We are alive & well. (Carli this post is for you)

I have had several inquiries about whether we are alive -- and yes we are. We are more than alive, we are partying NON-stop. Every day we are doing something. I seriously have not had time to sit down and relax (except for today...which was much needed). The mister and I are very very busy right now. We both are in an ASTRONOMY class. Love it. It's turning into our FHE every Monday. School is SO much better when your best friend is with you. We also are taking Stat 301 together, and that helps out a TON also. Curt is very good at math and has helped me quite a bit. Love you Curty. I have also been stressing about my schedule because I need a B or higher to get into my major -- BUT it's looking good for now. Let's all cross our fingers & pray every night, alright?
We still have been doing couples volleyball (love it so much) every other Friday night. We get to see all of our besties. It's been getting a little too cold to play soccer, sooo we've actually started swimming a few weeks ago. It was rough at first, but we're getting there. (Curt may be having a reunion with his H10 swimmers back in Urbana in Dec. We need to get him in shape if he is about to compete!) What else? Curt's still a baller every Wednesday night and I'm hittin and spikin and bumpin with my girls every Tuesday. It keeps me sane for sure.
Besides that, we are doing the same old, same old. I am working at the beautiful downtown YMCA facilty. Ya'll should come check it out. Curt is lovin PFCU. He finally has another male working with him! That is exciting. Caleb just returned from his mish in Brasil and was recently hired as a teller at the 26 branch. We like him a lot.
Oh ya, we've also been attending a gazillion weddings/ receptions. Apparently October/November is the time for vows to be shared. This weekend we will be heading over to Urbana, IL for one of Curt's friend's wedding reception (and then heading out to IOWA...FINALLY....WE CAN'T WAIT). This reception will be the SIXTH reception we've gone to in the past SEVEN weeks. So crazy, but so good!

More info about our weekend to come...

Boston and the 32 hour drive.

The moment we recieved the invitation to Rob and Karen's wedding, we have been counting down the days to this trip. The original plan was to caravan with Craig, Lynn, Grandma, and Jenny. At the last moment, Craig and Lynn weren't able to go. Pooma was needing some special help. Bless her heart & her hip. So, the final count for the trip was Jenny, Grandma, Curt & I. We left Thursday night and knocked down four hours. We stopped in a teensy town in OH called Belleville. Funny story. Right when Grandma got in her room, she plopped on the bed. Face down, arms and legs spread out. She was pooped and ready for bed.
Friday, 6:22 am. Curt was a motivated man, and drove through OH, PN, NY, and MR. I really have no idea how he did it. But he did and we arrived in Maryland at 6:30, just in time to make it to the party that night--which was incredible. The Weyman's had a band, wonderful food, great people, and beautiful weather. The pre-wedding party was perfect.
The following morning, Curt, Jessica, & I found this adorable little breakfast nook called "In a Pickle". It was extremely good and fast. I recommend it to anyone passing by the neighborhood. We then got dresses and all pretty for the ceremony.

Paul & Karen were absolutely beautiful and so so happy. That is why weddings are the best. You are surrounded by beautiful, happy people. Afterwards, we all hopped on a bus and headed over to the country club. There, we relaxed and sipped on gingerales while listening to the cutest old man playing a keyboard. We were very impressed. We then headed to the dining room. Curt, Jess, and I were placed at table five, the party table for sure. Grandma and Jenny were at the sophisticated table. The meals were fabulous. We started with a squash soup, then had the choice of chicken, salmon, or vegitarian. We all had the salmon entree. It was to die for. But what was to die for x2 was the dessert! Ahhhh...My mouth is salvating this very moment as I think about the delicious cake and mousse. Gosh, I wish Liz could make me those cakes every morning when I get out of bed. My days would go so much better....

We will definitely need to go back!

Apples&Blessings

For one of my classes,

I had to make a chiasmus. 

I found this more difficult than I thought it would be. 

A chiasmus uses two sentences with an ABBA pattern. 

It's found in the scrips all the time. 

One of the most known chiasmi (?) throughout the scriptures is:

"He that findeth his life shall lose it,

And he that looseth his life for my sake shall find it. "

Simple enough, 

I can do that too.

YA RIGHT.

 I seriously couldn't think of anything except:

Instead of thinking of what Purdue can do for you,

Think of what can I do for Purdue.

Pretty lame,

and I ripped if off of a Presidential slogan.

THEN it started coming to me, 

it was rough at first,

but once I got the hang of it, it wouldn't stop.

Here's my best 2.

I can't tell whether she is the apple of my eye,

of if I am eyeing her apples. 

&

Ask yourself, is this a blessing in disguise,

or perhaps something disguised as a blessing. 

I am very proud. 

Updates from Us.

First of all,

I started working at the beautiful downtown YMCA facility on Monday. 

I love it.

There are brand new machines, weights, treadmills, everything. 

There are mirrors everywhere,

lots of lighting, 

and the locker rooms have wooden lockers. 

Classy.

My basic job is to make people happy,

answer phones, 

receive payments, answer questions, 

and smile. 

So that is very exciting.

I'll be working there about 25 hours a week. 

