day 12: what i miss

my favorite picture, and how i remember my dad.
smiling and waving hello at the beach. (taken around 2001)

plain and simple. i miss my dad. a lot. his words of encouragement, wisdom, jokes, sense of humor--everything. he was the goofiest, most fun, happy-go-lucky guy around. he also had the strongest relationship with christ that i've ever seen and he made a constant effort to spread the joy that he found in christ with anyone he knew. he was a surfer, a modern-day hippy, a confidant, a creative spirit, and faithful friend. even with cancer, he never stopped being himself. he never lost hope. he truly lived. he was fearless. 

we're coming up on the 3rd anniversary of his passing away, and it still seems like it just happened yesterday. my life has changed so much in the last three years, and there's so much of it that i wish he could have been a part of. i think that's the hardest part for me. the fact that he wasn't able to celebrate mine and michael's wedding with us, or knowing that my kids will never get to know him makes me sick to my stomach, but it also points out the selfishness in my own heart. i'm selfish because i would rather have him here with me, but in order to do that, he would have to be taken from the eternal peacefulness of heaven. talk about a catch 22. 

i was looking at my dad's facebook page earlier and was very encouraged by a status he posted back in march of 2010. what an incredible call to action that we should all take to heart! bottom line: i miss you, dad. 

day 10: well this is embarrassing...

let me preface this oh, so embarrassing story with the fact that i pretty much embarrass myself on a daily basis with one thing or another. it seems that i am constantly running into something, falling down, putting my foot in my mouth, etc. and always, always in front of a group of people. because of this, it is extremely hard for me to pinpoint just one of those embarrassing moments for today's blog challenge, but here it goes. 

*sigh*

florence + the machine comes to dallas for a show, and me and two of my girlfriends decide to make it a girls' night out. (read more about the incredible force that is florence here.) as with most girls' nights out, some cocktails were involved at the concert, and throughout the night, i texted photos of the concert to my friends and parents. 

i, in my greatness, decide i wanted to buy a glow headband from this guy selling them because it just seems like the best idea ever. (please keep in mind that the headband will now forever be known as the "glow stick.") 

me, with said glow stick after the concert, but before the most embarrassing thing. ever.

as we're leaving the concert, my friend, erica, snaps a photo of me (above). i think it's cute and decide to i send it to my parents (via group text) and michael. 

we get to the car, and i decide to text michael and let him know that we're on our way home. my friend, erica, is driving, and amy is in the back seat. as i mentioned before, i had had a few drinks, and with amy's encouragement, i think it will be funny to send a little risque text to michael. what's the harm, right? WRONG!

in an effort to do a little play-on-words (because i'm soooooo literary), i make a reference to michael's "glow stick," only to realize that i accidentally entered the text into the group message i have with my parents. 

awesome.

as soon as i realize it, i scream what i've done, erica almost wrecks her car, and amy almost pees her pants laughing. i, on the other hand, am mortified. but guess what! you can't "unsend" a text, and i received the following response. thank goodness my parents have a sense of humor!

wondering why mom mom says "we are getting used to it?" don't worry. this, sadly, is not the first time this has happened. 

moral of the story? glow sticks are overrated, and group text messages are of the devil!

day 8: take some advice

one of the greatest pieces of advice i've ever been given came from my granny. 

my granny. what a looker, right??

it's so good, in fact, that i feel like for today's topic for the blog-everyday-in-may challenge i'll share this little tidbit with you...

"people are going to screw up and hurt you. you've got to learn to forgive it and move on. you can't live in the past."

this little chunk of greatness has been quite the hard pill to swallow for me lately. i'm the type of person that is pretty much black and white whenever it comes to relationships. if i feel that someone has wronged me in some way, it's impossible sometimes hard for me to get past it without an apology from the "guilty" party.

there is so much truth in what she said to me. i was in high school at the time and for reasons i'd rather not go into too deeply, was not on the best terms with my mom. i was going on some rant about how unfair she was and how i would never have anything to do with her again and granny stopped me and shed some light on that situation. she was so right. we all have to forgive the people that hurt us on our own terms. for some people, forgiveness comes alongside cutting the person who hurt you out of their life. i am a firm believer that you can forgive a wrongdoing, but still understand that you are better off without certain people in your life. i'm not a heartless bitch for saying this, either. it's more along the lines of "fool me once, shame on you. fool me twice, shame on me." i am so grateful and happy to say that the relationship between my mom and me made it out of that place and are now super close and extremely happy. 

