CRAZY

yes...me...i am crazy!

i am going to be running a triathlon this summer...June 6th!!!

peter and i will be a team, not required, but most people in this race do it as a 2 person team. we will do a 6 mile canoe race, hence the teams, 5.5 mile run and then finish with an 18 mile bike ride.

ok, so lets think about this. i have run any farther than a few feet since high school...i graduated in 2001! i have NEVER been on a bike for more than recreation and that was also years ago! canoeing...well, i think the only upside is that it will be going downriver!! :)

i really dont care what place i finish, i just want to finish! i want to finish without having a heart attack. i want to finish with peter! i think this could be fun...i will let you know how things are progressing as we go! :)

blessings! ALo

Today

today is sunday...and i love sundays!! you really never know what will happen, but today was great! today actually started yesterday...well, at least very early. peter and i stayed up after an SAE event in dayton to watch SNL, which wasnt really that great, up we stayed up and watched it anyway. i cant remember the last time i watched SNL...does that make me old? so we went to bed a little after midnight and slept in SOOOO late! i think i got up to use the restroom at 9:30 am and then got back in bed, stayed there til 10:30. it was so awesome...yes, even though we didnt make it to church :( i then made breakfast...scrambled eggs, toast, and a banana. i then took the longest shower ever, might have been the best shower i have taken in forever, yes, i do keep track of those things!! then, i jumped back in bed and stayed until noon. LOL! peter and i then made our way to the busch's for sunday lunch...who doesnt love sunday lunch, especially when someone else makes it...peter did make creme brulee! so good! then i took a cat nap on the way home in the car and came home to watch The Pursuit of Happiness and basically sat on the couch until right now. i love that sundays, no matter what, are slow and laid back. i love more than anything that it is all about family! peter and i have literally spent the ENTIRE day together!! so, if you are wondering, i will never give up this day! i will never work on sundays, they mean far to much to me!! and if you find out that i am working sundays, SLAP ME!!! thanks!

blessings, ALo

Wedding Scrapbook

My aunts threw a beautiful bridal shower for me before i got married and one of the things that they did was have everyone that came make a scrapbook page for me. it was full of advice, blessings, recipes, pictures and so much love! i still look back on it a few times a year...sometimes i laugh really hard, sometimes i tear up (not quite cry though) and sometimes i giggle at the photos. there are 2 passages that keep coming back to me this week though. i thought that i would share them with you...so i guess this is an insight post! :) hope you enjoy them!! thanks to Abby and Katie who shared them with me!!

From Abby:

"Happiness in marriage is not something that happens.

A good marriage must be created.

In marriage the little things are the big things.

It is never being too old to hold hands.

It is remembering to say 'i love you' at least once a day.

It is never going to sleep angry.

It is at no time taking the other for granted;

the courtship should not end with the honeymoon,

it should continue through the years.

It is having a mutual sense of values and common objectives.

It is standing together facing the world.

It is forming a circle of love that gathers the whole family.

It is doing things for each other, not in the attitude of duty or sacrifice,

but in the spirit of joy.

It is speaking words of appreciation and demonstrating gratitude in thoughtful ways.

It is not looking for perfection in each other.

It is cultivating flexibility, patience, understanding and a sense of humor.

It is having the capacity to forgive and forget.

It is giving each other an atmosphere in which each can grow old.

It is a common search for the good and the beautiful.

It is establishing a relationship in which the independence is equal,

dependence is mutual and the obligation is reciprocal.

It is not only marrying the right partner, it is being the right partner."

From Katie:

The Box, by Walt Larimore

"Most people get married believing a myth. They believe that marriage is a beautiful box full of all the things they have longed for. They believe the box is full of companionship, sexual fulfillment, intimacy, and friendship. The truth is that marriage at the start is an empty box. You must put something in before you can take something out. There's no love in marriage. Love is in people and people put it in the marriage. There's no romance in marriage. People have to infuse it into their marriages. A couple must learn this art; this form of the habit of giving, the habit of loving, of serving and pleasing. It's up to you as a couple to keep your box full. If you take out more than you put in, the box will be empty."

Blessings, ALo

Watch out Hillsong...here she comes!!!

Morgan Brittany Busch...meet Sydney, Australia!

Not quite a year after peter and i got married, we moved in with the Busch family...doug and caroline, bryanna, morgan and maggie, and yes, 3 dogs! we lived in the basement, shared a bathroom with the 3 teenage girls and would be awakened every morning by bo the bulldog snoring and/or the other dogs nails on the hardwood floor above us. it was actually a great time for all of us! we were there for just under six months and in that time we were adopted by our "fake family". we called them mom and dad and our sisters, even to this day we call them that. it is so great having people here in ohio that treat us like family.

now, over two years later, morgan is leaving for australia. i first met morgan right after the family moved from new jersey. i was an intern in the youth department and a small group leader and in the last 4 years i have seen her grow leaps and bounds in all aspects of her life! we have become close friends and i am so excited about this next chapter in her life!

