Monday, November 23, 2009

Growing Old Together

Ok I've been meaning to write about this for a while so I'm doing it now before I forget! A couple weeks ago at work there was this old man who just made my day. I work as a receptionist/sales rep for a vacation membership club. Customers come in and we give them a presentation about our company. There are a number of qualifications people have to meet in able to see the presentation, for example, we aren't allowed to tour single males. That's where the old man comes in. He was alone, so we couldn't tour him, and we had to turn him away. One of the managers explained our regulations and sent him on his way. About 5 minutes later he comes back in and walks up to the front desk. I thought he was going to yell at me (which is a pretty common occurrence) but he just started talking. He was pretty offended that he couldn't see the presentation only because he was single. He told me how his wife had died of cancer earlier this year, and showed me pictures of them dancing on their 50th wedding anniversary. He told me about how they met (on a blind date), he could even remember what she was wearing. He gave such lovely descriptions of her. You could hear in his voice how much he missed her. I wish I could have talked to him longer but I was really busy and my boss was rushing me to get things done. Before he left he told me a joke/pick up line that I love. He asked me, "are my eyes blue?" and I answered yes. Then he said, "That is so weird. They only turn blue when I'm looking as something pretty." Isn't that so precious? Haha I have a point to all this I promise.
Sometimes I am terrified of getting old. Like.... dentures? They freak me out. So does having to get glasses, hearing aids, and having back/knee/any kind of joint trouble. It scares me. But that old man helped me see a little bit of the sweeter side of old age. Spending all those years with someone you love. Nothing could be better. Our hair will turn gray, our skin will get loose and wrinkly, our bodies will weaken, and our senses will dim, but love will always stay strong. Even after death. I'm in no rush to reach old age, but I am excited about all of the life Jake and I get to live before we get there. I am so grateful for him and most especially that I get to keep him forever! This isn't nearly as eloquent as it sounded in my head. In a nut shell, life is precious! Enjoy every bit of it!

New Apartment!!

A quick shout out to Mom and Dad Rucker for letting us live with them for a couple months. They helped us out so much, we will be forever in their debt! And again thanks to Jesse and Mallory for storing our stuff all summer. Seriously. Thank you!
Well, Jake and I are really picky (or maybe it's just me...) but once we found our apartment we fell in love! So here are some pictures of our new place. We're on the third floor which is sometimes a bummer but we get a good workout! And I feel safer on the third floor when I'm home alone.


My favorite room! I love love love this kitchen. Our last two kitchens (in Mesa and CA) were so small! Absolutely no counter space. But this one is marvelous!

Dining room. Out table looks tiny in this picture. All of the walls are so blank. We need some cool art to cover them and bring in some color!!

Bathroom!

The bedroom is pretty boring. Just a bed, a side table, and a lamp. There is a sliding door in the bedroom, which is another reason I'm glad we're on the third floor. Sliding door+bedroom+1st floor=scariness. So we'll move onto the wicked awesome closet! We don't have a dresser so it's pretty packed in there.

Family room! Wahoo! And that concludes our tour.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Dress Design for Shabby Apple Dresses

So I was reading a friend's blog yesterday and saw that she had drawn some dress designs for a contest by Shabby Apple dresses. I've always loved their dresses and since I love drawing I figured I'd sketch something fast (since the contest ends today!) and post it. So here is my dress design. I couldn't decide which color I liked better so I did both. Wish me luck!

Yellow is by far my favorite spring color, and I always have the hardest time finding a fun, modest spring dress. The main part of the dress would be a strech cotton, with white sleeves overlayed with a sheer fabric (Sorry, I don't know much about fabric and their specific names). The sheer fabric is also ruffled along the neckline and toward the hem, which ends just below the knee. A light flowery/paisley pattern in a darker yellow fades in and out sparadically throughout the dress. This dress is designed to be light, airy, and is sure to turn quite a few heads.Alghouth dark blue is rarely seen as a spring color, the stark contrast with the sleeves and waistband still maintain the fun and flirty aspects of the yellow version of the dress. The type of fabric used would be the same, the only difference is the striped wasteband verses the buttons on the yellow dress, and this dress is a solid color (no flowery designs).