Drumroll Please.....

You asked for it (maybe you didn't), and here it is. Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to present to you the gigantic blog post of pictures that I have promised over and over and over and over and over and over and over... you get it. So maybe it's because today is 7-8-9, or maybe I just got tired of things hanging over my head, or I just really wanted to spend some quality time with my new Macbook (or just prove that I'm not a Mactard!). I can't say for sure why today, but here it is. This is the last eh, two months or so of my life in pictures. I hope you're comfortable ;]

~Ben & Jenna's Rehearsal Dinner and Wedding Day~

Josh and I at rehearsal dinner

Lacy - probably laughing about something Josh said, it's how they roll

Bride, Groom, Mom :]

Our sister Annie, haha

Amberly gave a cute toast

Leo asking for change to put in a train 'piggy bank' that Ben and Jenna gave him

Jenna and bridesmaid/childhood friend, Alecia

Ben and groomsman/work buddy, Joe

Annie... are you seeing why we LOVE her??

Delicious banana-something dessert!

My beautiful champagne glass... it just looked pretty sitting there

Thanking everyone for being part of their BIG day

Typical sillyness with these two... ;]

Jenna's perfect dress!!

Simply stunning - that baby was made for Jenna, and I picked it out ;]

Awww, little Jenna all ready to get married!

Seeing each other for the first time before pictures

Beautiful ballroom! (half of it anyway)

Our flowers

Leo the Ringbearer, reporting for duty

* THE BIG SMOOCH! *

Second cutest couple of the evening... we were actually told several times that night how "in love" we looked! Hooray for perfect matches :]

For the first time.... Mr. & Mrs. Ben Bonner

First dance to "Dig" by Incubus

The cake that would be both my midnight snack AND breakfast in the morning!

Josh performed "The Luckiest" by Ben Folds for them

Dancing the night away!

Josh & Connor... wait- what?!

Connor & Kelly (that's more like it)

I love me some Kelly Schraf :]

- Babysitting Josh's Cousin, Taryn -

My favorite Taryn face ever - huge eyes!

Taryn LOVES Sheppie and wanted me to take so many pictures of her hugging him :] who could resist these two cuties?

Chillin out on the deck in our shades

...or MY shades

Wearing my flip-flops and carrying my camera case as her purse. Basically how she spent most of the day.

- A Night Out With the Becks! -

Josh's Aunt & Uncle, Tara & Darren, trying DuClaw beers for the first time... a Beck family milestone :]

Four handsome Beck boys sitting at a bar

me and MY Beck boy

Michael & Jennie!

Erin & Nathan

Jennie & Me

Connor & Kel

Tara & Darren, apparently this is what Beck boys like to do when they see a camera, my husband does it aaalllllll the time

-Babysitting Ben & Jenna's New Kittens! -

Hi, my name is Lewis (as in Ray Lewis #52)

Two kitties sleeping in the sunlight

Lewis sleeping in a cardboard box -- and he's not even homeless

Hi, I'm Eddie (as in Ed Reed, #20) and I'm the cutest little kitten in the world!

-Fourth of July in Fells Point -

Being cute in Fells Point after dinner at Brick Oven Pizza and a quick walk up and down Broadway

Michael & Jennie making Fells look a little cuter

Kelly & Connor, just being naturally cute

It WAS a girls picture, but Michael jumped in at the last minute - now it's just funny :]

"Hello Domino Sugar plant, where's the best place to sit for fireworks?"

Being cute while we waited for fireworks to start

Awwwww, who needs fireworks with all these sparks flying??

Kelly & Connor

Fireworks!

Absolutely atrocious traffic (this is in the MIDDLE of an intersection where we waited for 30 minutes to get through the light) on the way home.

