Last minute preps and parties

Saturday stressful day! We spent all of our day packing and getting ready for the big Anniversary trip! Even though I had two days off of work this week, somehow I still had an entire day's worth of errands to run tonight. Completing everything for our trip, tying loose ends on Randi's birthday, and gathering the last few things for Jason's anniversary present!

We celebrated the big 32 with my sister with just a small dinner at home. The boys, that means you Aiden, can be a little hard to corral in restaurants so we thought low key would be best...in addition to the fact that Jason and I hadn't really even started our packing! Here is Aiden enjoying some yummy mini birthday cupcakes








And the birthday girl



And Nettie and her boys



And me and Brady



Another great family birthday! After that Jason and I headed home to exchange anniversary presents and start packing. So I told you this years gift was cotton. So here is Jason with all of his cotton gifts!





And...like I said...he totally blew me away. One of the most special gifts I have ever received that I can keep forever....are you ready for this....



Two cotton roses!! Be still my sentimental heart.. I was so stumped on cotton and didn't think he would be able to nail it but he definitely surprised me! I also got a SUPER cute Juicy purse for fall and a new lifejacket for the boat which hasn't come in yet.


I did have one special surprise cooked up for us, because of course every couple should eat cake on their anniversary..



My apologies to the little man cupcake, he suffered a minor concussion due to my fantastic driving skills. So after our little at home celebration we tackled packing! Millie, a friend of ours, once said as long as the suitcase will zip, it's all good! And I tend to agree..exhibit A


Ridiculous. I'm pretty sure every time Jason and I fly someone asks us where we've been and for how long because we sure do have a lot of baggage. Never stayed anywhere longer than 7 days. Yep, we absolutely need that kitchen sink in there! Lord help us when we travel with children someday. I'm going to put in a prayer request to God for a little self help and a minimalist attitude on that one. Oh dare to dream.

So now we are happily on our way to sunny Jamaica and ready to get our reggae on. I thoroughly plan to show the locals my salsa dancing moves I learned in Zumba class and maybe even get some sweet rastafarrian braids! I wonder if Jamaicans salsa?? More importantly, is there good shopping in Jamaica? : ) Oh well, wherever the wind takes us, or Delta airlines rather


We should be in Jamaica by 1:00 Central time and will be celebrating 2 years of wedded Otwell bliss tomorrow Aug 1. The past two years have been so great I can't wait to see what the lord has in store for us for the next 72-75, because I plan to live until I'm at least 100 : ). But for now, I still consider us newlyweds and every year on August 1st, I still like to think of us as the bride and groom!


See ya next week!
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The Shopaholic prepares for vacation.

Well, in just a few days, Sunday morning to be exact, The shopaholic and husband will jump on a plane and head to Jamaica to celebrate our two short years of being hitched! I say short because it really has gone by SOO fast it seems....those days of flowers, decisions, appointments, cakes, and caterers seem like they were only yesterday...Yet we are so glad they really weren't. Have you ever planned a wedding? Holy moly..STRESSFUL is all I can say. As the old saying goes it really is all for the guests and you barely get to enjoy it because the day goes by way too fast...Speaking of, Im still perturbed to the fact that I never got to taste those cheesy potatoes that I specifically picked out, I demand a re-do...NOT (just kidding mom, you can breathe easy!).

So now here we are, two years later, and I am again STRESSED! Trip planning is certainly not my forte because for one, in typical "Me" fashion, I make things 10 times harder than they actually are and turn 2 stops in town into 20 stops in town. For example, today I was looking for a simple little inexpensive necklace. I had a certain thing in mind, focused on the prize, should be a piece of cake right?? WRONG-O. Instead of one little inexpensive necklace I wound up holding 6...seriously 6! So, with no one to help I began to deductive reason with myself one by one. Yes, store owners think Im mentally challenged, and I wouldn't be one to argue. So dwindling them down one by one and I still had 4 necklaces in my hand. Keep in mind when I say inexpensive, not one of them was over $5. So Im holding them in my hand, "Ok this one's $1.50, this ones $2.80, this one's $3.80, oh wait...this last one is $1.50 also???! Oh forget it, I'll get them all and decide when I get home...Enter the Queen of Returns-that'd be me, thank you again Indecisive brain!

Beyond the trivial necklace drama, I have been running around gathering all of the small things you just HAVE to have for a trip. I am a habitual over packer. Everytime we go somewhere I say Im going to do better and I attempt to be less extravagant with each packing adventure. We will see how this time goes for me. But, Im happy to say that it is Wednesday and I have already planned, separated, and set aside all of my bathing suits and cover ups for the trip! SCORE! That is of course with the assistance of the economical man. His efforts to keep me grounded are so helpful and adorable! Thanks hun! Now if we can just tackle clothes, shoes, jewelry, we will be WINNING!

I also spent the last two days gathering a few new items for my camera in order to bring back lots of pictures which I am very excited about. And of course I had to put together an appropriate 2nd Anniversary gift for my sweetie! I hope he likes what I picked out. The traditional gift this year is Cotton so for fun we try to stick to that and see how creative each person can get. By the way, he usually kicks my rear in that department. Last year was paper and I made him a gift certificate to purchase two tickets to any Razorback game he chose, fairly obvious you might say. He, on the other hand, made me a treasure map that lead me all over the house to finally find the "buried" zebra treasure box underneath our bed which contained a handwritten love letter on old timey paper that had been rolled up and tied with a red bow! YEAH...totally kicked my rear. I really didn't know how I could up the ante this year with cotton because what could you really do with cotton? I have a plan, let's just hope he doesn't think it's lame or otherwise, blow me out of the water with some really sweet, obvious cotton gift!

So for the rest of this week we are working, trip planning/packing (more on that later), attending a gender reveal party for one of our very dear friends, and celebrating my big sister's big birthday before we head out of the states for a week of fun in the Jamaican sun. Pray for Jason please, he needs all the sanity he can get this week ; )

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!

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