Retirement of the Traveling Pants

Have you ever had a favorite item of clothing that you just, like, DESTROYED because you wore it vigorously for so long? Well, I've had several, but the top three that come to mind are the three pairs of jeans I brought with me to Europe when I went abroad in college. Three months...three pairs of jeans. You do the math. That's a LOT of wear and tear (on pants that were already worn out because -duh- they were already my favorites). So, long story short, the first two ripped (butt cheek in one pair, crotch in the other.....lovely. Non-repairable, for sure). This past month my last pair of traveling jeans finally bit the dust. I'm telling you... I about cried. Oh these pants have been everywhere with me. So, to ease in the closure process, please join me on this trip down memory lane. I guess you can think of this as jean eulogy.

A tribute to the traveling jeans:

These jeans aided me in holding up the Leaning Tower of Pisa...

I was wearing them when I devoured my first authentic Belgian Waffle (though at that point in time they may have gotten a smidge tighter)

 I wore them when I met this drunk fellow at the real Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany.

These pants have been worn at the real Parthenon as well as the replica in Nashville.

And on Mars Hill, where Paul delivered one of his most famous lessons of the Bible.

I was wearing them when I met these guys in Italy and also when I was blessed by the Pope (in an intimate setting of only a couple hundred thousand) ;-)

In the Coliseum... 

And in good ol' Tennessee, catching fish with Rett.

It's been real, Silver jeans. And it has been fun. But it's time to say farewell. I found some AE jeans that look like they might be up for the challenge of traveling the world with me in all my many adventures for the next 5 years or so. Rest in pieces, jeans. Rest in pieces. 

Romance in a Carton

I have a wonderful husband whom I love very, very much.

Currently, he's away with his family camping. It's been different being in the apartment by myself....every night...for like 5 nights. Let's just say, I'm ready for him to be home again. Miss him. So, the timing of finding this odd, romantic guesture was just perfect. Making french toast for myself today, all alone, and I open up the eggs to find this:

"I love you, baby."

Sometimes, when you're married to someone with a sense of humor, you can find love in the strangest of places.

A Shower for Baby Ava

As I predicted, blogging is harder to keep up with than I figured. Time gets away from me, but oh well. I am home now and I shall blog! I went "home" (I know, it gets confusing having 2 homes) to Nebraska last week to visit my parents, brother, and sister-in-law. It was SO nice to be back and I got to enjoy some much-needed quality time w/ the fam. I also got to enjoy a lovely baby shower for my future niece, Ava Marie! Glad I could be there for that, since I haven't been around for any of the pregnancy and won't be there for the birth either. :-(


Here are a few of the pics from the shower. :-)

I made this diaper cake with my mom for Matteal. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be and I thought it turned out nice for a centerpiece-like thing. Wally, our cat, also enjoyed the making of the diaper cake. He looked particularly comfortable in the Huggies box.

 I also made this crayon craft for Ava's room. It was tedious, but I'm happy with how it turned out.

The cupcakes and cake were made by a small, new bakery in Auburn, NE and were SO cute! Teal decorated the nursery with purple ladybugs and butterflies and these sweets accented the party perfectly! I heard they were delicious, too! Some kind of complicated and sinfully good chocolate, I believe.

We played baby bingo...

And this super fun game "Who will the baby look like?" It was SO fun. We got to cut up printed out pictures of my brother and of Teal and try to mix and match their features to make up some kind of guess as to what Ava might look like. Needless to say, some of the pictures displayed some pretty creepy versions of Ava!

Teal picking out the winner...

Let's HOPE Ava doesn't end up looking like this!

Or this, for that matter!

There was one precious newborn baby in attendance at the shower. Here's a snapshot of Grandma Chapin practicing for the arrival of Ava. Even after 24 years, she's a natural!