Wow, so are you happy now? Satisfied? Seen enough of me and my pictures to last you a lifetime? Probably not, I understand. There will be more. But I'll be sure to never make the mistake of waiting so long to upload again. It was mostly because I was waiting for a new computer, so hopefully I won't find myself in that predicament again any time soon. But now that I've taken the better part of my day resizing and uploading and blogging all these pictures, I expect comments GALORE! Hahaha :]

In some brief other news... I finished Twilight and have moved on to New Moon. I felt committed enough to buy this one, so it must be serious. Haha, I did really like Twilight though I don't quite get the obsession thing still. The end of the first book was good, though a little predictable, I felt. There seemed to be an obvious solution to the whole crisis with that other guy (I'm trying not to give anything away since my sister is reading it now). And although it didn't happen in that book, I saw something somewhere that leads me to believe it happens at some point. So I'm kind of interested in that. I'm feeling like it might be in this book I'm reading now. I guess I'll have to see! This one will likely be going on vacation with me when we leave next week.

Can you believe our cruise leaves next week?!? I am beyond excited (except the billions of pictures I'll then have to upload, resize and blog about all over again! Haha. I'm gonna wrap this up and go run some errands before settling down with my book for the rest of the afternoon until I leave for class (last night! yay!). Actually, my presentation is done, I might just bring the book with me for something to do! I am brilliant.

TTFN :]

Mac-tard?

Alright, so it's Tuesday. I said you would likely get to see all those pictures I've been promising on Tuesday. I finished my research proposal and presented it last night. All that stuff is done. I did have a couple of things to get done today. I had to go have my stitches taken out, I finished Twilight, did a little grocery shopping and filled a prescription (my dang stitches got infected).

So when I sat down after dinner tonight to make my huge picture post that I had been promising, you can imagine my annoyance when I realized that I couldn't figure out an easy way to get my pictures from their folders onto Blogger. I am still learning the ins and outs of the Macbook, but this is something that should be simple. I can't load them in the original size because they're huge and that would take me weeks to do with the number of pictures I have to upload. The trouble is, I can't figure out any quick/easy way to resize pictures. You can import them all from their folders to iPhoto, then export them in a smaller size back to a folder, but then I have the same picture in three different places on my computer. It seems kind of inefficient. Am I just a Mac-tard? I tried searching online for ways to resize pictures on a Mac and the iPhoto export method was what everyone seemed to suggest. **If any Mac-users out there have better suggestions, please do share!**

So I tried doing that, and it wasn't terrible. I still have the same picture saved in 3 different places, but whatever. Anyway, it just became time-consuming with the number of pictures I'm trying to share. I have to get up early in the morning so I just didn't have the time to sit and work on it much longer after tooling around with it for several hours already. So tomorrow I will hopefully have time to work on a little more. I do have my last class tomorrow night but I should still have the middle of the day free.

With that said, I'll close with another apology for the delay in pictures. You may just have to get the really really really abbreviated version - or I might make you find them all on Facebook (iPhoto has a button that will import a whole album of pictures to Facebook in a quick minute. Why can't they have that for Blogger??).

More later....

Teaser

Just thought I'd go ahead and make your day by letting you know that ALL of my pictures are now loaded onto the Macbook!! Aren't you proud? I know, I know, they're still not on Blogger, you say. Be patient -- I'm getting there.

Tomorrow we're going to the sweetest place on earth.... Hershey Park!! I'm pumped, I just love that place. The chocolate factory never gets old. And I always get a chocolate milkshake right before leaving to enjoy and savor on the ride home :] Definitely one of my most favorite traditions ever. So you won't be getting pictures from me tomorrow. Sorry.

We still haven't nailed down our plans for the 4th, so I'm not sure about Saturday, but I can tell you for SURE that on Sunday and Monday (but hopefully just Sunday) I have a big fat research proposal to write which is due on Monday night in class. Boooooooooo. The good news is, that will be the end of my work for this miserable research class. I am presenting my proposal on Monday and then doing a lot of daydreaming and doodling while everyone else presents theirs. Wednesday will be the official end of the class, so I won't be bogged down with homework anymore.

Also, I can't believe that our cruise is 2 weeks from TODAY! I'm getting so excited (even though I'm no where NEAR bathing suit shape as I wanted to be by this point). Oh well. I'm sure there are plenty of people who take cruises that are in worse shape than I am... I hope. I have been doing a run on the elliptical machine almost every single day since school let out (i.e. last week and this week). So I was hoping to de-jiggle just a little bit (ok, or a lot). Sadly, this one pair of shorts I used to be able to take on and off without unfastening I wore today and was unable to fasten the top button!!! Proof that I need to get in gear. Anyway - not that you care to hear those kinds of details, haha.

