Marital bliss- The Matt and Mandy Edition

A few weekends ago, one of my younger cousins tied the knot.

A week before that, we took out the minor for some good, clean, bachelorette party fun.

Sarah (far right and sister of the bride) and I were the only ones in the 21 and over crowd and I'm preggo, so we spend a good portion of our afternoon at a Japanese Steakhouse at the hibachi grill. Mandy, the bride is on the far left in the pic. My belly and I are in the middle :) We did try to get Sarah to be a team player and party for all of us, but she was responsible and declined :)

As usual, the restaraunt was not a disappointment.



For the wedding, Mom and I were in charge of reception decorations. I also stole Mandy's NICE camera and went to town.

The date that Matt and Mandy selected also happened to be our grandparents' anniversary (they didn't realize that when they set the date!). When my grandma turned 16, my grandpa gave her a locket. When Mandy turned 16, Grandma gave her the locket. It found a very important position on May 14th. (which, ALSO happened to be my grandfather's birthday)

(Mom used to own a flower shop... so she did all the flowers too )

The happy couple is also in this picture too :) I'll spare them from being plastered all over the blog though.

We also happen to think that May is a great time for weddings. Tomorrow, Dustin and I will be celebrating our 5th anniversary.

Here's a blast from 5 years' past :)

We plan on celebrating by breakfast out (most likely Bob Evan's, ha) and a trip to Lowe's.

Tomorrow is also the second birthday anniversary of our little boy, Lane. So, we will be spending tomorrow evening just as it gets dark at the cemetary with our family as we do another sky lantern release like we did last year. It's a day of mixed emotions, but one we celebrate and honor.



It's electric... and about 5 other projects

(boogie woogie woogie...)

Earlier this week, Dustin, Ellie, and purple Wubba added an electrical outlet in the hallway. Now, we can get solid internet all through the house and don't have to frantically run around looking for the cordless.

Of course, the cordless isn't on the charger anyway..... We also bumped our Netflix package up $2 a month so we could watch unlimited Instants. We feel like we have cable now! We watched one episode of Hoarders; Dustin said he was getting hives from seeing it :). Adding this outlet helps the Xbox pick up a better signal so it doesn't get all pixelated.

We also finished organizing the kitchen, and pantry, and spice cabinet.

And threw things away that expired in 2005. Yes. 2005. We moved here in 2006. How that happened, I'm not sure, but I'm guessing it was me who did it!

We made some carrot and spinach pasta to ship to California to our nephew...

And we rearranged the entire living room.

The piano used to be here.

But, it is now across the room.

Dustin wants to get rid of the couch and love seat and buy some smaller chairs. The thought of buying new furniture gives me hives though! I hate spending money :)

And, I broke my phone. 

 Luckily, Megan had a spare hanging around so I'm the owner of a new used Palm that I can barely figure out!

I also finished a class and started a new one. I'm officially starting the research classes for my dissertation!

Up next: the bathroom that's been ripped apart for 2 years because of a foundation leak DISASTER that is, knock on wood, officially fixed. One year ago, we bought the things we needed to finish the project. It is finally making the cut!

Office help and a kitchen in the living room

Whilst I’ve been working away upstairs with my staff all day…

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Dustin has been working away downstairs…


No, we are not going for a look of modern decor with the KitchenAid in the floor....

This pic contains 95% of our kitchen cabinet contents. He’s pulled it all out, bleached the cabinets, vacuumed the drawers, and brought me downstairs to pick out the things we don’t need anymore. (This last part has to be monitored. He is notorious for getting rid of things that we use. Daily.)
Did I mention that we’ve only lived here 5 years? Or that we did this a few years ago when I painted the kitchen? Or that we don’t need more cabinet space because we already have empty shelves?
This all started because of a recent conversation we had:
Dustin: I don’t think we need the chocolate fountain that’s in there…
Me: Good, because we don’t have a chocolate fountain.
Dustin: Yes we do.
Me: No we don’t.
Dustin: See? We don’t even know what we have and what we don’t… we need to go through them all
*For the record, we did NOT, in fact have a chocolate fountain.
** We did, however, have a chocolate dipping set, still in the box, with chocolate…. that may or may not be 3+ years old. Who keeps track of what’s in the cabinets above the refrigerator anyway? Well, besides Dustin… :)

I just went to check on the progress, he’s doing good! :) I was just told “you act like this drives you crazy… but you love it”. I agreed with the stipulation that I love it as long as it doesn’t have to involve me. I don’t mind doing things like this, but I’m uber busy this week with work.
Without further ado, here’s an example of his OCD tidiness and organizational skills at work.
This drawer now contains things that cut, peel, slice, chop, and/or are tongs. He also added that this is the drawer where the finger mutilator goes… he had a bad, bad experience with the mandolin cutter. I’ll spare you the details. It’s gorey and gives my goosebumps thinking about it.

And, yes it will stay this way. You should see his toolboxes…

He worked on jets in the Navy and the tools there had painted outlines under where they went. You leave a tool in a jet, it might wreck.

