Friday, July 29, 2005

Familiar Faces

One of Steve's best friends, Andrew (who was supposed to be a groomsman in our wedding but couldn't because he was in India), and his wife, Becca, came to visit us last night! They were on vacation in Mammoth Cave National Park, which isn't all that far from here, so they drove down to see our new apartment and go out to dinner with us. I can't explain how wonderful it was to see some familiar faces...as we walked out the door to go to dinner, I was like, "We have friends!" We had a great time catching up with them.

Thursday, July 28, 2005

A Simple PSA About My New Last Name

Since changing my last name, I have quickly discovered that many people find "Kannel" hard to pronounce. People are like, "Ka-nell?" "Kennel?" (it's CAN-nul. rhymes with flannel.)

After the Comcast people screwed it up and sent us a bill under the name "Kennel," Steve and I wrote this little PSA with the magnetic poetry on our fridge (we have a whole lot of words):

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

Mystery Gift

Speaking of wedding stuff, I keep forgetting to post this little plea for help:

We received this neat picture frame as a wedding gift--it says "But the greatest of these is love" at the bottom and it holds a 5x7 photo. However, there was no card with it at all, so we have no idea who it was from. We would like to thank that person...so if it was you or if you know who the gift-giver was, could you please let me know?

Your Invited

So our photographer sent a package in the mail today with a form and some info about our wedding pictures that are online. She also sent this huge stack of cards that she suggested we could put in our thank-you notes--they have the website where our pictures are available, plus instructions and the password. Hey, what a great idea. Except that at the top of the cards, it says, "Your Invited!"

I swear, one of my biggest (if not THE biggest) pet peeves is incorrect use of apostrophes--people who want to put them in where they're not needed, and people who don't use them when they ARE needed. Call me a grammar nerd, I don't care. It makes my skin crawl. Argh, it killed me just to type that title! YOU ARE invited. Argh.

INFJ

I took the Meyers-Briggs indicator several years ago...in taking this test, I had no idea it was an MBTI--yet my results were exactly the same. Slight I, moderate N and F, and strong J. Guess there's no debating the results :)

Which type are you?

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Goodbye, Fresh Ink

I am very sad today. I just found out some news that is far more disappointing than an empty mailbox: "fresh ink," my favorite brand of cards from Hallmark, has been discontinued. I was so excited when we pulled into Springfield and I spotted a Hallmark store less than five minutes from our apartment...only to walk in there today and have the saleslady inform me that Hallmark stores are no longer carrying fresh ink. Something about the square cards/envelopes being a pain or some other such nonsense.

My dear friend Kathryn introduced me to fresh ink cards two summers ago and since then I've been addicted. I use them for every occasion and rarely send anything else, whether it's birthdays, weddings, thank yous, or just a random note to say hello and make a friend smile. They are hilarious and they are also cheap (only $1.99). Now, sadly, they are no more. And to my dismay, all the other cards I looked at today were incredibly cheesy (sing-songy poems and the like) or ridiculously expensive (I refuse to pay $3.49 for a greeting card) or both.

Perhaps this calls for one of my famous customer-service campaigns...


*****UPDATE 1/11/06: Interestingly enough, the Google search that most often leads random strangers to my blog is "fresh ink cards" or some variation thereof. They find this post--and then they get misinformation. So if that's you: Hi, and here's the real scoop! fresh ink is, wonderfully, still available. Obviously the manager at my local Hallmark store didn't know what she was talking about, and though she has stopped carrying the line (she told me it was too much of a pain because people got so confused over the special envelopes....mmm-kay), I can still purchase those beloved cards at another Hallmark in the area. Unfortunately they don't have my favorite cards...but that's another story.

The Rejection Box

Back in my college days (I say that as though it was eons ago), we referred to our mailboxes in the student center as "rejection boxes"--a nod to how depressing it was when we eagerly unlocked those little boxes at dinnertime every evening (and at lunch, and in the middle of the day if we just happened to be passing through...did anyone else do this??) only to be greeted by emptiness.

Living at home for the nine months, we had a friendly little yellow tab on our mailbox to tell us if we had mail, and it was just a short walk to the end of the driveway--or I could reach out from the car on the way in. Now that I'm living in an apartment complex, I have a rejection box again, and I have to walk across the complex to check it every morning.

I feel like I'm in college all over again. Throw on some flip-flops, grab my keys, lock the apartment door behind me, walk over to the mailboxes and expectantly unlock box #505...and it's so disappointing to find a lonely Dillard's flier addressed to "Gabrielle Price or Current Resident."

In this age of e-mail and cell phones, why is "real mail" so important?

Monday, July 25, 2005



















Ah, I finally have the cable for my camera so I can upload pictures again!

Look for apartment pics soon (maybe)...meanwhile I'm just posting this shot from Hawaii so I can use it for my profile. It was taken from the balcony of our hotel room...ahh I miss Maui :)

Church Search

The perfectionist in me would like to take the music from this church, the preacher from that one, the men's ministry from another and the women's ministry from yet another, mix in a different church's statement of faith and the welcoming atmosphere from somewhere else and create the perfect church. Of course I realize that if the perfect church DID exist, it would immediately cease to be perfect the minute I joined. That's the problem--if only churches weren't filled with fallen humans... :)

Having just moved, Steve and I are embarking upon the journey to find a home church. This raises lots of questions, such as:
1. What are the non-negotiables--things we can't live without in a church--and what are the things we'd prefer but don't absolutely have to have?
2. What is the purpose of a church?
3. How do you as a visitor determine whether a church is the "right" one to settle into? How many visits does it take to make an adequate assessment?