morgan is heading all the way to hillsong in sydney, australia today!! she is an awesome singer/songwriter and is following God's calling in her life to expand those gifts by studying and training in one of the best places to do that. hillsong has been known for years as a leader in worship music. morgan will be there for 11 months at a time (everything is australia is backwards from us, so their school year starts in january). it will be so hard to not have her here, but i know that she is being attentive to God's calling and will be blessed for it!

so, help me in praying for morgan as she travels across the world and puts herself out there!! pray for her family (and me) as we figure out what to do without her here! :) morgan, i love you and i cant wait to see and hear what comes out of this experience!! have fun!!!!

blessings, ALo

First Snow

today we got our first big snow of the winter here in ohio. i am one of those people that doesnt really care either way about snow. i dont love it, but i dont hate it. what i do hate is how people drive when there is a little snow. ohioans are not good drivers, EVER (!!!), let alone when there is snow on the ground. boo!

the good thing about today is that i got one of the best workouts!! i have never really shoveled snow before. i tried it once, right after i was let go from a job and i ended being more pissed off than i needed to be to shovel and didnt get much accomplished, in fact i am pretty sure that i hurt my back. but...today was totally different! i went out and got a portion of our driveway started before peter got home from work. i told him that i wanted to do ours and shovel the walk of the neighbors. next thing i now i had ours done and the neighbors entire driveway, an hour and a half later!! and yes, it was dark out at this point.

i think that the neighbors, who are in their 80's, thought i was creepy :) but in the end, i was excited that i actually took the initiative, especially in the cold!

i came inside and stripped down to find that my sweat had turned to icicles...in my bra, in my hair...awesome! come to find out, according to fitday.com, i burned 552 calories in that hour and a half!!! that is totally awesome! what a great way to spend my afternoon...totally unexpected!

get out there and shovel!! everyone benefits! p.s. you should have seen what i was wearing...should have taken a picture!! :)

blessings, ALo

Best day in awhile

today was a great day! there were lots of things that made today great, but here are the top 4...

1. i was a teaching aide. our salon is extending their services to include eyelash extensions and i, being the nice person that i am, gave up my time to allow Kristin to practice with my lashes :) so...i now have eyelash extensions. they are weird for the first few minutes but i love them now...so cool!

2. i was part of a make over today. Della, the recipient, won the makeover from a raffle for a womens event. she was such a great lady and i had SO MUCH FUN!!! i did highlights, lowlights, cut and style. she also got a manicure and eyebrow arch as well as 2 two outfits from a nearby boutique. she and i will get to show off her new look next tuesday at the womens event and will be given a small radio spot! AWESOME!

3. i was asked to be a stylist for a photo shoot. next monday the dayton ballet are having a photo shoot , and brent (one of the owners) asked if i would be willing to be a part of it all!! DUH!!!

4. i made homemade whipped cream tonight. i know...not the best choice ever, but it was awesome!! we had heavy whipping cream that needed to get used, strawberries that needed to get eaten and some ice cream. what a great way to end a great day!!

thanks for caring enough to read this!!

blessings, ALo

What Michael Jackson did for the salon

i know that most people are tired about hearing about the legacy that Michael Jackson left behind, but for me some things are just undeniable. actually there is only one thing that i am going to talk about that has left an impression on me. frankly, i have never been a huge fan of the king of pop and have been uber over the whole thing....BUT...here is what i have see in the salon...black boys wanting to be white!! yes, im totally serious!!

ok, today for example, we had a young gentleman come in with VERY curly VERY dark VERY...no other word, knappy hair. he then pulled out a picture of Peter Wentz (mom, this is a white boy in a popular band, married to ashley simpson) and asked for his exact cut and style. now, thankfully the stylist was smart enough to be honest and tell him that he pretty much was delusional about the outcome; however, she went ahead with what she could do...relaxer, cut and style. it was a great outcome, but probably to his dismay he looked more middle eastern/indian than he did Pete Wentz, but he did have the skin tight girl jeans and purple hightops!

now, obviously this young man has what i like to call a serious identity crisis going on in his life, but maybe i am the only one to notice. i mean, this has been socially acceptable for a long time now! michael wanted to be white for a long time and we all know that it was a running joke among all the late night TV hosts and pretty much the whole world! so now, we have beautiful black men wanting to be white girls...what the heck? come one now...i dont even now what else to say!!!

boys, your mamas want boys, not girls. 

boys, your girls want to date/marry strong masculine men, not guys we share pants with! 

thanks! :)

blessings, ALo

Opposites Attract

Peter and i have been married for a little over 3 years now and i can honestly say that i am more in love with him now than i have ever been!! and while i could go on and on for days about how perfect we are for each other, the truth is that i am not sure why we ever fell in love...we couldnt be MORE opposite! i am pretty sure that is what keeps things interesting for both of us. kinda like, lets see how we are going to get through today with all the craziness that make us us! so, here is a small sampling of how we are so different...