I think I need that system to keep the kitchen this way :)


Posting this at the Kitchen CleanUP Linky Party!

Tournament of Champions

At the end of 2009, our neighbors issued a challenge across the woods.

The wager: losers buy the winners dinner at a local "greasy spoon".

Well, friends, you are reading the random musings of 1/2 of the winning team.

The challenge:

For Christmas, they bought us a 2010 Jeopardy calendar. Each day, we answer the questions and tally our winnings. Sundays are huge- Final Jeopardy. We all, of course, always risk it all. (Well, kinda). The neighborhood rules are that the hubbys risk it all. The wifeys risk a modest number like $400. If we get it right, we go with doubling the score. If we get it wrong, we go with the lesser amount. *It isn't cheating since we both play this way! :)

Team Voyles ended 2010 with $64, 245,304,599,000. We beat them by a little over double.

It's a tough game. If you miss one Final Jeopardy, you are already behind by trillions! :)

The retirees (the neighbors) complain that it was unfair. They didn't know I "was gonna be a doctor" when we began this bet. *I started my EdD in November of 2009--I'm addicted to being a student. I have tried to assure them that nothing in my educational technology courses has even remotely helped us in our daily quest to beat them. That fact is 100% accurate too! I'm paying all that money borrowing all that money (don't tell Dave Ramsey!) and got nada in return on the Jeopardy! Challenge. Here's to 2011 and SOME type of educational/technology/online learning question heading our way :)


Soon, we will be dining with the two of them. If I were a betting gal... and apparently I am... I'd say that our total bill for 4 will be less than $23. Until then, we're already behind on 2011!

...but I'm pretty sure I know it!

If you are looking for a fun year, challenge someone. It has been a blast to call them and taunt them and to receive calls of trash talking. I think I might have even been hung up on when we were hundreds of dollars ahead early in the year last year. It's all in good fun and it has been a blast.

We're trying to make sure we have a good appetite for our big night out on the town to cash in the winnings :)

Julies’ weddings

This weekend, Dustin and I headed north to Indianapolis to see this gal get hitched.

(yes, Adam, we also come to see you tie the knot too, but I somehow managed to only have pictures of the back of your arm. And, while the back of your arm is photogenic, it doesn't compete with this little lady :))



Julie is my college roommate. She is a friend who I might not talk to often, but every time it seems as though no time has passed.  I tried my hardest to peer pressure them into moving to southern Indiana, but northern Indy won out with a job offer at an animal clinic. I’d love for them to move closer for SO Many reasons… and not just because Dr. Julie has offered me free vet service for life ;).

I would be lying if I said that there was no dancing. There was dancing.. and more dancing… and more dancing. And maybe a beer or two. Today, I have no voice and my feet scream every time I think about standing up. All signs of a GREAT TIME! :)

Here’s a ‘selfie’ time out from the dance floor. Although it wasn’t, it also felt like it may have been 200 degrees in that room :)


CONGRATS JULIE AND ADAM!!! (who are in Jamaica right now, living it up!)

*I should also mention that Julie was also in our wedding. I had my high school Julie and my college Julie. Only those two. And they both had wedding receptions. On. The. Same. Day. As Dr. Julie said when Adam proposed, “holy schnikies, yes” they were both last night. My high school Julie got married on 10/10/10, so their par-tay last night was the reception. I tried working on teleporting, but it just didn’t happen. I was afraid I’d make it without my dress or something embarrassing like that. And, of course, our helicopter is in the shop this weekend. So, hopefully I’ll have some more Julie pics to post on here sometime soon (of the other Julie :)). I completely missed that reception (one in Indy and one in s. Indiana, at the exact same time with an almost 3 hour drive between the two).

So, although I’ve already passed on my condolences congratulations to them, this post would be incomplete without a CONGRATS JULIE AND CURTIS!!!!

As soon as Dustin gets home from work (yeah, and he had to work today!) we’re kicking back and propping up our feet for the rest of the night!

Pioneer field trip

Yesterday, my mom's family decided to have a picnic at Spring Mill, where Dustin works. My grandma and two cousins met us there for church in the little meeting house.

As Dustin headed to work, we headed to the picnic area to snag some tables for the rest of the family. Church gets over at 9 and everyone else arrived at 1. So, we had some time to kill after we scoped it out, tried to move some tables (and failed), moved, and had some breakfast. 

Sarah, Mandy, and I headed to the village and left Grandma to hold down the fort.The blacksmith was hard at work making chain link when we arrived. (Even despite the fact that he seriously burnt his hand two days before but still won't go to the dr....)

He's pretty cute and humored me when I started taking the next picture by using the billows to give me more flame when I told him I needed more fire in my heart.

It was funny walking around that day. There were SO many people there and everyone was bragging about the blacksmith and asking each other if they'd been there yet. He loves it there and it must be apparent.

Walking around, I wanted this to be a view that I saw everyday too :)

Four years ago, we almost got married here, under this stone arch. But, they didn't allow us to invite enough people, so we had an outside wedding at another location. They don't let people get married here anymore though.

