Where have we been?

We just up & move to Memphis & quit blogging. Shame on us. We are definitely not hurting for things to talk about at all. We have really been waiting to get some pictures developed so we could scan them & put them on here, but we have just been lazy.
We really want to show you our house & other things. I will tell you that we stumbled on a Pottery Barn & William Sonoma outlet store about 1.5 miles from our house. It is incredible. I found a top (they called it a Belford Top) for my desk for $19.99--marked down from $149.99--& it is beautiful. We also bought a huge picture frame for $19.99--marked down from $99.99. You need to see the pictures to appreciate both the items.


My classes are going pretty well, & my first day of off-campus work starts tomorrow. I will be working at Memphis Integral Neurofeedback Institute about 9 hours a week as a receptionist. One benefit is that I get to float for free--see the Web site.
Monica has jumped right into the travel agent superhighway & it is not slowing down. By the way, Voicestream gave her the same cell phone number someone else named Shawn already had. Anyway, she is learning at light speed at Carlson Wagonlit & got a great deal for a sister of one of our friends to fly to London & back. I'm telling you, if you are traveling anywhere, you need to at least give Monica a call & see what she can do for you.


It took us 20 minutes to get our food at Arby's tonight. When will we learn? We promise pictures soon, as long as you allow "soon" to be a relative term.

Where did all the SUV's go???

Somehow we made it here & managed to get moved into our house (although it wasn't technically ours until today which is a whole other story). Talk about culture shock! The top 5 weird things about Memphis are listed below:

1. Customer Service - N/A meaning there is none.
2. 2 words: humidity & mosquitoes.
3. Imagine if someone took all the street names in a huge city written on little pieces of paper, shook them all up in a hat & dumped them all on a map, you have Memphis.
4. I've been to Wal-Mart 5 times already & haven't seen Elvis once!

5. People here honestly believe that everyone from Oklahoma is a cowboy (thanks Big Brother 5!)
We needed to get that out of our system because we are experiencing major culture shock. We are definitely on edge & constantly on each other's nerves, but that is to be expected in a stressful situation. We will try not to tell you all of our nightmare stories, like how the phone company only set up our service for a pulse dial phone (whoops, we must have left our rotary phone IN THE 60's), or how we get lost every single time we go out, or how we showed up on our closing date & were told we were not allowed to move in. We will try to show you some before & after pictures. Our house is really coming together & we are pleased. The wood floors are in incredible shape & the yard is making a dramatic turn around... so please come visit us!! By the way, we found out the couch we fixed up originally cost $450 new at Mathis Brothers three years ago.


Now that we have Internet, we will have to blog more to keep you posted. Please keep reading & commenting because we don't want to lose contact with any of you. We have our new contact information & will soon be sending it out as soon as we get our cell phones switched to Memphis numbers.

Farewell Oklahoma

The time has finally come - we're actually picking up & moving 500 miles away to a land far, far away called Memphis. We'd like to shout out a few good-byes to some special people in our lives before we ride away into the sunset...

- Grant, I never thought in a million years that you would end up being one of my very best friends. I wouldn't be the same strong-willed girl that I am today w/out you being such a big part of my life.
- Christel, you are one of the most beautiful girls I've ever known on the inside & out! I will miss hearing about your nightmares & soap opera life more than you know.
- Lacey, what would I do w/out my tall, skinny, blonde friend w/ an attitude?! I am so glad we were brought together by a crazy situation & came out stronger than ever!

- Mandy, my life would be in shambles right now w/out your fun spirit, great fashion advice & fellow reality TV show addiction. I'll miss seeing your smiling face in the office everyday SO much!
- The OC Marketing Office, I can't imagine working w/ a more fun group of people than you guys!! I will always be there in spirit @ all of our every other Tuesday meetings (Stephen will be sitting on me in my chair).
- The Wednesday night girls club, Thank you girls for letting me be a part of all your show watching parties & girl's night outs. I always looked forward to having girl time & finding out who Carrie would end up w/ or how many girls The Bachelor could actually make-out w/ in a hot tub in one season.

- Matt, I have no fear of losing our friendship just b/c we're moving hundreds of miles away. We've been through it all & I will never partake of a Sonic drink w/out thinking of you.
- Lily, I love you so much my dear & can't imagine my college life w/out your beautiful smile:) Don't ever forget 90210 & 'Dawson's Creek Church of Christ'. You will forever be on my list!
- Jayna - I stepped into B-dorm almost exactly 6 yrs. ago & there awaited the craziest roommate I would ever have. Thank you for never giving up on me & I hope you never stop making donuts w/ your belly while you brush your teeth:)

- Jared, we've been around the world together & had an "interesting" semester living together. It is wonderful having a great friend like you & I know you will become a great doctor that I would trust my life with.
- Patrick, you probably won't read this blog unless I make you, but we have been friends since we were 4, & I couldn't ask for a better friend. Even though I am bad about calling you when I say I will call you, you still let me hang out with you. Good luck in your new teaching job!
- Bill & Kathy, or as I know you, Dad & Mom, I'll miss you. We had to leave sometime, but it won't be easy. We'll miss Sunday lunches & dinners when we've run out of food. I'm sure we will call you a lot, especially as we try to adjust to our new surroundings. Thank you for all your love & support.