he is tall ( 6'9") and i am short (5'4")
he is quiet and i am loud
he is reserved and i am outgoing
he takes his time and i am totally impatient
he likes technology and i like clothes
he has wretched smelling farts (silent but violent) and i have loud ones
he likes classic rock and roll and i like country
he calls it soda and i call it pop
he has one sibling and i have nine (almost)
he loves the computer and i love TV
he likes a clean house and i hate to clean
he can drop 20 pounds with no effort and i cant loose weight if you paid me...but i could try!! :)

those are just a few things! but seriously...the most important thing in both of your lives is the relationship that we each have with Jesus Christ. we both now with that saving grace we would be nothing. God has allowed us to find joy not only in Him but in each other and that is what makes this journey so much fun, even with all the differences!

we also have lots of things in common, like our sense of humor and loving to have fun together, our love for our families and we both love to travel.

so, as this new year begins, i pray that we continue to look to each other for fun and laughter, despite everything else and we continue to let God lead us as a couple. i will be praying the same for you!

blessings! ALo

Sick Little Lucy

isnt she so adorable? i know...shes my niece, Kayla. i love her to pieces, but as far as i know she is sick today. my sister-in-law told me last night that by 10pm Kayla had been sick 2x! apparently its going around! i have read all over facebook and talked to several clients that have had the flu. by the way, it really irks me that people come into the salon when they are sick! and the worst is when they say to me..."Oh, Charlie is sick and couldnt go to school today, but since i am here and couldnt find a babysitter, can you cut his hair?" ARE YOU SERIOUS???!!! if he cant go to school, he cant come here! DUH!!

ok,  back to Kayla...she is 6...cute, blonde and very mischievous! in fact, several people in the family have nicknamed her Lucy...short for Lucifer. isnt that awful, but funny? i know, welcome to the family! this picture was taken of Kayla and me in July at a family reunion in Michigan.

so while peter and i love our home here in the lovely ohio, and we love being independent, we hate to be away from family! we hate choosing who to go see during the holidays, we hate missing summer cookouts and boat rides and sitting on the front porch with our grandparents (we have grandparents in 4 different states!) but i really hate being away when someone is sick! no, i dont want the sickness, but i hate knowing there is nothing that i can do to help! i cant bring Kayla ginger ale and saltines and i cant bring my grandpa red velvet truffles or a milkshake! (my grandpa is very sick too, at home but hospice comes several times a week)

but all in all i am SOOO blessed! peter and i have all of our grandparents, parents, and siblings. i love my family, all of them, and yes there are TONS of us!

so, i pray that you and your family stay healthy!

whit, tell kayla i said hi and that i'm thinkin about her! love ya!

blessings, ALo

really??

am i allowed to do two posts in one day? i am not sure what the rules are here. i guess i am just anxious to really get this thing going... lol!

so, i have one of the greatest jobs in the world. i LOVE what i do. in fact, the days that i have to get up early arent even a big deal...yes, i know i only have 2 "early" days, but still! even though i love what i do, i was talking with some family at christmas i think that i missed my true calling in life. now hear me out...i think that deep down in my heart i am supposed to be a...

TV CRITIC!!!

lol. here's how it went down. we were sitting at dinner talking about how my two cousins, Beau and Brett, should try out for the Amazing Race and i went into this diatribe all about last season and how i think they would be perfect for the show being that they are 1. super competitive 2. athletic 3. brothers and 4. cute. then i was asked what other shows that i watched. here's the break down...

Sundays: Iron Chef, Brothers and Sisters and The Amazing Race

Mondays: Intervention and Hoarders, The Hills and The City

Tuesdays: Biggest Loser (!!!!!!) and Tabatha's Takeover

Wednesday: Top Chef

Thursday: Grey's and Private Practice

Friday and Saturday: whatever i can find

there are the occasional shows that are not listed, but those are the faithful CANNOT miss ones

then i was talking about how because i dont have TiVo i miss some shows that i love and Peter has to VHS record Biggest Loser for me...yes, i am that big of a fan.

here are 3 reasons why i think i should be a critic

1. who wouldnt want to get paid to watch TV

2. it would give be something to blog about

3. i really do care about TV, especially all the trash Tv (ie all the Housewives on Bravo, Kardashians, and Teen Moms) and could tell you everything you ever wanted to know about them

no, i will not be looking for a career change anytime soon, but you will probably be reading alot about the "crap" that i watch on Tv and the parties that occur during! i might be crazy, but whatever!

as a side note, after my family heard that i make Peter record via VHS, my mom donated her old TiVo to us, so now my addiction will only increase. GREAT!! no really, thanks Mom...i love you!! :)

blessings, ALo

well, this is it...my first post...EVER! i know that i am jumping on this band wagon a little late, but, you know me...all in my own time! :)

here's what you need to know first....i HATE using the capital letters unless they are all caps. if you dont like that...dont read. i usually dont use apostrophes unless i feel like it. however, i try very hard to use correct grammar and spelling :)

so, i am typing this while watching Julie & Julia, which is great so far and is about blogging and somewhat inspired me. but most of all, i have been inspired by my husband...he started a blog too (p.s. i love the ... (pause dots))

so, some days this will be nothing but nonsense and other days (probably few and far between) it will be insights into the...well, i have no idea. i bet i will have some really great stories though, and that will be fantastic.

so, all of this to say...enjoy! :)

blessings! ALo