Fun in the photo booth...

I wasn't quite anti-lazy but John was, so he scanned our pictures for your enjoyment. The booth took six pictures at a time. The other three from this session were used in Devon and Eric's guest book.



There's two more sets of photos from the booth that night. One with John and me...I liked these pictures better. Then while John was doing groomsmen duties I went solo into the booth.

I don't think photo booths are meant for one person. My poses had nobody to play off of. They were pretty boring except for one...the one where I was mooning the camera. Just kidding Mom.

Top 10 Monday

My top 10 favorite tv shows ever...

10. Designing Women

9. Beverly Hills 90210

8. The Biggest Loser

7. 24

6. Seinfeld

5. Flight of the Conchords

4. Curb Your Enthusiasm

3. Friends

2. Gilmore Girls

1. The Golden Girls

Wedding Weekend...

There's a good friend of John's who lives in the area and he got married yesterday. John was one of his groomsmen so it was a full weekend of activities. They were all very fun but we're tired.

Here's the recap:

Friday night was the rehearsal dinner. We forgot our camera so here we are at home after the dinner. Kita doesn't always get the concept of getting her picture taken...



The wedding was at a beautiful chapel in central Phoenix. Then the reception was at a resort close by. We were living it up for sure. They even had a photo booth. When I feel anti lazy I'll scan our pictures from the booth so you can see those.







Here's me from the end of the night. Just kidding...they had a potato bar with a guy making potato martinis and John thought this would be a funny picture.



The reception was a lot of fun and so was the people watching. Check out the tall guy.



We watched that guy for awhile. He was awesome. He did the robot.

Today was a brunch at the bride's parents' house. Again we forgot the camera. The brunch was amazing. Their backyard overlooks downtown Phoenix and their house is the biggest, nicest house I've ever been to. The brunch was like going to a swanky country club for Sunday brunch but instead it was at someones home. They even had a smoothie station. I had an apricot and honey smoothie.

Back to the real world tomorrow. Awesome.

Memory loss in my early thirties...

There's been many signs lately that I'm already losing my good ole memory. Maybe I should do daily brain teasers. Here's some of my signs:

During spring break I was walking around Target and my sister called me because I had called her earlier (45 min. earlier). She told me she was sorry she couldn't answer when I called her. I said,"I called you?" About five minutes into our conversation I said,"Oh yeah. I remember calling you now."

I was talking to my sister on my cell phone yesterday and I was thinking,"Where's my cell phone?"

Every time I buy us tooth paste I get a new kind because I never remember what we were using before.

I blogged awhile back about how if I am getting something for John and me to eat or drink his always goes on the right...that's so I remember which is which.

I bet at least half the time I walk around with two coats of Lady Speedstick on me. Most mornings I ask myself,"Did I put on deodorant?" So instead of accepting that I most likely already did, I go ahead and re-coat.

There's actually a lot more but I seriously can't remember them right now. Yikes.


This picture was taken almost a year ago but it looks like I'm thinking so I thought it would be a good picture for this post. My brother is right...I do have a very large head.

My new favorite phrase...

Unfortunately it's not appropriate for a public blog so I'll have to add it discreetly. Just take the word suck and add the word it. It's not very nice so I haven't said it to anyone but every time I hear those two words spoken together I giggle.

I think I would feel more comfortable saying my new favorite phrase to non humans. I could say it to things like paperwork, the alarm clock going off, Monday mornings...

This picture is totally unrelated to my post topic but my mom enjoys posts with pictures the best.

100th Post

Whoa, 100 posts...that's more than a couple. I blog a lot I suppose.

I was thinking about different ideas for my 100th post and John came up with a great one. Since my blog is titled "Mare's Mind" today is going to only be about thoughts that have actually run through my mind.

"Left, left, left, right left."
This goes through my mind sometimes at work when I'm walking somewhere...and I'm a little bored.

"Yes I can...yes I can."
If you were in my mind you would hear this when I'm on the treadmill and getting a little tired. I used to have a lot more mantras I'd shuffle through but after I heard this one I decided to adopt it. It makes my mantras much more streamlined.

In a dream I was having a few nights ago I was talking to the nine year old daughter of a girl I went to high school with. As she was telling me a story she turned into Jason Bateman.

"That skin looks so comfortable."
An explanation is definitely needed here. My skin is so dry and uncomfortable. It itches. It cracks when it's cold outside. It causes unwanted attention and advice for me to use lotion. I always want to say, "Lotion, huh? Awesome. I'll try that."

"I want my snack." This is a daily thought. I'm always ready for my snack.

"Yay...no emails." I think this at work when I check my email and there's not any new messages. I'm not able to have this thought very often.