We love & will miss you all!

Domingo, the other Mathis Brother

Today we have a wonderful story for you. It is about how Couch came into our lives. Couch was spotted at 12th & Penn last Saturday at one of those cash only, most everything is junk, places. However, Couch jumped out at us, sitting there all alone in the parking lot. We looked through the stains & the rips, & saw something we liked.


I asked Domingo what he wanted for the thing & he said, "Fifty dollars." I almost choked on my own tongue, told Monica the price, & we decided we had to have it. I left him a $10 deposit & borrowed my parents Suburban. Later that evening, Couch came home with us & Monica was on a mission, which means I was soon sucked into the restoration of the couch.

Phase 1 - Take an ugly picture of the couch & toss the ugly throw pillows away.
Phase 2 - Take the back cushions to the dumpster & empty all the old, brown, stinky cotton inside them.
Phase 3 - Take the empty back cushion covers & the seat cushions to the bedroom & spot clean them before washing.

Phase 4 - Empty the couch & take a picture of the contents, including the Garbage Pail Kids cards. (Do you remember these? I used to love them before I understood how really disgusting they were).
Phase 5 - Stuff the back cushions with 10 pounds of polyester fiberfill from Wal-Mart.

Phase 6 - Reshape the pillows after they've been stuffed - Ben did this by playing WWF in the livingroom.
Phase 7 - Borrow a really nice steam cleaner (thanks Judson & Amanda!) & clean the entire couch to remove the stains & 'interesting' smell.

Phase 8 - Take the "after" picture & look at the difference.
I hope you can see a difference. You have to keep in mind Couch only cost $50 & that it has quite a bit of use under its belt. We are quite proud of ourselves for this investment & Domingo made himself a little more money to buy more junk. Hope you can come & sit on Couch in Memphis. We leave in three days & we are almost completely packed. However, we are still going to blog & we want it to be a way to share our lives with you.

Full Circle

Last night while we were packing & watching TV we saw that the Olympic ceremonies are officially starting tomorrow. Ben said, "Wow, the last time we heard the Olympics were about to begin we were sitting around a youth hostel in Tokyo, Japan." I had the same memory because (for those of you that don't know) we were on the same study abroad program 4 years ago. Ben & I met on this trip & I can't believe how our lives have come full circle since then. Neither of us had any idea all those years ago that we would be husband & wife today.


One of my favorite memories of me & Ben is when we rode a ski lift up a mountain in China @ the very beginning of the trip. It was just me & him & we only had one pen between us so we took turns writing in our journals. Ben decided that he was going to be a monkey & climb all over the side of the mountain, while I kept screaming that I was going to have to tell his mom that I was the last one to see him before he killed himself. I had no idea that 'his mom' would someday be my wonderful mother-in-law. We talked about if there were one person on the trip that we would kiss that it would be each other, but our lips never touched until almost exactly 2 yrs. later.
Now, we are about to venture on a whole new experience in our lives together in Memphis. I wonder where we'll be in this world when the Olympic ceremonies of 2008 begin & if we'll remember sitting in our apt. in Oklahoma City packing up our lives

A Little Ditty

The other day Ben & I were driving home & the song Jack & Diane by John Cougar Mellencamp was playing on the radio. After a couple of verses the chorus played & both of us sang @ the same time, "A little ditty about Ben & Monica" instead of Jack & Diane. Now, I know they say that once you're married that you may start to finish each other's sentences, but we do things like this ALL THE TIME & it's starting to freak us out a little!


Ben & his good friend Austin used to change words to songs all the time to make each other laugh. For instance, they decided to make fun of one of my favorite songs in our wedding (I Will Be Here) & changed the words so that it sounded really stupid just to make me mad. I must admit that NOW it's funny, but @ the time I was NOT a happy bride. So be warned that once you tie the knot you may develop ESP with your spouse.

Enhance your...

dream life. We have found a guaranteed way to have the craziest dreams... & no we are not experimenting with illegal drugs. Here's how it all happened: I read in a magazine that your mattress should be rotated 4 times a year or quarterly, whichever term makes you feel smarter. So, I flipped the mattress bottom over top & got ceiling crumbs everywhere, so instead of just merely rotated it, I turned it over & rotated it in one smooth step. Then we slept on it.


We both experienced the craziest dreams one after another after another all in the same night. I actually had a dream within a dream. Last night I dreamed I was mad at Monica & I woke up mad & moved to the far side of the bed. I think she just dreams about kittens & pink flowers. Not really, she had some crazy ones too & I tried to pay attention while she told me every last detail about them.
Do it... I dare you. Flip your mattress bottom over top & get ready for some wild dreams & then respond to our blog & tell us if it worked. Sweet dreams.