What do you think?

Saturday, July 23, 2005

Breakfast in Bed

A few weeks ago, at a bridal shower, my aunt Judy got me a very fun and creative gift: a "breakfast in bed" kit. It had two little breakfast cookbooks, a package of muffin mix and a muffin pan, a candle, a potholder or two, maybe a couple of other things I can't remember, and a bed tray. All the other guests were like, "Ooh, now you can make Steve breakfast in bed" and I said with a smile, "Or he could make me breakfast in bed!" Everyone just laughed at me, and in fact, one of the older ladies said, "If you figure out how to get him to do that, let me know!"

I would just like everyone to know that my wonderful husband made me breakfast in bed this morning :) It was our first Saturday after his first week of work, so sleeping past 5:00 at all was going to feel great...he woke up at about 7:45 but of course that was not sleeping in nearly late enough for me. So I stayed in bed for a while...and a couple of hours later, he decided to make French toast, and brought me some on our new bed tray.

I can definitely handle married life.

Friday, July 22, 2005

Refiner's Fire

"Our Father, who seeks to perfect His saints in holiness, knows the value of the refiner's fire. It is with the most precious metals that the assayer takes the most pains, and subjects them to the hot fire, because such fires melt the metal, and only the molten mass releases its alloy or takes perfectly its new form in the mould. The old refiner never leaves his crucible, but sits down by it, lest there should be one excessive degree of heat to mar the metal. But as soon as he skims from the surface the last of the dross, and sees his own face reflected, he puts out the fire."
--Arthur T. Pierson

Whoo-Hoo!


Our professional wedding pics are finally on the web! If you didn't get an email from me and want the link, drop a comment with your email address and I'll send it to ya :)

Thursday, July 21, 2005

Surprising

P.S. - Yes, it really is 6:20 a.m. right now. Steve leaves for work at 6, and although this may come as a shock to many of you, I get up and eat breakfast with him every day, night owl that I am. Also, shock of shocks to those of you who know I am not exactly Betty Crocker, I have made dinner four nights in a row--and I'm not just talking peanut butter and jelly. Last night it was BBQ pineapple pork chops and glazed baby carrots (though Steve did grill the chops, because he is the resident grilling expert, but I made the sauce). Whoa, am I turning over a new leaf or what?

Boys and Their Toys

The Comcast guy came to our apartment yesterday and fixed our cable outlet so that our internet worked. Yay for me. I had a few blessed hours online until Steve came home.

You know that old saying, "If it ain't broke..." well, that doesn't always apply with Steve. When he was little he was famous for taking things apart--he "just wanted to see how it worked" (never mind that he couldn't seem to get it put back together in working order). So yesterday my dear husband decided working internet wasn't enough--our internet needed to be hooked up through his wireless router, not just through the computer in our second bedroom/office.

Right--because it's crucial to have wireless internet throughout our 1100-square-foot apartment. I mean, what if I'm in the living room, and I don't WANT to get up and walk ten feet into the office? Obviously I need to be able to pick up his old laptop and get online from the comfort of the couch.

His reply was: "But the router is so much cooler." (Never mind that as he tinkered, soon nothing was working--not even directly through the computer again.)

Ah, I can't pick on him too much. When the router didn't seem to be working, he did get the computer hooked back up and we are now back online. Men...

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Up and Running

Ahh...we finally have internet at home now...praise be. I felt so disconnected. It's ridiculous how much you think you "need" the internet when you suddenly don't have 24/7 access!

As soon as I get my camera cable from my parents' house (I left it when I moved) I'll be uploading fun pictures from the wedding, Hawaii and the move, hopefully. Until then...drop me a line, I miss you!

Monday, July 18, 2005

Welcome to the South

This Yankee has been officially transplanted...

Steve and I are all moved into our apartment down here in Tennessee...I can definitely speak for both of us when I say we are ready to be settled and done with all the newness and changes!

His dad and little brother helped us move on Friday; we spent all day Saturday unpacking (mostly just the kitchen) and then yesterday went on the mother of all grocery trips...at least we kept consoling ourselves as we signed the receipt-as-long-as-my-arm that a lot of those things were items we won't have to buy regularly, just one-time purchases. Then we had our first official meal in our new apartment, which was exciting!

Steve's first day of work was today and I've spent the day unpacking and dealing with all the logistics that go along with changing your name and moving. It's overwhelming, though we're making progress. I'm hoping to begin job searching soon but for now, it's probably a good thing that I don't have a job so I can get all these details taken care of.

We would definitely appreciate your prayers as we settle into a new home and a new marriage!

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

I'm MAUI-ed!!

I'm officially a Mrs. and back from a wonderful honeymoon in beautiful Maui!!!

After months and months of not-so-patiently waiting, Steve and I are finally married. It still seems hard to believe! The entire wedding day was so surreal and I can't count how many times during our honeymoon we said to each other in disbelief, "We're married! And we're in Maui!"

The wedding was a fairy-tale day. I could not have special-ordered better weather, especially for Ohio in July...Bill did a wonderful job performing a personal, beautiful ceremony...the prelude music was AMAZING thanks to my very talented friends Lyn, Janet and Aaron...all those stressful details finally fell into place and I had a blast.

We spent a week in Maui, which was a dream start to our life together...what a trip...we are already saying we want to go back someday for a big anniversary! Hopefully I will post a few pictures soon.

And now begins life in the "real world"...though it will be a different "real world" than I've ever experienced before, full of lots of changes!