happy {23rd} birthday, j.

today my brother turns 23 years old. it is incredible to think that he is so grown up; he even has a wife and two pups now! looking back, i have so many fond memories growing up with him. i'm not sure how he and i got to be so "old." in honor of his special day:

justin w. leach ...
01. ... was my best friend from the time that he was born
02. ... didn't talk for a long time because i said everything for him
03. ... could close his ears while napping, and they would remain shut for 10-15 minutes after he woke up
04. ... had a "rat tail" hair cut in elementary school
05. ... would go hiking with me for hours in the hillside on the mountain we grew up on, with nothing but his bow and arrow, a canteen, and a baggy filled with peanuts and dates
06. ... loved to sing about his "fellow man"
07. ... and shout hall-le-EU-la in our little country church
08. ... looked forward to friday nights because that's when we were allowed to sleep in the same room talking and giggling together
09. ... cried the first time that i didn't want to have our ritual friday night "sleep over" {now i cry to think that we don't have weekly moments together like that anymore}
10. ... was known around our house as brother bear
11. ... and eventually bubby when sierra began talking
12. ... now i can him j
13. ... is an all-star athlete, good at any sport that he tries, and especially talented at basketball
14. ... could truly be a stand up comedian, giving jerry seinfeld and dane cook both a run for their money
15. ... has always wanted nothing more than a wife and children to love and support
16. ... looks after his big little sister when she needs it
17. ... and remembers to spend time with his little sister
18. ... has had too many motocycle accidents to speak of, but loves riding as much as ever
19. ... has always looked out for the underdog
20. ... can carry on an entire convesation in his sleep
21. ... and can also fall asleep in the middle of a sentence having a conversation while wide awake
22. ... has been thought to be my twin when others meet us
23. ... is the greatest brother & friend a girl could ask for

03.27.2009 travis lear {24}.

i let travis's birthday pass by without a post in his honor! on his birthday i did send him texts throughout the day to remind him what a fantastic person he is, and i've decided to post those here:

travis l.w. lear ...

01. does the great impression of joey gladstone's mister woodchuck
02. has feet small than he used to from rock climbing shoes
03. knows how to fix just about anything
04. is my rock star
05. likes to go fast
06. can drive for hours going no where ...
07. ... but has the best sense of direction of anyone i know
08. can do pull ups with his fingertips
09. shares a birthday with quentin tarantino, fergie ferguson, & mariah carey
10. shows me exactly what a hard time i'm going to have when we have boys when he gives me that adorable "little boy" face
11. is another james dean; he even looks like many of james dean's pictures
12. does not like sour cream, cream cheese, or whipped cream
13. is a lover of classic rock
14. recently discovered that LITs are his favorite alcoholic beverage
15. buys the greatest gifts
16. but never gives others the opportunity to buy great gifts for him -- he always buys what he wants
17. helps me appreciate the little things in life and the southern values i grew up with
18. is a lover of all living creatures & believes all life should be treated with respect {until connor starts barking too much}
19. is a great "dad" to the pup
20. loves romantic comedies
21. makes me smile every time he walks into the room
22. supports his family and friends and is always there when it really counts
23. can say the silliest things {just like me} that cause us to laugh out loud
24. will be the man standing at the end of the aisle on october 17th -- he'll make a great husband.

happy birthday, vit. i love you.

engagement party thank you notes.

i have been so terrible! i designed these thank you cards immediately following our engagement party. i even got most of the cards filled out, but i kept waiting for travis to sign them, and i also needed a few more addresses. i was appalled this evening when i ran across the written thank you cards that had not been mailed. for those of you who were at the shower and have not received your thank you card, please forgive me. travis and i are both so appreciative of the time together with our family and friends and your thoughtful gifts. please do not take the delay in the notes as a sign that we are ungrateful. it truly meant the world to us to spend that time with you, and we look forward to spending other memorable moments together the next few months {and many years to follow}.

wedding registry.

before our engagement party travis and i registered at bed bath and beyond and at target. i have been dying to get registered at pottery barn, so tonight while travis was in muskogee, i started our pottery barn registry. there are some things that are only available in the shop, so i'm looking forward to going there to finish up.

i am now contemplating whether or not to register at dillards. the stores that we've selected are only in tulsa, and that leaves none of our muskogee guests with any place to shop. i would like to think that they could just do a little shopping while on a trip to tulsa, but there are several of them who do not often travel to tulsa. i'm really not sure what to do, and would welcome suggestions. four registries seems like an awful lot. my brother's wife has said that she thinks it would be just fine and that the muskogee guests would probably appreciate us thinking of them. again, four just seems like a lot, and the thought of tackling another registry seems a little daunting. i considered closing our bed bath and beyond registry, but am not sure if i want to do that either. i don't know why i am making such a big deal about this, but i really just can't decide.

good bye tulsa. hello muskogee?

we made a decision tonight. we are turning in our 30-day notice to vacate, and we are moving to muskogee ... and back in with my parents! i haven't lived at my parents' house since i was 17 years old! in fact they didn't even live in this house when i last lived with them.