I didn't have a good picture of the mill there, so I found this online. It is an enormous building that grinds corn daily. It's yummy!

Even with all the people there, I was able to snag this peaceful shot of the side of the mill with its water supply.

 Everyone was working and creating things that will be sold in the store. They have such neat things there.

Speaking of neat.... I drooled a little over all these jars all lined up at the apothecary :)

If you get a chance, head over to Spring Mill. Their season will be winding down in about a month, but now is the perfect time of year to go for a visit!

Celebrating the big 2-8 in 1929 style

I am truly blessed to have such a wonderful husband. Last Sunday was my 28th birthday. Since he had to work that day, he planned an outing for us to celebrate on Tuesday when he was off.

When I first moved to Salem, I saw this car from time to time and LOVED it. I never saw the driver; it would just be parked outside the grocery store or hardware store. We have lived in this house for 4 and a half years. About a year ago, while at our neighbors, I saw this car parked in his garage. WHAT?! Yes, it's his. We've planned on taking it out cruising ever since but never have. Until Tuesday. 

We loaded up and took off. It was a beautiful, sunny, hot day. I only knew we were going to Madison, Indiana. Little did I know, but riding in this car is similar to riding a motorcycle when it comes to wind. Needless to say, we had quite the windblown look for the rest of the day! We had lunch there and headed to an antique store. It was once a lumber mill. It is huge (3 stories and TONS of booths) and the building has interesting architecture throughout.

Of course, I'm too cheap to buy anything :). I found two cool star burst mirrors that were $25 each. That's too much for me and it was something I think Dustin can make. I love antique stores. But, while I was there, I realized that I'd rather spend my money on something that is THISCLOSE to being thrown away and save it. Don't get me wrong, I love antiques and the stories they could tell. But I also enjoy bringing life back into something.

Then, we headed to Hanover College, where I lived for four years and earned my BA. (all pre-Dustin). 

We hit up the bookstore to buy a replacement sweatshirt blanket. A certain beagle we know and love nibbled holes in the one I've had for 5 years. I also got a HC t-shirt and sweatshirt. Dustin knows I'm way too cheap to buy that type of stuff on my own, so it was my birthday present this year. 

He and I have never really driven around campus, so we drove around a little and walked around The Point. His grandfather was also a Hanover alum, so it was always interesting to hear his stories about campus two generations before I arrived.

This is a view from campus. It truly is a beautiful place.

(I cut Dustin's hair for the first time the next day and he shaved for the first time in months... so he's a new man now)

We also stumbled upon the Thinker in front of Parker Auditorium :)

Then, we loaded up and headed home. I felt like I could reach out and touch the highway. 

Truth be told, I have long arms considering I'm only (almost) 5'2", so I probably actually could have.

It was a perfect day with my BFF and a cool car. We're the 'kids' of the neighborhood. We are lucky to have such great neighbors with such fun and sparkly toys :)

Adding to my stash

I've mentioned before that my aunt recently purchased a business in my hometown. (I'll give post her website once it's up and going).

I spent the last day and a half painting her office for her. And, of course, while I was there, I went to her back room to check out what had recently been uncovered. I do this with a PostIt pad and pen in hand :) The business was once a flowershop and when the previous owner decided to quit doing flowers, she just shut the door on that room... and it's a big room :) It's a junker's dream :)

Once, I'm gone, she finds things like this around the room

Yesterday, I left one that said "if you don't love me, Shannon will!"

I'm really excited about the things she was willing to part with :)

This little pot is heavier than it looks. It is painted to resemble copper. It is metal, but I think I see some gold poking through the paint. 

Yesterday, I scored this GREAT tray. It is just roughly put together and is rough wood. But, I love love love it.

I already know exactly what I'm going to do with it. I have a few ideas, but I'm going with the one that doesn't change it first to see how it looks. But, I do need to purchase a few things for it first....

And finally, this (don't prejudge my ugly chicken thing :))

Here's what it looks like from afar...

When I first saw it, I picked it up because I thought "what the heck is THAT?" and put it down. I walked past it again and looked at the base and thought "it might be kinda cute". Then I wrote a PostIt that said "I can't believe I'm writing this... but Shannon will take this too...".  My aunt and the woman who works in her shop doubted my sanity. On my way home to from her shop, I wondered what I would do with it too.  But, on my way home from class last night, it struck me. I know what I'm going to do with it. I ran it past Dustin and he thought it was a good idea too. It wasn't even a "I'll need to see what you're talking about" type of reply. I take that as a good sign :)

So, stay tuned! I'm about to get really busy with work... But, like I said before, I love having these little projects as a computer break! And, I've got them PILED UP and waiting :)  I love taking a break, putting a coat of paint on something and heading back to work while it dries. 

Isn't it weird how you get the most done when you have the most on your plate? I'm like that. When I have free time, I seem to get nothing done. But, when I'm loaded down, I make time for little painting breaks :)

For now, I must work though. We're taking the afternoon off to celebrate my birthday!