it seems so simple, doesn't it? three truths right there in a row, wrapped up pretty and just waiting for you to take advantage of it. it's inevitable that people will hurt you at some point in your life. that's life. finding a way to move past it whenever it happens is the most important part. after all, who wants to spend their time dwelling on something that happened in the past? what a waste of time. 

xoxo.

snapshots

of the best day of my life. i know, so cliche, but sometimes, just because something is trite, doesn't make it any less true. in short, everything was perfect, and michael and i were surrounded by the ones we love and we celebrated, and laughed, and danced, and had the happiest of times. more coming soon, but until then....

with my cousin, alex.

besties from junior high shae & piper

bridesmaid & bff from college, jennifer

with the best stepdad...ever, tray.

with my soul sister, amy

my best friends, natasha and jennifer

the one.

good news, everyone. i reached a milestone in my wedding planning this weekend. i found THE dress! :)

saturday afternoon, my mom, sister, amy, and michael's sister, christi, loaded up and headed out to find my wedding dress. i had looked online at david's bridal and found several dresses that i knew i wanted to try on, so we went there first. amy said it best when i gave her "the plan." "it's really big, so it will give you a lot of options. and if we get there and it's too overwhelming, we'll bounce and go somewhere else." 

we arrived at david's bridal, checked in, and let the madness ensue. alicia, our trusty consultant, did an awesome job. she was so helpful and way on top of her game. she knew those dresses! after trying on several (read: TONS) of dresses, christi and amy started looking around to dresses they thought i'd like. christi ended up finding the winner!

of course, i won't post a photo of the actual dress, but i can tell you this...it's lovely. it's vintage looking and classic and wonderful. :)  

here's a sneak peak of some other ones that were front-runners but ended up not making the cut. 

i had to crop my head out of this one...i had one
gnarly facial expression going on. lol.

also, fear not. my work-out regimen begins today! fyi: "work-out regimen" is simply my way of saying "stop-eating-like-a-little-piggy-and-try-and-get-some-kind-of-physical-activity-in-each-day." people are only going to believe that my armpit fat is an extension of my overly-humongous boobs for so long. and i can't do the "hand on my hip" pose in every picture on my wedding day. in short, it's gotta go!

hope you all have the happiest week! and wish me luck on this torturous  new adventure to work out more. y'all know how i feel about working out. womp!

typical.

want to know what a typical night at the rouse-lee household is like? look no further. feast your eyes on this little jewel and take a look at just one of the reasons I love our little life together so much. mike's just relaxing, playing his mlb game; benny boy is sleeping soundly (as usual); and I'm just hangin' out watching a little tv. there's something so nice about the comfort of our sweet little life. i love it :)

snapshots

i have the most fun sister ever. her friend, marcia, is pretty bomb as well.

don't mind the lazy eye. i was trying to wink and was a little late. whoopsies!

lol. favorite.

these were taken at urban rio's grand opening party. so. much. fun. mojo dfw provided the photo booth for the event and if you're ever needing a photo booth, i highly recommend them! it is so much fun, ads a lot to any event, and is run by the greatest people! if you book, tell julie that rachel at urban rio sent you! :) 

cheers everyone!

'texas native serves country by saving lives'

Seaman Christian Adkins, corpsman, Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, Regimental Combat Team 6, crosses a canal during Operation Gospand-Sia in the Sangin Valley District, July 11, 2012. The Afghan-led operation was scheduled for 48 hours, but ANSF destroyed several IEDs and one weapons cache and cleared all of their objectives in less than 16 hours. Adkins is from Athens, Texas.

FORWARD OPERATING BASE JACKSON, Afghanistan – As a senior in high school, Navy Seaman Christian Adkins knew he wanted to serve his country. Two months after his graduation, he was on his way to basic training.

Adkins, corpsman, Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, Regimental Combat Team 6, credits the drive to join the military to his mother and stepfather.

Adkins’ parents divorced when he was young, and after living with his father during his freshman and sophomore years in high school, he moved in with his mother and stepfather. They encouraged him to consider the military after high school.