For now I'm calling it a night. We have to be up bright and early tomorrow to meet our friends Phil & Daniella and their too cute baby Anelise for our trip to Hershey! I'll come home with pictures -- don't worry! And you'll hopefully get to see them on Tuesday :]

Don't Stop Believin!

I promise I will deliver on my promise of pictures!

It was an incredibly busy weekend. Josh's aunt and uncle were in town with their three boys from North Carolina. So while they were here we had a family event planned for each day/night. Of course, I have pictures :] A quick rundown of the weekend (if you care, which I know you do or you wouldn't be here).....

• Thursday night was girls night. Sharon, Tara (aunt), Jennie, Kelly and myself went out for dinner, a movie and drinks. We did local pizza/subs for dinner, saw The Proposal which was an excellent little romantic comedy, and then went up to the Green Turtle in Westminster for drinks and listened to a live band whom I hoped I hadn't gone to high school with.
• Friday was adults only night. We had dinner in Columbia at Famous Dave's, and then went into town for drinks at DuClaw in Fells Point. It was a lot of fun.
• Saturday was Connor's graduation party so the Beck house was full of lots of people - family and friends. Some people we knew, some we didn't. It ended up being an all day event, but it was fun nonetheless. We mostly kept to the 4 Beck siblings and their significants, but allowed a few others to socialize with us from time to time.
• Sunday was the day Josh's aunt and uncle were leaving to go home so no big event was planned. But I did have to go see my dad in the morning and then Josh and I made plans to go see Transformers 2 again with Ben and Jenna. Not that it wasn't good the first time, but we apparently had arrived too late (an hour before show time) and the entire theater was full except for the very front row. I don't do well in any front row, much less IMAX at a movie like Transformers 2. So needless to say, I missed a lot the first time around.

That was our weekend. Yesterday I had to study for my final exam in class last night. I do still have a week left of class, but next week class time is reserved for presenting our research proposals. It's a big class, so it's going to take some time. Unfortunately, I'm kind of afraid that this will mean us staying until 9:20 for the first time during this session! The teacher is kind of strange (but nice, so I won't complain). So I spent a large part of yesterday laying out in the sun on the deck with my class notes and study guide going over what I needed to know for the final (I think they call this cramming). Then I let myself pick up the book... yes, Twilight, I'm hooked. And I can't really decide if the story is all that fabulous or if I just enjoy reading something mindless for fun. I haven't done that in a very long time. So I got started reading that and at the point when I thought I was totally roasted, dripping and ready to go inside, I would convince myself that I'd lay there for just one more chapter. So when I finally got inside and hadn't yet been to the grocery store like I promised my husband, I had to take a fast shower, pluck the splinter out of the bottom of my foot from going out on the deck barefooted, and then run to the store. When I got home I barely had time to throw a frozen pizza in the oven and eat before I had to leave for class. It's really amazing how fast time flies when you're not at work. And yet the work days can seem easily twice as long. Every time I look at the clock another hour or more has passed and I begin to think all those things I wanted to get done today just aren't going to happen. This is precisely how I haven't posted all those pictures I've been promising. So SO sorry about that. But I just watched a couple of tutorials on switching from PC to Mac, so hopefully I'll be all fluent and ready to rock with my bad self here soon. I do have lots of pictures loaded onto the computer, I just have to decide what I want to load where.

Anyway, if I continue to describe my to-do list I'll be here until kingdom come and none of the things on the list will be completed. For anyone who doesn't know a teacher (besides me), summers off do not consist of sitting around doing nothing. I'm writing papers, doing research, appealing to the university for my internship requirements, doctor appointments, and trying to squeeze in a little bit of time to actually relax.

Eight weeks never seemed so short.... and I'm only on day 2 of week 2. More to come soon, maybe this afternoon/evening. I promise! ;]

A Busy Beeeee

How is this my third day of summer break and I have yet to crack open either my new book OR my new computer (which arrived yesterday!)???