Once John told me a thought he was having. It was a complicated invention he was thinking of. I started laughing because when his brain was being inventive, my brain was playing the theme song from "Charles in Charge".

Thanks for taking time out of your lives to read my blog. You five to eight people are really awesome.

Top 10 Monday

My top 10 favorite presents I've received...
(Topic suggested by my husband)

This one was a fun but hard list to make because I've gotten so many wonderful presents over the years.

10. His and her bikes from my mom and Dick. They gave them to us for Christmas a couple of years ago.




9. Heart necklace from John. I wear it all the time. It's so pretty.

8. Books from my brother and Adriana. They took the time to find some interesting books from female authors for me. A few years ago for my birthday he and my sister in law gave me Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf and a book of short stories by Eudora Welty.

7. The afghan blanket my grandmother (Mama T.) made for me when I graduated from high school.

6. The lamp John gave me for my 31st birthday. I call it my Hobbit lamp.

5. The gum ball machine my grandparents gave me. It's just like the one they had in their house. I loved that thing. I ate many gumballs from that machine.




4. The scrapbook my sister made me after she, my mom and I went to Mississippi and Louisiana in the summer of 2003.

3. The cabinet my mom and John gave me a few years ago for Christmas. It used to be bright orange with different hardware and no top shelf. Mom started the project and John finished it. I love it.




2. My engagement ring. The diamond belonged to John's grandmother.

1. Kita. John gave her to me for Christmas in 1998.

Healthy Competition

Friday night we took John's dad to Dave and Buster's for some food and fun. We definitely had both. John decided to play a game called Jumping Jack or Jacks. A light would go around and you have to jump when it gets under you. When you're successful it will light up a letter. He got the letters J-U-M.


We all thought that was pretty pathetic so we tried to beat him.

Here's Jim, he went into this very confidently...


but he didn't beat John. He got a J.

Megan's (sister in law) turn...maybe she'll beat John's J-U-M.


Nope. She got J as well.

I wasn't all about this jumping game because it makes your whole body jiggle but I was determined to make John cry like a little girl with my jumping skills...


I jumped and got a J and then again and got a U...but I didn't make it to M. Congratulations Johnny, you are the winner. We were no match for you.

The flash LOVES me

This is John and his dad (in town on business because he's a business man). The flash is on...




Here's my picture also with the flash on...


I look sickly.

What do ya know...it's a woodpecker

I didn't zoom in but can you see the woodpecker on the trunk of the palm tree? It's a silly little woodpecker. It wasn't too active while I was waiting for it to impress me with its woodpecking skills. Maybe it had a long day.

Mundane Drama

A little while ago a big white thing hit my windshield and cracked my window all the way across. Lucky for us we have glass coverage. (This is kind of a lengthy post for me so I added some pictures of my cuties for your visual entertainment.)

John made the call and someone could come out to wherever our car was to fix the window.

So easy and hassle free. Our lives were not going to be inconvenienced at all. What a deal. I guess I forgot for a moment that it never works out that way for me. Sorry Mom, I know what you're thinking (law of attraction)...but it's true.




So a guy came out to my school a few weeks ago to fix it. He was set to come between 8 and 12. He got there at 12:04. That should have been clue number one at the road this was about to take.

After he was done everything seemed great until I got home and tried to use our garage door opener. It is built into our rear view mirror. I thought maybe he just hit something while he was working and we (John) could fix it. Nope. He cut the wires going to the mirror.




So I called the company and they could send someone to our house. Great. Again, we wouldn't be inconvenienced at all. But of course the smooth guy who cut the wires did such a number on it that they couldn't fix it. John had to then go through many hoops to get the arrangement for the fix. Thanks John...

Soooooo I had to take my car to the dealership yesterday and get a ride to work from Jim the shuttle guy who has two cats and a dog who loves to harass the cats. I heard about his animals on the ride back to the dealership.

So now hopefully everything is ok. I have a new rear view mirror and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we'll have no trouble programming it.




I hope you're not drooling from boredom from having to read about our garage door opener. In my dream world an assistant would have totally taken care of this issue. I'd also have my assistant grocery shop for us and keep a stocked mini ice chest of cool drinks in the car. Ahhhh....

Antagonist Troublemaker

I guess I'm known in my family as the one who likes to stir up trouble. I don't currently cause trouble. My reputation stems from childhood but no one in my family let's me forget my childhood antics...

My brother texted me last night. Here's how the text starts,"The part of Mare is now being played by NatNat (Natalie, his 2 1/2 year old)."