“They knew just as well as I did that school wasn’t for me,” said Adkins, from Athens, Texas. “Not to say that they didn’t have faith in me, but they just knew I don’t do well in school. They wanted me to go into the military because they thought I would be successful in it.”

Adkins agreed that joining was right choice to make at that point in his life. He graduated from high school in June 2010 and was on his way to Navy basic training that August.

Adkins choose to become a corpsman.

“I wanted to do something in the medical field,” Adkins said. “I thought the Navy would be the best thing because there are so many options … Plus, being in the medical field is always something you can fall back on.”

Adkins said he would like to earn his nursing degree while still serving. He also wants to commission and becoming an officer in the medical field.

“There are a lot of programs in the Navy where you can go to school and get your degree,” Adkins said. ““I’ve wanted to become a nurse for a while and that provides me opportunity.”

As a corpsman, Adkins had two options who to work for. “Blue side” corpsmen primarily work with the Navy while “green side” corpsmen work alongside Marines. Adkins chose to go to the “green side.”

“The camaraderie with Marines is really cool. It’s like a close knit family,” Adkins said. “I worked as a ’blue side’ corpsman for a little bit, but the relationships you have with people are different there than here. You’ll always have life-long friends here.”

To cope from being away from his family, Adkins had his parents send him pictures of home.

“It helps me if I’m missing my parents or feeling homesick,” Adkins said.

Adkins has been on several patrols where they were fired upon by insurgents and has been in two firefights since arriving in Afghanistan. He has used his life-saving skills to help both Marine and Afghan patients.

“Here on the forward operating base, we’ve had two mass casualty events where we had to stabilize (Afghan) patients,” Adkins said. “A lot of trauma patients come in whether they are locals, Afghan Uniform Police or Afghan National Army soldiers who have stepped on improvised explosive devices or got shot. We do what we can to stabilize them.”

Adkins day-to-day tasks include looking after the Marines in his platoon and going on patrols.

“He looks after us and makes sure we’re all doing good. He’s a good corpsman. You can ask him anytime if you need any help with anything,” said Lance Cpl. Brett Sloan, team leader, 2nd platoon, from Pearland, Texas.

[from DVIDS website: http://www.dvidshub.net/news/91648/texas-native-serves-country-saving-lives#.UAmZ8Y5Q8UX]

story by cpl. mark davis

i am beyond proud of my brother, christian. by default, i refer to him as my 'baby brother,' but i suppose that is not appropriate anymore. he's turned into a man overnight, it seems, and he's a man that i respect and value so much! happy weekend everyone!

an overdue 4th of july post

okay, okay, okay. before you start scolding me for being, like, the worst. blogger. ever. i have to make excuses tell you--i'm just so damn busy! while i'm still obsessed with blogging, i'm really struggling with making time to do it. i mean, even as i write this, i'm juggling client emails and setting up appointments for later this week! 


so anyway, fourth of july was great! michael and i headed down to mt. vernon on tuesday afternoon. on the way, we stopped in charelston and visited my aunt anna and uncle shayne, which is always a good time. we talked weddings and new apartments and old times and laughed and laughed and laughed. i always enjoy getting to spend time with them! they also got to meet benny-boy, which i know they were extremely grateful. :) 


we then headed into mt. vernon, where we went and visited with michael's dad, scott, and his sister, christi, and her son, rylan. he is such a chunk and the cutest little thing everrrrr! my sister also was in town, so we (me, bec, mike, and christi) went and ate at the best place in mt. vernon. it was, of course, fabulous. after dinner we headed to anna's mt. vernon house to spend the night. christi headed home later on and mike, bec, and me popped some fire works. (illegally...oops!) 


the next day, we got our things together and headed out to heaven amy's house. :) we spent our fourth of july getting funky on bunky by eating tons of delicious food, enjoying some ice-cold brewskis, and getting our tan on. not a bad way to celebrate freedom. :)

hangin' out at anna and shayne's house. not sure what's up
with that scowl on mikey's face, though.

mike with his sparkler (i made him buy these.) he's so
nice to me. :)

always love my sister time!

becca, me and amy. again, always love my sister time. :)

the following videos are of our rebellious firework-popping activity. we thought it was pretty funny. the first one scared the crap out of us because we didn't know what it was going to do. on the second one, mike assured us that "it wouldn't be that loud" because we were worried about being in the city limits. riiiiiiight. 

