Yes Man

After watching the movie, "Yes Man" on Friday night, Ryan and I decided that we aren't spontaneous enough in our lives. As a result, we decided to spend our Valentine's Day saying "yes" to whatever opportunities presented themselves.

We started off the day hitting a couple of rounds at the batting cages.


After a few intense rounds of batting, we came out of the park only to find a McDonald's right across the street. In the spirit of saying "Yes," we decided to have a romantic V-Day lunch at McDonald's. Following our "gourmet" lunch, we hopped back in the car and drove until we reached downtown Mesa. When we hit the downtown area, we parked the car and decided to take a stroll.


While venturing through the downtown area, we came across an awesome antique store. The store was massive and had a ridiculous amount of cool stuff. We spent over an hour rummaging through the two stories worth of antiques.



Later that day we had a V-Day feast at Texas Roadhouse. Following dinner, we hit up a late night showing of "Confessions Of A Shopaholic." (Although that wasn't Ryan's first pick, he was a good sport about it.) This post would be extremely long if we tried to include everything we did in the day, but those were a few of the highlights. 13 hours and only $30 later, I think we can honestly say that was the best Valentine's day ever. Hopefully, from here on out, we'll be a little bit more willing to say "yes" to new opportunities.

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Chocolate Affaire

On Friday night we had a night out with some of our friends. We started the night by hitting up the "Old Spaghetti Factory" in downtown Phoenix. In case you've never been there, it's an awesome restaurant with an actual train car in the middle. Ryan took me to the restaurant for the first time in Spokane and I've loved it ever since. After dinner we headed over to the Glendale "Chocolate Affaire." The event is an annual gathering of chocolate vendors from the southwest that come to showcase and sell their products. Although the chocolate was a little expensive, it was great getting to check out the event for the first time. Live entertainment was provided, but we preferred "people watching." As always, real people at free events never disappoint.

James & Tiffany

Celeste & Devyn

Ryan and I hope this will be us in 40 years
(Especially w/ the matching shirts & homemade Hershey Kiss hats)

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Super Bowl Bash

It's that time again...Super Bowl time!! This year was an especially exciting Super Bowl as our Cardinals were competing for the championship! As always, Ryan made his Mom's "to-die-for" buffalo wings and I made some football-themed cupcakes. I'll be honest, I'm not a huge football fan, but the food and atmosphere of the day totally draw me in. We went over to my parents house to watch the big game and had a blast getting to hang out and watch the Cards battle the Steelers. Although we lost, it was a fun game to watch! Go Cards!!

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Feeling "At Home"

Although it seems like we've been pretty bad at posting so far this year, the truth is that absolutely nothing post-worthy has happened lately. Our most exciting news is the arrival of our brand new camera. Finally we'll be able to post some "quality" pictures on our blog.

As promised before, here are the rest of the pictures from our recently completed painting project. After A TON of work, our apartment is officially complete! I'll be honest, I never thought we'd have to do this much work while renting. I guess it's just a small price to pay to feel "at home" in an apartment.

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Preparing for 2009

In order to start 2009 off right, Ryan and I decided we needed to "de-clutter" our life. So for the last month we've been working on an intense "apartment renovation" project to help us transition to 2009.

About a month ago we spoke with our apartment manager and found out that we are able to paint our apartment (without having to paint it back) as long as we don't paint it any super bold colors. Since we plan on staying in this apartment for a while, we felt that it would be worthwhile to paint our apartment and make it feel like "home." Within 2 days of finding out we were able to paint, we began our project.

Along with painting the walls, we also painted the baseboards (the few that the apartment has), re-caulked the bathrooms and kitchen, re-organized and cleaned out all of our closets and storage boxes, and did a super DEEP clean on the entire place (including all of the air vents). Although it took a month, we have now FINALLY completed all the changes. It took a ton of time, was a ton of work, and was ABSOLUTELY worth it.

We're interested to see how 2009 will go as it will be our first complete year working full-time. Even though we have no idea what this year will bring, we're much more prepared now that our home is in order. Bring on the new year!

(Pictures of the living room and kitchen are still to come)

Bedroom #1

Bedroom #2

Bathroom #1

Bathroom #2

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A Very Merry Christmas

Every year, Ryan and I rotate spending time with our families during the holidays. This year we spent Christmas with my family here in Arizona. The highlight of the vacation was getting a week off of work to spend time with family.

My sister and her family flew out from Michigan to spend the holidays with my family as well. The week was full of shopping, eating, playing, and shopping and eating some more! Seriously, I think I gained at least 5 pounds in the last week. Although my clothes are a little tighter, the week was a blast and we wish it could've lasted longer!

Spending some quality time with Grandpa and Grandma

This kid has no fears (seriously, he'll climb ANYTHING!)

Feeding the horses

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Charlie Brown Christmas Tree

Since Ryan and I trade off spending Christmas with our families each year, we've never felt the need to get our own Christmas tree. This year we decided that since we'll be staying close to home for Christmas, it was the perfect year to get our own tree. For the last two years we've carried on the "real vs. fake" Christmas tree debate. Since Ryan grew up with a fake tree and I grew up with a real one, we both see the benefits of doing it our "own families'" way. 