by doing this, we will be able to save quite a bit of money and pay off several things. it just means a long commute back and forth every day. luckily, we will be driving together. since travis can get by on a few hours of sleep, he'll be able to drive and i'll be able to rest in the car. i dread to think what it will be like to drive back to muskogee on nights that we have plans with friends after work.

we had just gotten everything situated just so in our apartment. travis is bringing boxes home tomorrow and we will begin packing it all away again. most everything will go in storage as there is not much sense in us taking much more than our clothes. i am sad and a little stressed. i like this idea better than post-poning the wedding, however.

when the idea was first mentioned, i was excited to think of all of the money we will save and the things we could get paid off ... but now that we are actually doing it, i am more than a little sad. and as much as i love my family, i'm not sure that moving in with them will be the greatest idea. oh well; i suppose anyone can do anything for six months.

wedding gown {how many times can i post about this?}.

i picked up my gown today, but i have put on too much weight and it won't zip all the way. thankfully i have 7 months until the wedding. work out buddy, anyone?

introducing cordially invited.

the past two days i stayed home from the office. i have taken a second job with travis's company, sixbyte, and i thought i would knock out a lot of things at once and then just worry about maintenance along the way. they are not putting pressure on me to do this, i really just couldn't stomach the idea of going into addison. claudine has been really sick this week and david was rude to her in saying {in the cheesiest voice i have ever heard} "you know what, i'm sick too, but i'm pushing through it. push. push. push. come on now." ugh.

yesterday i got most of the laundry done and tried to knock out quite a bit of work with sixbyte. unfortunately most of the work i'm to do is online and all of the sites that i needed were down. i contacted tom and christopher about the issues, but have still heard nothing back.

today i had planned to go to work, but then realized that i had a 7:30 meeting, and i didn't want to show up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed {whatever that means} after i was supposed to have been sick. how many people get over the flu in a day? so i decided to spend another day at home with the pup. i've never been one to call in and especially for no reason, but these days i don't know how i can stand any more of addison.

i spent a large portion of the day today working on cordiallyinvitedinvitations.blogspot.com. i've dreamed of having my own paper boutique for some time now, but the funding is not there at this time. travis and i and jen and i have discussed me putting my designs on a website to start with and at least start generating a buzz about my products. sixbyte has offered to host our site for free, we just need to register a domain and design the site. since i'm not ultra technical when it comes to writing web script, i decided to create a blog instead, with the idea that the website will follow close behind. you can check out what i have so far at http://cordiallyinvitedinvitations.blogspot.com/. please spread the word and share with all of your friends. it does not include all of my designs, but i have managed to get a little of everything on there. it was so refreshing to spend the day cuddled up with the pup, drinking hot tea, and really doing something that i love. {did i mentioned that it snowed today?? 70 degrees on monday and tuesday, then snow by thursday. you gotta love oklahoma.}

travis got home a few hours ago, and we've wrapped up a yummy dinner of italian swiss chicken, pasta, and corn. i've been very proud of us. we went and bought groceries and have made a meal at home almost every night this week. no more eating out all of the time.

for now, i am going to go cuddle up with my two boys and finish watching our movie.

my wedding gown has arrived!

i haven't picked it up but will do so tomorrow.

here comes the groom.

on saturday travis and i made our way to al's formal wear. we've been trying to get travis's tuxes picked out for some time now, and it seems that our weekends are always booked. when we got to the store, the lady was highly unhelpful, didn't offer to show us vests, jackets, anything. she didn't even ask our colors. there was one jacket in particular that travis knew he liked and wanted to try, but we had to ask for it. she was very helpful in getting us the prices, but we didn't stay long. we headed to men's wearhouse (after driving across tulsa twice, because travis thought he knew where a new location had opened). the lady there at least pulled out swatches of fabrics and a flip book of the tuxes they offer, but she did not have anything to try on except for suit jackets that they carry in the store. her suggestion? that we try on clothes at al's and then come order them from her. sheesh. we headed to the second location of al's. the lady here was much more helpful, but she was also very busy and was the only one running the store. as i was looking at the vests and swatches of fabric, i realized it would be much more helpful to have swatches of fabric from my gown, and the swatches of the fabric i plan to use for the bridesmaids dresses. we let jennifer at al's know that we would be back in a bit. we picked up the fabric and then grabbed lunch at chick-fil-a. we really couldn't believe the tux shopping was turning into a full day event, but we were having fun together. when we got back to al's, jennifer had a bit more time to spend with us and began asking us about our wedding and helped us find suitable ties and vests. she orders everything in for travis to try on and then we get to make our final decisions. his fitting is this saturday. he'll try on several different things we picked out, and then we'll figure out what he and the groomsmen will wear and get it ordered.

the vacuum monster.

today i was vacuuming the apartment and connor did the cutest thing ever. i wish that i had a picture. while i was vacuuming the bedroom, he ran into the living room. when i came into the living room he ran and hid behind the dining table. as i got closer to the area, he crept further and further from me. at one point i looked up and he was behind one of the chairs. there was a coat hanging on the chair and all i could see was connor's little head leaning over peeking around the chair to see where this horrible noise-making machine was.
i really do wish i had a picture. he didn't have his head bent and turned to look the corner, but instead was sitting on his haunches and only leaning his head over to the side enough to see around the chair. he really is like a little boy sometimes!