flip book video and my baby brother

so, if you'll remember, i talked about this super cool flip book booth that our friends--justin and ashley--had at their wedding. if you don't remember this, you can read about it here. 


anyway, i got the best text EVER earlier from ashley. she sent me mine and mikey's video that we made in order to make our flip book at their wedding! so at the wedding, we were recorded for 7 seconds and then the guys from flip pics printed out the frames and made it into a little flip book for us. so. cool! i posted the video below and though i'm probably a liiiiiiiiiiittle bit biased, i have to say i think it's just the cutest thing ever!

in other news, my baby brother, christian, posted the most amazing pictures on his facebook, and i just had to share some of them with you. a little bit about my brother: 

• he's 20 years old. 
• he's a navy hospital corpsman for the marines.
• he's been based in twentynine palms, ca.
• currently, he's deployed in afghanistan, and got to celebrate his 20th birthday (on june 11) over there.

he and i have been keeping up with each other via email and facebook since he left back in march. he's very positive and just such a sweetheart. he told my mom (who in turn told me, which is just like him telling me, right?) that for his birthday gift, his commanding officer gave him the american flag that had been hanging over their base in afghanistan. what an amazing honor! i'm just so proud of my brother. he's found something that he's very good at (medical-type stuff) and is using it to truly better the world. he goes out each day with his marines knowing that he could possibly have to save their lives at some point. the coolest part about it? if something bad did happen to one of them, he has the knowledge to actually do it. i know that heroes come in all shapes, sizes and walks of life. to me, 'hero' equals my baby brother, christian.

here's some of the pictures he's put up since he's been deployed (some from his birthday, some not). 

that's him on the front row, second from the right end.

silly boy. i think this was for his birthday party?

receiving the flag from his commanding officer.

christian with his flag.

with the afghani locals.

i love this picture.

in the camp.

another birthday shot. 

out on patrol.

my other favorite photo. with some of the afghani children.

is it just me, or do the giant guns and weapons in these photos kind of freak you out, too? i don't think i'll ever get used to seeing my baby brother holding them, especially like it's no big deal. can you imagine walking outside your house and people are just walking around with giant guns?? i can't. i'm so grateful to live in america. 

christian- i love and miss you! and like i said before you left, if you don't come home safely, i'll kill you. 

father's day

first off, happy father's day to all the dads out there! 


i hope that everyone has taken time today to tell the special man in their life (it may or may not be their biological father), how much they love, appreciate, and care about them. since i lost my dad two years ago (in may), father's day is one of those things that i really miss. i also think that sometimes i took it for granted...you know, those pesky teenage years when you think you're too 'cool' to do stuff with your parents. we had a tradition when i was growing up to take 'father-daughter' photos each year on father's day, and many of my father's day memories with my dad involve trips to astroworld, galveston, ice cream at vienna coffee, long talks, concerts, and just visiting. we'd talk about everything--my dreams, plans for the future, school, boys, religion, politics, history, science, technology...everything. what i wouldn't give to be able to just hang out with my dad this father's day. 


i do need to add a disclaimer here. i have another dad in my life that has had (and continues to have) such a wonderful impact on my life, and i love him dearly. my stepdad, tray, who's been in my life for the past 5 years is absolutely wonderful. he and i have a great relationship and he's one of the most trustworthy, smart, and hard-working people i know. if you looked up 'provider' in the dictionary, there's sure to be a picture of tray right next to it (as well as dedicated and selfless). i can always count on tray to go fishing, cook out, spend hours looking at movies to buy, watch really good movies, and give great, unbiased advice. 


it obviously sucks that my dad can't be around, but man, do i have a great 'stand-in.' here's some of my favorite pictures of me and my dad. 

december 4, 1987

hangin' out at dad's house...rockin' the bunny slippers
and mickey mouse sunglasses.

seriously? lol. he always just let me do my thing. 

one of our many photo booth sessions.

another photo booth. love it!

paintin' my toesies!

senior night- 2005

foot ball game-2005

parent's weekend at texas tech-2006

one of our many trips to galveston. i think this was back
in 2010 (the date on the photo is wrong). 

at my cousin's wedding in california.

my college graduation from texas tech- december 2009.