Being the great husband that he is, Ryan gave in and let us get a real tree this year. Although it's only 3 feet high, it's our very own Charlie Brown Christmas tree and we love it. NOW we can have a Merry Christmas!

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Catching Up

We always look forward to going to Spokane to spend time with old friends. Ryan's friend Lance got married while we were there so Ryan got to spend some quality time with the boys. They had fun hanging out and playing videos games late into the night. We wish we were able to see everyone more often, but it was fun getting to catch up while we were there!

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Holiday Festivities

While in Spokane, we also got to help Ryan's family decorate for Christmas. We turned on the holiday music, whipped out the Christmas decorations, and made an event of it. It's always fun getting to be a part of the McFarlane holiday festivities!

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Keeping Us On Our Toes

One of the highlights of our trip to Spokane was getting to spend time with Ryan's nephew and niece. Riley and Cooper are a total blast and always keep us on our toes. In the week that we were there, I can't even begin to list all of the crazy things they did. Let's just say that every day was new and exciting with them around.

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Doughnuts & Apple Cider

This year we went to Spokane to spend Thanksgiving with Ryan's family. The day after we got there, we traveled several hours to visit Ryan's relatives in a town called Manson. While there, we actually got to help make Ryan's family's famous "apple cider."

We first went to Ryan's great aunt's house where we made homemade doughnuts. Although I'm not a huge doughnut fan, these doughnuts were AMAZING! After we made the doughnuts, we took them over to a big warehouse where we had a huge "cider making party." It was a little messy but it was a total blast. As expected, the cider was the best apple cider I've ever tried. It's times like those that make me really appreciate having married into a family that has so many cool traditions.

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Two Years and Counting...

It's official!! We are now an old married couple. That's right, today is our 2-year anniversary!! Who knew time could fly by so fast!?!? I never would've guessed that I'd end up marrying the guy who I kissed for the first time outside a porta-potty. I'm pretty sure that neither Ryan or I ever would've guessed that our roadtrip fling would've turned into marriage...but I'm sure glad it did! 

What more can I say...I love you Ry and I can't wait for a lifetime of your crazy antics! Just keep in mind that if you can get through these two years with me, you can get through two more, and two more after that! Happy Anniversary!! ;-)

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Federal Criminal

This morning when I was getting ready for work, I was startled by a loud knock at our door. In my experience, a phone call or knock on the door at 6 in the morning is never a good thing. When I answered the door, I was greeted by two U.S. Marshals. I assumed they wanted to ask us something about our neighbors since there's been problems with them in the past...then they asked to talk with Ryan. My stomach just dropped and my mind started racing wondering what kind of trouble Ryan could've gotten in to. 

When Ryan finally came into the room, they said they wanted to talk to him about a case of identity theft. Apparently, the son of a federal judges' identity had been stolen and Ryan was a suspect in the case. They had a whole file on him - including where he worked, lived (obviously), and even a picture of him. Apparently Ryan's phone number was linked to the case. 

To give you some background, Ryan's phone number was issued to him by Intel when he started working there. Since he received the phone, he's recieved numerous calls and texts from all kinds of people including porn sites and car dealerships. 

The Marshals questioned him as to when he got the phone and soon realized that the guy who had the phone before Ryan was who they were actually looking for. 

As much as we don't like being bothered at 6 in the morning, Ryan and I are pretty pleased by this little occurance. Although Ryan being taken away in handcuff's would've made a great picture for our blog, I'm relieved to hear my husband isn't a federal criminal! ;-)

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It's That Time Again!

Today the radio stations began playing Christmas music and we started our Christmas shopping. We are officially in the Christmas spirit. Let the holiday season begin!!

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Halloween

For Halloween this year, we went to our friends Tiffany and James' house for a bbq. Following the bbq, we hit up the Tempe Marketplace to see 'Hoobstank' perform. (I know, we didn't know they were still around either). The best part about the concert was getting to watch people like this:

and this...

and this...

(Tiffany & James)

(Craig & Brittany)

We were pretty lame this year and didn't dress up. But I think it's pretty safe to say that we got some great ideas for next year's costumes. (Yeah, right...)

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State Fair

On Tuesday night, Ryan and I were finally able to go to the AZ State Fair. One of the things that we were looking forward to the most was the greasy fair food! Although we consider ourselves to have a pretty high tolerance for greasy foods, I have to admit that we totally underestimated the effect of fair food on our bodies. After eating a massive egg roll on a stick and a foot-long corn dog, we were pretty much done for. Who knows, maybe next year we'll actually make it to fried desserts! Watch out obesity, here we come!

1 Foot Long Corn Dog + 1 Massive Egg Roll = $16.00
Admission to the Park + Riding 2 Rides = $48.00
A Night at the Fair w/ My Hubby = Priceless

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