A wedding weekend.

This Saturday was September 10th. That’s 9/10/11 and brides go nuts over dates like that. From Friday night to Saturday night, we had four ceremonies and two receptions at my work.

Wedding rant warning:

Everyone who hears that I’m an event coordinator automatically responds with, “WOW, what a fantastic & fun job!” But no one ever thinks of all the tough parts – working with people in super high stress situations {brides…and normally even more so, mother of the brides!}, working on weekends, evenings, and holidays, constantly hearing complaints with very few compliments. I like my job, and I love the creative aspect and the reward of watching a bride smile at her beautiful event, but I just felt like sharing this on my blog because I feel like people tend to be a bit too judgmental/critical of others’ weddings. {In my own opinion.} Next wedding you go to, take a second to realize that the bride and groom have paid plenty and given up quite a bit of time and effort to invite you to their celebration. It’s their day, not yours. If you don’t like the food, the décor, the set-up, it’s okay because it’s not about you. It’s about them. If you see some wedding staff at the venue or working for the catering company, thank them! It’s seriously hard work to set up, tear down, and provide service for a wedding ceremony and reception. HARD WORK. The people that work for me, leave at 2 am sweaty, sore, blisters on their feet, and completely exhausted for working so hard for the event. And probably 90% of the time, they’re never thanked by anyone attending the event. A little thank you goes such a long way.

Okay, rant over. Sorry – had to get it out there. ;) I was so thankful that each of the weddings & receptions went off without a hitch, and the weather was beautiful {despite a scary forecast of rain!}

I’m working from home today, enjoying some home projects soon to be shared here. I love being productive at home.

Downspout extensions.

Yes, you can tell from the title that this post’s going to be riveting. And yes, it’s about as exciting {and lame} as it sounds.

Part of our basement water problem is stemming from our short, poorly placed downspouts.The water was draining down to the gutters and to the short downspouts and resting about 2 feet away from the house; then seeping into the basement walls.

One corner was definitely worse than the other three, so a while ago we bought this snazzy $11 down spout extender thingy, like this…

{image source}

Well, I finally made it back to Lowes to buy three more since it’s been raining all week & is probably going to continue through the weekend. I didn’t want to drop $33, so I looked for a cheaper option.

Enter 10’ of 5” diameter corrugated pipe.

$3 a piece. I can handle that. They’re not as flexible as the snazzy kind, but they seem to work just as well. And they’re just as ugly.

Eugene’s got a plan to make them a bit more gravity-friendly, but for now I’m just happy we got ‘em and for $24 less.

Oh, and this nasty mess in our driveway is drywall & wood from our basement. Eugene & his dad ripped out 24 inches of wall up from the floor all the way around the basement to prepare for the company to come in do work to remove all the moisture.

Such hard manual labor! I’m so thankful for all their work, and I cannot wait until the company comes and fixes our basement!

Senior sunflower pictures, round two.

And for the second round of the senior pictures I took this weekend…

She’s so pretty. :)

I mean, just look at that cute little puppy tail!

A little “G-rated” smooch from her bf.

A best friend pic…

Gotta love some dirty bare feet! {She requested this pic after seeing a similar one I took of my sister-in-law here.}

It’s crazy to think that it was sunny and blazin’ hot at 8:00 am this Saturday when I took these pictures, and right now – just a few days later – it’s cold and rainy. Oh, Ohio weather, how I love thee.

Lakin’s senior pictures.

As I mentioned yesterday, I enjoyed an early morning photo session with Eugene’s cousin. We drove to a local sunflower field. I took Paco’s family pictures at this same location last year {see here & here}.

The field is absolutely beautiful. It’s something I imagine might be a sight in Heaven. It’s that lovely.

Lakin brought along her boyfriend, best friend, and puppy – all included in the pictures. Here’s round one of some of my favs & tomorrow I’ll share round two.

And my personal fav…

I lucked out with a beautiful model! ;)

Labor Day weekend.

I had a wonderful weekend. Eugene & his dad busted their rears tearing out drywall and frame work all around our basement. I’m so thankful for their hard work on it. Now we’re ready for the professionals to take over & fix the water issues.

Friday & Saturday I got sneak away and enjoy two competitive volleyball matches won by the Tigers. I can practically taste Fall right around the corner now that volleyball has begun. I love this sport.

I also broadened my sports horizon and watched some of my sister-in-law’s mad skills in her high school soccer game…

We had good food with both our families.  We enjoyed a bonfire with our friends from church. I made my favorite salsa recipe, which was a hit with friends & family alike.

…with the largest marshmallows I’ve ever seen – see the normal marshmallow on the bottom and the gianormous one on the top?!

Oh, and our friends who hosted also have a hog farm…

I don’t think I’ll have bacon for quite a while. :(

This weekend, I also enjoyed a huge field full of blooming sunflowers as I took some senior pictures for Eugene’s cousin…

I know it’s obvious since I used them as my wedding flower, but I seriously love sunflowers {so much.}

My weekend was full & lovely. Perfectly lovely.

I am so blessed.

Random Friday post.

Our pup is goofy. He doesn’t like to sit or stand on his own; he’s always leaning on something. This is what I saw when I was getting ready for work this morning. Goofball’s so lazy he can’t even sit on his own!

I threw together a crockpot dinner in the morning before I headed to work. Since it’s just the two of us, I’ve found that it works much better to wrap the two chicken breasts in foil packet in the crockpot. Otherwise, the small amount of food just burns to a crisp in the big crockpot. {Plus the clean-up’s way easier. Win, win.} So this one was simple – 2 chicken breast, 1/2 can of pineapple with the juice, and Teriyaki sauce/marinade.

I made some white rice when I got home from work & added some soy sauce to taste & it was a delicious, easy meal.

Eugene made his upside-down…he almost forgot to add the rice. ;)

How’s that for a random Friday post? My brain’s fried from a crazy work week, so I plead temporary insanity as the cause of this strange, fluffy post. Hope ya’ll have a fabulous holiday weekend!

Project in the works.

I started a new projects last night. Here’s a hint…

I got everything done, but then realized it didn’t look quite finished {kinda like my bedroom pillows}, so I need a little more time & a trip to the store for some more supplies before I can show ya the final product.

Tomorrow is finally Friday. This week has been such a long & stressful one for me at work, and I may have to work Saturday and/or Sunday I’ve had a bad attitude all week, so I’m thankful that a new week is on the horizon. Sometimes it just helps to have a fresh start.