Well..I'm officially on board!

The blogging train that is! Welcome to my very first blog! For a very long time I have been a blog reader and I finally decided to jump in and participate. I love reading blogs of people I know as well as blogs pertaining to hobbies of mine such as cooking, decorating, photography, party planning...and of course...shopping!!! I always thought it would be totally boring to read a blog that I wrote but, honestly I had forgotten how much I love to write. In college, I minored in writing and really enjoyed it for the most part. Now that I am graduated and can actually write about some of the things I enjoy, I thought this would be a perfect outlet. In addition to that, I love the idea of forever recording our adventures in life. Trips we take, accomplishments that come our way, new additions, good news, bad news, and just everyday life in general. I have this vision that someday we will show this to our children and say, "This is what our life was like before you" and "This is exactly how we felt the day you were born and we became a family."  You must know I am a total sap for memories and photos and am constantly trying to bottle up every special moment. As memory's often do, mine seems to fail me time and time again, so, this shall be my new bottle to fill! We also hope this will be a convenient way for all of our family and friends who are so spread out to keep up with the daily/weekly/monthly Otwell happenings!

About us and our blog: As the title might reveal, we are a fairly contrasted couple. Myself, a die hard shopaholic to the core. I attribute most of this to my mother and my grandmother...TRUE SHOPAHOLICS. I never had a chance from the start. Most of my childhood memories can be localized to time spent with these two women, along with my sister, at shopping malls and the like taking in the sights of beautiful clothing and shoes and the sounds of cash registers chinging, scanners beeping and lots of plastic sliding : ) Most of my family will tell you that I came by it honestly and learned from the best. As I grew to be an adult I learned that this love evolved even to the simplest things such as grocery shopping. I will never forget trips to the grocery store with my college roommate Lesley, "Im only budgeting you one hour in here and then we are OUT"...her words exactly. I must add I am a bit of a lollygagger when it comes to a grocery store, well...really any store! I seem to spend a lot of time looking through every single aisle so as to make sure that I don't miss one thing. Heaven forbid I miss out on a new item that may change my life. This also has a lot to do with my love for cooking which I will also blog about. This brings me to Jason. Oh lord bless my loving husband who puts up with all of my crazy antics. Jason is a smart, successful, determined, conservative young man who would rather cut off his right big toe than trail behind me in some silly shopping mall, grocery store, or any place that involves consumer purchasing for that matter. I think sometimes he even mildly cringes when we are together at a fast food restaurant as he knows it is a requirement for me to spend 3-5 minutes staring at the menu trying to make my selection (Indecisive?? YES I am!) As my sister says, "Ummm..it's Sonic, don't you know what they have?" Well yeah, but they may have something new I need to try : ) Anyhow, It is my belief that the lord blessed me with a patient man who understands my faults, loves me at my worst, and relentlessly takes this journey of life with me without batting an eye. It is my hope that if someone were to ask Jason how he felt about me, how he dealt with someone so extreme he would respond  with, (quoting one of my favorite books) "Yes, she shops. Yes, she does crazy things. But she makes me laugh. She makes me enjoy life. And I love her" And hey, if my flighty behavior makes my thoroughly grounded husband laugh, then that's A-OK with me! After all, opposites do attract!

Jason and I have been married for 2 years and we feel blessed with everything and everyone in our life. Jason is an Electrical Planning Engineer for Entergy and I am a Sonographer working PRN at Saline Memorial Hospital here in the town we live in. I also work PRN and fill in at Cornerstone Clinic for Women in Little Rock doing OB/GYN scans! I recently passed my board exams and became an official Registered Diagnostic Medical Sonography with my specialty in OB/GYN! We are just loving life everyday and taking it as it comes.We have an amazing family and wonderful friends who complete our lives. We love to go on dates, travel, LAKE TIME, spending time with family, watching movies and playing with our big fuzzy dog Auggie, who is just over 2 years old! Here are our daily tales and adventures in life! Hopefully we will entertain you along the way!