Puppies, Puppies, Puppies!

Palm tree & coffee table just aren't cutting it, we're about to venture upon what every family goes through... adding a puppy to the family! This past week we've been going back & forth on when the best time to get a puppy would be & on what kind. Here's our dilemma... Ben has always dreamed of having a BIG dog like a golden retriever. I, however, want to be able to snuggle with the puppy on my lap. So, we've come to a compromise that as long as we get an actual puppy (about 7 weeks old) then we can get a golden retriever or a lab & it can grow up to be a big dog.
There are all kinds of things to take into account before getting a dog. For instance, who will take care of it when we go on our life-long dream trip to Europe? Also, can we afford a dog because we can barely feed ourselves? Should we get it now so that it will already be potty-trained by the time we travel with it over Christmas or should we just wait until next spring or summer? What to do, what to do. Does anyone have any advice or suggestions? Oh, & here are the long-awaited pics of our new pot rack & freestanding shelf that we got from IKEA.

Something Other Than Driving

I know what you're thinking... enough with the driving blogs. Well, I could write about the lovey dovey stuff we do like make each other lunches and put love notes in them. Or, I could write about how we are going to go to different puppy breeders to pick out our future puppy. Instead, I've decided to write about sandwich bags.
The other day we ran out of sandwich bags, which is a travesty when you don't live across the street from Super Wal-Mart. We do live next to Cooper's that has a cop on duty around the clock, but we only go there as needed, and we're packin' when we go. Anyway, Monica decided she would go to the Dollar Tree next to her work and get some new bags. This morning I was making her lunch and opened the box of bags. I pulled one of the bags out and it was a hobbit bag. I couldn't believe how small it was, and I could barely fit half a sandwich in it. It was ridiculous, but I examined the box and it said they were snack bags. What a fluke, but really funny.
It really isn't that funny if you think about it, but the next part is. I put a note in Monica's lunch that said, "These aren't sandwich bags... they're baggetts!" Monica called me at lunch and we laughed for 10 minutes about it. We thought it was funny, but maybe it was just a long day. Maybe we'll blog something with some more substance to it later, but we are watching America's Next Top Model right now, which makes us dumber.

On the Road Again

Memphis, TN to Edmond, OK - 8 hrs.
Edmond to Wichita Falls, TX - 2.5 hrs.
Wichita Falls to Edmond - 2.5 hrs.
Edmond to Tulsa, OK - 1.5 hrs.
Tulsa to Edmond - 1.5 hrs.

Edmond to Memphis - 8 hrs.
= 24 hrs. on the road!!
Getting to spend the weekend doing all the things we wanted to do with friends & family that we love = priceless.
I'm not sure how Ben & I possibly survived being in a car together for that long, but we somehow made it without killing each other:) We're quite the Midwest travelers I must say. Throughout our trip we were able to go to one of the most beautiful weddings we've ever been to, spend some time visiting Ben's grandmom who is in the hospital, & see a lot of friends & family that we've missed so much since we made the big move. Thanks for making us feel like we never left!

Good News, We won the lottery

No, even better, we just saved 3.5% on our insurance by staying with the same company. Apparently, we had to write a whole new policy in Tennessee even though it was with the same company. And let me tell you, I was so excited to hand over that $579 (please read sarcasm into that). It would have only been $568, but it turns out that they needed to up my uninsured motorist coverage. Why is this, you might ask? I'll tell you why--60% of the drivers in Memphis don't carry car insurance! That is astonishing to me. When I get hit, I have a 3 out of 5 chance they won't have insurance.
By the way, we got our licenses the other day, which only took 2 hours (we miss those tag agencies on every corner in Edmond). Anyway, while we were getting our licenses, we watched people in a separate room taking their written driving test on computers. We soon noticed that they were completely unsupervised--a guy & a girl were just sitting there helping each other on their driving tests & nobody cared... I kind of cared, because I have to drive around town next to those cheaters.
That's all I have to say about that! We are excited to go to Tulsa for Matt & Mandy's wedding!! We'll be at Memorial Road on Sunday morning, so if you see people that look like us, it's probably us, & you can say hi & give us money, if you want. This is our first trip back to the old stomping grounds & it seems like a lot longer than a month! Nothing better have changed while we were gone. Hope to see each of you soon...

Good Drivers Wanted in Memphis

We were warned before even moving here that once you cross the Mississippi River you'd better beware of Memphis drivers. Apparently, whenever signals were invented no one told the entire city of Memphis. Whether they're crossing 1 lane or 5 lanes of traffic they just kind of go where they want to & don't feel a need to let everyone else on the road know where exactly that is.
Another really exciting thing that happens a lot is people running red lights. For example, you can be sitting in the middle of an intersection with a green yield light & you'd better hope that you aren't the first car. The reason for this is because it's very likely that 1, 2, or sometimes even 3 cars will run the red light leaving you stuck in the middle of the intersection with lots of cars honking at you to get out of their way.
Now, I'm a big fan of go carts but I never knew I would live in a city where you feel like you're on a race car track while driving to work everyday. This has been a serious adjustment for us, but I am determined to keep my 'no tickets/no wrecks' perfect record so that I will continue to have proof that I am in fact the better driver between Ben & me.

A Whole Lotta Pictures

Here's some of the stuff we've been doing lately via all the pictures we finally got scanned, enjoy!
The Graceland Pics you've all been waiting for...
Monica & Elvis

What to wear, what to wear?
Elvis' white fur bed
Bobbie, Dante & Monica outside the Mansion

Dante & Mon hanging out
Our House Pics you've all been waiting for...
Livingroom

Diningroom
Kitchen1
Kitchen2
Bedroom

Ben's infamous desk
Backyard1
Backyard2

First Days...
Ben's 1st day of graduate school
Monica's 1st day of work

From Graceland to Chicago

It's fun to say that we are going to take a weekend trip to Chicago. From what we've heard, it's about 7 1/2 hours away--which is WAY better than the 12 hours it takes from OKC. We thought we needed to blog before we left so you wouldn't forget about us...but we didn't, & I'm telling you, do not try to get out of Memphis at 6:30 because we sat in traffic for an hour. The total trip took about 8 1/2 hours.


We do, however, have pictures of Graceland. I (Ben) didn't go, because I needed to do homework and because we couldn't afford for both of us to go. After all these years, they still want $16.20 for students and $18.00 for adults. Monica, Bobbie, and Dante went and toured the great mansion. I'll let Monica take over now and tell you a little about it.
Well our day began as usual getting lost. Graceland isn't as easy to find as you would think & even after we paid $2 to park we somehow ended up in the http://www.elvis.com/epheartbreakhotel/default.asp">Heartbreak Hotel instead of Elvis' mansion, which was our destination. Once we got there we emptied our pockets to see the fabulous mansion Elvis lived in. We put our interactive headsets on & we were on our way. I found out a lot of interesting facts that I had no idea about... such as that Elvis was a twin, but his twin died @ birth & that Elvis actually served in the army for a good amount of time. I just always assumed that when I saw pictures of him in his army uniform that he was entertaining the troops. We also saw his round, white fur bed as well as every outfit I think he ever wore on display. It's definitely an adventure & something to experience once in your lifetime if you're ever visiting us in Memphis. Here's a picture of The King's grave, there will be more to come.