I've been busy. And not just make things up to do, busy. Because if I wanted to do that I've got a computer and new book sitting here calling my name. The computer and ipod are literally in their boxes sitting on my kitchen table. Is that sad, or what?

Monday I was busy cleaning because I wasn't sure if our meeting with the realtors was taking place at OUR house or their office, and there was lots of straightening and tidying to be done. So we did tons of that and the meeting turned out to take place at their office. Isn't that always the way? S'ok though, we got a clean house out of it :] And I'll NEVER complain about that!

Yesterday I had my shoulder re-excision in the morning and then came home to some more chores and errands: run, lunch, Target, Giant, bank, wash the car, get clean, meeting with realtors, make dinner/watch Transformers 1 with Josh, make him dessert (homemade strawberry shortcake) for being an amazing husband, off to the midnight show of Transformers 2. It doesn't sound like much, but there was no downtime in there.

So, if you recall, this leaves me with writing my paper today because it's due tonight. Ew. I'm so done with this class. It's research and evaluation for counselors. Basically a class teaching you how to conduct a research study. You have to prepare a research proposal as if you were going to carry out a study. It's kind of dumb because school counselors don't do this kind of thing. So it's tough to sit through and care about a class that you'll never need. I will never put together and conduct a research study. I promise. But tonight's paper isn't long - a page or two I think - that is describing something about the study I'm "conducting." Then I have a week and a half to get my proposal written which is something like 10 pages. It's going to require a bunch of research I don't want to do. But then the class is over. Yay.

So unfortunately, you're still going to have to wait for pictures. But I'll keep promising them to keep you coming back! :] Haha, and eventually I will make good on the promise. I promise.

For now I have to take something over to my Joshua at work. I love it when I get an unexpected visit with him :]

Just Because I Can

So here's a change of pace for ya... I'm writing this post without anything real to report, but just because I can. It's been a long time since I sat down at 10:30 on a Monday night to write a random blog post just for the fun of it! I'll keep it quick though. I just want to mention a couple of things. Ready?

• You will have to wait a little longer for all those pictures I've been promising. Although the kind salesman in the Apple store told us the computer would ship from PA, Josh told me last night he was pretty sure the tracking information said Cincinnati. However, when he checked today, no, in fact it is actually shipping from Shanghai CHINA. It's still scheduled to arrive on Wednesday though, so it shouldn't be too much longer.
• Babysitting on Saturday was a breeze and so much fun. I've got a bunch of really cute pictures to share. Stay tuned.
• Today I picked up a copy of Twilight from the library because when I checked online this morning it actually said "On shelf" at the library closest to our house. I was excited, so I called and they set it aside for me. I plan to start on it tomorrow. Josh suggested that I pick up the first two, just in case. However, I replied... "I think I'll stick with the first one and see how I like it. It's about vampires. I'm doing this out of pure curiosity at this point." Haha, so I'll let you know what I think. I was unable to dig Harry Potter so I'm hoping the slightly grown up nature of this story will hold my interest a little better. I really want to do some good reading this summer. I miss reading for fun!!!
• Tomorrow morning I'm having my second re-excision on the other shoulder. Wish me luck! The scar from my last one is still painful and (I think) looks pretty yucky. So I'll be happy to get this one over with and hopefully feeling better before our cruise.
• Tomorrow night we are meeting with our real estate agents to talk about our house and what we should be doing to prepare for a move in the next 2-3 years or so. I am excited to hear what they say, and will be sure to pass along the good advice for any homeowners who aren't in their "forever" house yet ;]
• Also tomorrow night... we are going to the midnight show of Transformers 2! I am SO excited! I'll also let you know how awesome that is. Boy, you are lucky that you read this blog. I tell ya...

So that's the quick update. Hopefully I'll have pictures for you Wednesday. I also have a paper due Wednesday night, so I'll have to get that done sometime tomorrow between outpatient surgery, meetings and midnight movies! I suspect I will be working on it Wednesday as well.

Ok, time to check on my husband who is cleaning the basement and try to convince him to come upstairs to curl up with me! :]