyway.

• This Saturday, April 19th, my brother will go through what is called "Recognition Day" at the Citadel. We're praying for you, Buddy! You're almost done with your Knob year!
• It's been 8 weeks since I started working out at Anytime Fitness in Fort Mill. I feel GREAT! I'm trying to tone-up in preparation for summer (I don't want to be uncomfortable in a swim suit when I'll be wearing one almost every day) and the work-out plan I'm on is doing wonders for my body. I lost 1.1 percent of my body fat in 6 weeks and I'm aiming to lose another 1 or 2 percent in the next 6 weeks.
• Aaron and I have begun to let Hobbes roam free in the house while we're gone during the day. We bought new leather furniture a few months ago and have been fearful of what he and his claws might do to the couches while we're gone. He has proven himself worthy to roam free and we're hoping he doesn't make us sorry. I'm sure everything will be fine (still trying to convince myself)...
• Toby is currently screaming at an old picture of himself that's on the night stand in the guest room. So weird...
• I'm looking forward to babysitting Asher and Cooper tonight! Aaron and I are headed back to the Corbett's house tomorrow night to watch Ella and Austin so Chunks and Amy can go on a date. Since Aaron gets off at 4pm tomorrow, he'll be able to spend the entire evening with us. I'm so excited that he'll get to experience the mayhem of bathtime with the Corbett children. I'm planning to ask Aaron to put Austin in his pajamas after bathtime. It should be hilarious (see this post to understand what I'm talking about).

I guess that's all for now. I hope everyone is having a great week!

Happy Tax Deadline Day!

Pastor's sermon on Breaking Free from Financial Captivity was great on Sunday. I don't think that Aaron and I are "held captive" by our finances, but our finances can definately be a topic of frustration and tension sometimes. We've needed to re-work our budget ever since we bought our house and Pastor's sermon on Sunday inspired us to sit down and actually do it. It feels so good to have a financial plan to go by each month. It feels even better to see the percent of income we're giving back to God each month through the Dominate Campaign and our regular offering to Elevation each week. Six months ago, I doubted that we would be able to do without the money we're giving away. Now, I see how God has blessed us with so much more because we've been faithful to His calling on our lives.

We're excited about the year to come. Now that Aaron has done our taxes on his own, we're more educated about the tax-submission process. We're aware of the deductions we need to be keeping track of over the next year and the changes we need to make on our W-4s. Oh, the joys of being an offical "grown-up"...

Happy Tax Deadline Day! Be sure to get your taxes submitted before midnight :)

United as ONE

I'm so inspired. Let's do what we can for those who are less fortunate than we are. It's so easy.