Also,

I have been addicted to a new series. 

These books,

by Chris Stewart are sooo good.

I don't even want to try to describe it,

because I won't be able to good enough.

I highly recommend it. 

I just finished the fourth one out of seven.

And for Curt,

he is doing great in school and loving his classes. 

Work is going very well,

but most importantly,

Gears of War 3 came out yesterday.

Oh,

he was very excited about that. 

He played it for several hours last night,

and is actually playing it right now. 

It's supposed to be like the best XBOX game ever made so far.

He thoroughly enjoys it.

DIY Frenzy

I go through these phases where I need to make something.
The idea that has buzzing around my head takes control and I cannot think of anything else besides that idea.
This happened a few weeks ago.
I wanted to make chalkboards and I wanted to make fabric cork boards,
so I did.

For the chalkboard,
I rounded up some interesting frames from a few thrift stores,
used chalkboard spray paint (found at Walmart),
and spray painted a few frames white.
Then Ta-Da! It's done. Curt and I use it as a message board now.

For the Cork Boards,

All I needed were already made cork boards (we had two),

Fabric,

Spray Adhesive,

& Spray Paint for the frames.

Missin the Isenbarger Crew

After several sad goodbyes, Jessica, Andrew, Lisa, Sarah, Todd, JC, Trinity, Emily and Cole are all gone. We definitely are missing them right now, but this past weekend was incredible. It started off Friday night (which seems so long ago), when Lisa, Lynn, Craig, Jessica, her "friend" ;) Andrew, Curt, & I all went to Craig's former high school's football game. West High was in the lead 40-0 when the opposing team's QB had a serious injury and the game was called off. That was kinda a bummer. I'm trying to remember what else we did. I think we went home and watched more football, to warm us up for Purdue's game against Middle TN State.

That was definitely the climax of the weekend. Thank you Jess for organizing everything! We hit up the Purdue sponsored tailgate where Brian Cardinal was giving a small speech. That was pretty sweet. I mean, he has touched LeBron James and sweated with Dwayne Wade. So if you think about it, I kind of have too!

 We then cheered on the Boilermakers as Middle Tennessee State put up a good fight. I actually thought they were going to win it, but we stuck it through and we sure are glad. The last ten minutes were definitely the best. There was beautiful plays, great passes, and blocked field goal kicks. Incredible. Purdue ended up winning by three points. Man oh man. I forgot to mention how we were being scorched the entire game, with the average temperature sitting at 95 degrees. It just added to the experience!

That evening the whole crew was there and we had a party! We hit up the famous Nine Irish Brothers and ate all the fried food we could handle. Delicious. What happened afterwards? I think we just chilled and the bros played Gear of War pretty much all night.

Oh ya, funny story. I decided to leave Curt, Cole, and Andrew to their games around 1:30. I was tired, I am not used to staying up that late! Anyways, when I was driving home our entire neighborhood had lost power. The streets were empty, the restaurants were silent and dark, and our apartment was spooky. I was kinda freaked out. I don't particularly like being at home with the power out late at night. I feel like someone's lurking in the shadows...but they aren't,  I knowwwww. Anyways, at around 4 in the morning I hear clinks at my window, getting louder and louder. Being in my half asleep delirious state, I was a little confused and nervous. I peeked through my curtains to see Curt through wood chips at our window. He had forgot his keys and had been trying to get in our apartment for the past 30 minutes! That shows how dead I am when I am asleep. I thought it was kinda cute though, like we were gonna sneak out and do silly things like kiddies do.

The following day we celebrated Curt and Pooma's birthday with spaghetti and bread and veggies galore. We sang the 20 minute long birthday song (Curt's wish) and passed funny cards around. We played corn hole and Frisbee and Pass the Pig -- a big hit this weekend. Sundays are the best!

Then on Monday we headed down to Indy to the RIB FEST. Curt wouldn't want to spend his birfday any other way. It was delicious and the best part was Jenny was able to meet us there! We had massive turkey legs that could have fed our entire group completely (it is still sitting in our fridge), lots of ribs, pork sammiches, BBQ nachos (just for the experience), potato salad, baked beans, elephant ears, and funnel cake. Our tummies were more than happy and on the way home, we all passed out in a food coma (which are the best). That evening we then played Star Wars Trivia --I watched and cheered--and I must note that Curt ALMOST won. He had a running streak of about 15 questions he got right, he just couldn't land on the center portal. It's because the game knew it wasn't Lynn. Andrew gave her a run for her money as well. He knew his stuff.

On top of all of this, on Tuesday we headed to Bistro 501 and had a very country/frenchy lunch. It was great to talk/hear about family memories and spend time with everyone. We were definitely spoiled this weekend. I wish everyone could come to Lafayette every weekend. Now that would be a party.

Ps. I want to see more pictures up from this weekend!

The Honorary Curt Dawg.

In honor of Curt's Birfday,

The US government dedicated the first Curt Dawg hundred dollar bill this morning.

They decided that since this was such a rare occasion,

they are only printing three copies and they are only valid on Sept. 5.

He is a very special guy. Thank you US government.