Apparently his almost 5 year old daughter (Nicole) would run up to my brother, do something naughty and then run back to a laughing Natalie. Natalie would then push Nicole back to my brother so she could do it again. Fabulous, NatNat misbehaves and I'm the one he thinks about to make comparisons to.

I think I'm just misunderstood by my family so I'm here to impart understanding...

I never (hardly ever) encouraged naughty behavior. I just thought it was really funny when it happened. Case in point...AJ dropping the f bomb to my mom, aunt and sister. I in no way encouraged him to do that...it was just hilarious when he did.

John's on Youtube

Check out Johnny John's video...enjoy.

Hot Date

John and I went out on a date Friday night.

We know how to have a super sexy date. We spent our evening enjoying dinner and games at Dave and Buster's. Ok so it wasn't sexy at all but that's not really our style anyway.

So, I'm totally a sucker for nostalgic games like "Wack a Mole". My mole wacking didn't provide us with too many tickets though. I guess my reflexes are slowing.



John had a lot more luck at Wheel of Fortune. He won a ticket jackpot...100 tickets.



We ended the night with 1,056 tickets. We looked around but decided we're going to save up for something special like Stunt Granny...



What are some date stories you have? I love to hear fun or funny dating stories.

One more short dating story...my senior prom, 1995. The best part of that night was when my date (Mom) and I went to the family room to watch Sisters and my dad went to their room to watch Walker, Texas Ranger. I think I got some ice cream out of that deal.

Top 10 Monday

Top 10 favorite quotes from movies or tv...

10. "They say not to dip your pen in the company's ink. But I'm totally glad I dipped my pen in your ink man." Pineapple Express

9. "I'm gonna go see Dr. Finklestein and I'm gonna tell him we have a whole new bag of issues. We can forget about mom for a while." Wedding Crashers

8. "She at the church. She getting married to oily bohunk." Sixteen Candles

7. "What's the matter with you these days M'Lynn? You got a reindeer up your butt?" Steel Magnolias

6. "Can you star 69 Italy?" Under the Tuscan Sun

5. "I stabbed my brain!" Vacation

4. "What I don't understand is, where was your underwear?" Designing Women

3. "You tried to milk him, didn't you you sick son of a ..." Meet the Parents

2. "People are always telling you that change is a good thing, but what they're really saying is that something you didn't want to happen just happened." You've Got Mail

1. "Beginnings are scary and endings are usually sad, but it's the middle that counts the most." Hope Floats

Happy Birthday Eliza

It's John's and my niece Eliza's birthday today...

De-cluttering 101

Our house doesn't look cluttered until you open drawers or closets...especially my areas.

We were feeling especially industrious yesterday afternoon. So industrious that we decided to clean out our drawers. Yikes.

All of this...



formerly fit into this...



This drawer is as small as it looks. It was so overstuffed that unless it was a frequently used item, I had completely forgotten about it. Too bad, I could have been getting some good use out of my Chicks of '06 t-shirt.

I'm going to miss spring break...

Today's the last day of my spring break. It went by too fast. I want it to start over.

After participating in Kelly's discussion about dressing for $30 or less and then reading lots of other participant's posts about it, I had the budget shopping itch. So yesterday afternoon I headed off to Target.

When I was in the dressing room a couple was trying on clothes two or three dressing rooms down from me. Is that area coed these days at Target?

Here's some of my purchases. They weren't on sale but were each under $30.


I also bought three shirts and some flip flops with the delightful orange stickers on them. I didn't buy the baby doll shirt I tried on with ruffles. I looked ridiculous.

After shopping I made the Biggest Loser meatloaf...my very first meatloaf. I took GVZ's advice and put basil and sun dried tomatoes in it. Yummy. Thanks GVZ.


I'll try Katie's advice next time and let the crock pot do the cooking. That would be awesome to come home to after work.

My last day of spring break...sigh.

Just a little nervous...

I found a recipe in our Biggest Loser cookbook for meatloaf (sorry vegetarians, for you it's a lentil loaf) so I thought I'd try it out tonight. I'm a little nervous...I've never made one before. I also haven't eaten one since about 1988.

I have my supplies...


Oops, I forgot the milk.

Any tips for me so my first attempt is a success? Does anyone even make meatloaf anymore?

Fashion for $30 or less

My sister has me totally addicted to a blog called Kelly's Korner. Today Kelly did a post on Recession dressing and invited people to give their tips on dressing cute for $30 or less. Since I dress really cute for the 90's, this should be interesting.

My Tips:

Tip #1: Wear clothes that can be mixed and matched.

Tip #2: Make sure your hair looks good and you're wearing whatever level of makeup you're comfortable with. This makes you look cute in most outfits. Except maybe a moo moo.

