Oh Edward...

Dear Twilight,
I have been slacking on my blog and it's definitely all YOUR fault. Basically I would like to know when I will have my life back. I would appreciate a prompt, sarcastic response.
Sincerely yours,
Amy

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

26 feels younger than 25

We celebrated my 26th birthday the last few days

Of course it takes a few days to celebrate a birthday -

Pfffshaaa! Come on!

Anyhow, we are "checking off" things that we want to do in California

Soooo off we went to Wine Country!

This was taken at Murrieta's Well.

Of course we lucked out and got to speak to one of the winery family members because he just so happened to be at the winery that day.

We had a lovely chat... and of course we gave them BOG's.

Mark wanted to feed the owners horse....

The weather was PERFECT and it was great because we went on a Tuesday, so no one was there! We had the whole place to ourselves.

Next ... Carmel Beach and Pebble Beach!

This is a shot of Mark and the puppies walking back down to the beach from the 17th (or 18th, I don't know really) green of Pebble Beach Golf Links.

Someone said it costs like $400 to golf here.

Absurd.

Then we went on the 17 Mile Drive from Carmel to Monterey.

The homes were AH-mazing...lots of them were for sale too...

Anyone?

Along the way we took a picture with the Lone Cypress.

Mark's exact quote: "That's it? Well, I'm unimpressed. Someone even put a fence around it? Why?! It's a silly tree!"

Then we finally made it to Monterey after the 17 Mile Drive and a quick nap on the beach in Pacific Grove.

We encountered some Harbor Seals and they sang me happy birthday!

Well, not really, but it sure does look like they're singing in this picture! :)

Cooper and Cali were NOT fans of the seals.

Cooper went up to sniff one and it barked so loud he recoiled into a ball and rolled over backwards! Mark and I laughed so hard!

Cali just walked as far away from them as she possibly could and whined.

Then we took the "long way home" through Big Sur.

All I can say is, INCREDIBLE.

We went around every turn and just said, "Woooow."

I took so many pictures, but hardly any of them came out stellar because Mark refused to stop.

He had a class that started at 6 so we were on a SCHEDULE. Boo. Hiss.

I'm totally up for another Big Sur trip.

Who's in?

Before we finally hit the 101 we saw a few more seals on the side of Hwy 1

These were Elephant Seals and weren't quite as cutie cutie as the Harbor Seals.

Either way, I thought this picture was great.

One little guy is just wailing away and the other one is like, "Geez dude. Are you done yet?"

Thanks Gillette.

You know, there was a "pencil mustache" option as well,

I told Mark it was too nasty to even put up on the blog.

Just a good time-waster for you bloggers out there...

Vote on your fave...

It might become a reality with the facial hair Mark has currently.

Ah, the joys of being a student - there are some.

Frightening to say the least.

Mark said this one reminded him of Jeff Maday.

So are we going for handle bars?

Old Western?

Or all-out beard?

Anniversary Eve/Program Fiasco

Well tomorrow is our 4 year anniversary.

Hard to believe I was at Kinko's REPRINTING my programs this time 4 years ago with the correct date on them...all before the night of the wedding. 

(Thanks for bailing me out, Dad).

I remember my wedding planner saying, "Um Amy, are you getting married the 4th or the 5th?"

I of course said, "The 4th. Why are you asking?"

She said, "Because all your programs say you're getting married the 5th. That's Sunday."

*uncontrollable sobbing ensued*

Then my family came to the rescue...

They re-assembled all my programs the night before and well into the day of the wedding!

Now I had to bust out the scanner for these pics, but they are priceless!

Do not let their annoyed faces fool you.

They were so happy.

Especially April and Jennifer - they were the MOST happy.

Can't you tell?!

Please notice in the center of the table (*pic below*) HOW MANY  programs they had to re-do the day of the wedding...

I am soooo thankful!

Here is a classic picture of brother being a supportive sibling and tying all those pink ribbons on my new, updated, correctly dated programs :) 

(only slight hints of sarcasm there).

The boys - assembly line style.

It was (at the time) a legit nightmare.

But of course the fam came through for me.

Joey even came and provided everyone CFA on a busy Saturday morning.

OK - fast forward 4 years...

That's neither here nor there, because programs aside, we've been married for 4 years!

I got a few early bird anniversary cards in the mail today, but I'm waiting to open them 'til tomorrow.

However, I did get a suspicious package that I just COULD NOT wait to open.

It's from my sister-in-law, Connie

She mailed me GRITS!

Grits, people. Grits.

Apparently westie's out here don't know how stinkin' good grits are!

I am clearly beyond excited.

So excited I might break out my scanner again.

High school and college friends - beware.

Berenstain Bears

Growing up I LOVED reading the Berenstain Bears books and occasionally watching them on tv (the glorious 1985 version, no less).

Well while at CFA seminar this year I had the opportunity to meet Mike Berenstain!

Very fun. He is a part of a family business too.

His parents started the Berenstain Bears books back in the day and he is the current illustrator for the books/cartoons.

When our friendly UPS dude showed up at my door step I was honestly confused as to what I had ordered online and forgot about (whoops. I do that a lot. Heh heh.)

When I opened it and realized that it was a poster of the Berenstain Bears eating CFA I laughed out loud and then had Mark take pictures for me!

Speaking of books...

Remember when I told you I had a problem?

Well I am proud to announce that I have finished 3 of the 9 books that I started.

I got lots of great advice and I used all of it to finish a few of my "unfinished projects"

Have no fear - there was motivation.

I got stuck on Amazon (it sucks me in) and I ordered 3 more!

I mean come on, free shipping over $25!?

You had me at hello.

I bet you'll never guess which ones I bought...The last one will probably surprise, but it had so many high recommendations - I'm willing to try it out.

1.) You know i had to... 

2.) Little sis read this one and so I thought I'd jump on the band wagon too...

3.) I know, I know, I succumbed to the pressure. Hey! Everyone else is doing it! I thought about buying the 4-book collection, but decided I'd see if I liked this one or not first ...