Tip #3: Hit the sales racks at places like Target. I'm currently wearing a cute t-shirt from there that I paid $2.50 for.

Tip #4: Don't be weary of shopping at Goodwill. I learned this a few years ago when a very snappy dresser from my work shared that she bought most of her work clothes from there.

Spring Break

I'm on spring break right now and I have one word to describe it...nice. I decided not to travel during this break. I've been very busy but in a nice, relaxed way. I've even been cooking...true blue cooking.

This is my Low-carb Special. We're not on a low carb diet but I was trying to recreate a dish that we love at a restaurant close to our house.




Besides cooking, I've also been able to find out what John's and my child would look like. He turned out rather unfortunate looking...



My child with Obama turned out a little cuter...


What's up with the giant foreheads on these kids?

I'm saving you from having to look at my child with Ricky Martin. That baby had Chucky teeth.

Pessimistic Optimism

Along with Aunt Deedee being in town this last weekend was John's step mom Michelle. Michelle brought us this really cool plant. It's called a Kangaroo Paw.




I'm pessimistically optimistic that we'll be able to keep it alive. We don't have the best record for plants. Ask around. Many of our plants have ended up in the dumpster.

Any tips for us? I read somewhere that plants like water. Maybe we'll try that.

Top 10 Monday

My top 10 list for today has once again become a Number One list.

The number one moment from my life that makes me laugh every time I think about it:

When my brother dropped the "F" bomb while telling a joke to my mom, aunt, sister and me.

Here's the story. In the summer of 1999, my dad and uncle were talking on one side of the family room while my mom, aunt, brother, sister and I were at the table on the other side of the room. My brother started telling a joke that I was already very familiar with.

It's kind of a long joke but the punch line is,"Pass the f*!@ing potatoes."

I was thinking to myself, "He's not going to say the real word. He's going to say f word or he's going to spell it but he's not going to say the real word to my mom and aunt."

I was wrong. After he very loudly said,"Pass the f*!@ing potatoes", everyone (but me) got very quiet. Then my uncle who had heard my brother say the mother of all curse words but not the actual joke, started telling a story about a guy who used to cuss all the time. He eventually beat his bad habit by putting money in a jar every time he cussed.

This happened almost ten years ago but it makes me laugh until I cry every time I think about it.


Hopefully AJ is about to kiss Natalie on the cheek and not about to pass on the potato joke.

My new dedicated follower...

My mom proved to me yesterday that she not only stops by my blog to check out my new pictures, but she's reading it. How exciting. So Mom, this post is for you...


Everyone who reads this blog (all five of you) knows that the baby in this picture is my sister's little cutie. Just in case you don't know, that's who she is. The lovely lady is my mom. This picture was taken last summer at my sister's in Houston.


Thanks for reading my blog Mom, I'll try to keep it entertaining for you. I love and miss you.

Caution vegetarians, this post contains meaty content

John's Aunt Deedee is in town and you know what that means? She's making us brisket. Not only brisket, but brisket with Claude's Marinade. If you're related to John or me you know what Claude's Marinade means...the best brisket ever.


The delicious aroma of it cooking woke Kita and me up at 4:30am this morning. I can't wait to eat me some brisket. I'm counting down the hours...

Silly me, it's just a fake...

John bought a rubber snake for our backyard because he heard that it would scare the birds away. It hasn't really worked on the birds but it worked on me a few days ago.


I jumped and then realized it was just our rubber snake. I looked over and it looked like Kita was laughing at me. If she could talk I think she would have said something like,"You don't know how many times I've done the same thing."

The sky sure is purty...

Last night I decided to post about our rubber snake. When I went outside to take the snake's picture, the sky looked so beautiful I decided to change my post. I'll save the snake for another time. For now, I hope you enjoy this gorgeous sky.

New Duds...

I love my new shirt. Yes, that's my only reason for this post. I hope you like it too.

My life in six words...

We get about a billion magazines and I'm always flipping through one so I forget where I read what. In one of my flippings last week I read about how some magazine or something had people sum up their lives in six words or less.

Here's mine:

My mind is a Dr. Seuss book.

I'm counting Dr. Seuss as one word. It just so happens that yesterday was his birthday. Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss.

Top 10 Monday

My list changes, but here are the top 10 celebrities I currently think are super hotties:

10. Kevin James. Ok, so he's not hot at all but isn't he adorable?



9. Ben Stiller. I just like his arms. Very nice.



8. Leonardo Di Caprio. He just keeps on getting manlier.

7. Luke Wilson

6. Mark Wahlberg



5. George Clooney



4. Jake Gyllenhaal



3. Bradley Cooper



2. James Franco



1. Matthew McConaughey. If you don't agree with this one you're just wrong.