This girl

I know this girl that accidentally pulled her pinky toenail off and she is wondering if it has happened to anybody else before who could give her advise on how to aide it back to health. Could she get infected if there's no toenail? Could she develop on ingrown toenail? Does she seek doctoral care? She is just wondering. If you leave your responses right here on this blog I will be sure to get them her.

Oh and this girl also just broke her hairdryer RIGHT before straightening her wet mess of hair before going to a wedding! Can you believe the things she is going through?!

Difficult Times

I am deeply saddened to the point of tears about the recent news of an acquaintance's passing away. One of my previous wedding client's father was killed in a head on collision with a drunk driver last Friday. His son sent out a mass email last night explaining what had happened and it is simply devastating. Mr. Wenzel and his wife were on their way home from the hospital (Mrs. Wenzel is going through chemo as a cancer survivor) when a F-450 crossed the middle line and hit them head on. I can't imagine their family's pain right now. The son, who sent the email, said that, "Somehow, I don't have anger for the driver but I am just purely saddened when thinking it didn't have to be this way."

Mr. and Mrs. Wenzel had left such an awesome impression on me after working with them and their family during the wedding. He was such a cool guy. His son mentioned in his email how much he missed him already....I just can't imagine his pain. I feel compelled to do more than just pray for them but I have no clue what to do. Would his children even care if I sent them an email/letter? If anyone who reads this has ever lost their beloved father in such a tragic way, please share what a son in his position needs at a time like this. I doubt any men read this blog, but if you do please give me some insight on how to best serve them. Post anonymously, I don't care.

If you're interested, here's a site.

I was wondering why I have been seeing and hearing more and more of these types of tragedies lately, but I realized that it's just because I am living longer and life keeps going on. I think of how many deaths my parents have had to live through. I understand it is a part of life and I am so thankful that I have hope in my Beautiful Saviour and I can trust in Him at all times! I pray that everyone who goes through tragic moments in life will have an opportunity to turn to the One who will one day wipe away every tear from our eyes.

Creativity Needed

We have 5 weddings in the span of 1 month that we need to buy gifts for. That's a lot right now. I'm tempted to just buy all of them gift cards, but that doesn't save much money. How can I make this work? Are there any suggestions that you have? I understand that you can give a wedding gift any time within the following year of their wedding day, but I like to be punctual. And the weddings don't stop after this month....

If you haven't seen this by now, check it out.

Wedding Entrance

I sooo wish that I had thought of this! I will gladly choreograph and dance down an aisle anytime. I don't think it takes away from the beauty and sacredness of the ceremony at all....there's a few things I would do differently but for the most part - I'm all about it.

Eating away the weekend

Free Chic-fil-a. It doesn't get much better than that. All we had to do was put on the pre-made cow outfits that Amanda so graciously printed out at her office and walk in the door of Chic-fil-a. Any combo you wanted was yours.

Amanda attempting to pose as a cow. She's turning 23 tomorrow!

Gourmet Valencian meal with Travis and Carolyn:

Fresh pressed olive oil he brought back from Spain

Homemade patatas bravas - sauce and all. Mas ain't got nothing on us!

Michael's specialty - sausage stuffed peppers

And the finale - the beloved paella. I can't get over how good it was.

A little piece of me gone: Michael Jackson

It's been three weeks now since the news of Michael Jackson shocked the world. Shocked the world and shook mine up a little bit. I knew that I needed to write a commemorative post for him, but I simply haven't been able to bring myself to do it. I'm heartbroken. I cried at the news. The moment I heard, I didn't know what else to do so I simply turned on my MJ itunes and got in the shower.

(I am having trouble even writing this post ...judge me if you must but I loved Michael.) For so many reasons I am upset at this monumental loss. He was my favorite singer (alongside of Shania). He was my pop idol. His dances moves.....his voice.......his songwriting. There is some out-of-body experience that happens when I hear his music.

One time at a Justin Timberlake concert, Timbaland had a little DJ-type intersession and they played a bunch of videos on the jumbotron. I was fine until all of a sudden Michael Jackson came on the screen singing "Beat It." Ashleigh was with me and we lost it. We were screaming at the top of our lungs, crying, jumping up and down. I swear it. Freakshows, we know, but we could NOT control ourselves.

On our honeymoon, there was an evening show of a Michael Jackson impersonator!!! I teared up! On our honeymoon, it wasn't live music, it wasn't MJ himself...but I still was moved.

People, like your pastors and a bunch of the worship team members, mention Michael Jackson's name and I bust out in tears?! I'm obsessed.

I was too young to realize that he had concerts back in the 90s, but when he announced that he was touring in London, I became bound and determined to go. Going to see Michael Jackson live was on my "Life Checklist" of things I have to do. What now?

I will be a supporter of Michael Jackson for the rest of my life. I always was. People were so cruel to him about all those stupid allegations. I can't stand it. He was innocent and all you needed to do was watch his life story bios and listen to MJ talk about his experiences. Ashleigh, I know you understand.

At a wedding reception a couple weeks ago, they played some of my all time favorite Michael Jackson songs. Normally I would be all over that dance floor, but this was different. Luckily Ash was there too and she knew that we just couldn't dance yet. It was terrible and I know Michael would have wanted us to dance but one day we will dance again.

Some of my favorite songs are:

1. The Way You Make Me Feel

2. Black and White

3. Don't Stop Till You Get Enough

4. Man In the Mirror

5. Beat It

6. Bad

7. You Rock My World

8. Billie Jean

I could watch his videos for hours and not get bored. Luckily the 25th anniversary album of Thriller came with a nice little DVD of some of his short films and videos.

Make it known that we will be naming our future son Jackson Michael. (Michael won't let it be the other way around, but I'm happy with that!) And with that, I leave you with gratitude for reading this post and paying tribute to the world's greatest star ever!

Abby got married

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the bride. Here are some cute ones of our experience at the wedding:

Ash and me:
Mom and Heather
Special people

Cale and Amanda with Ash eating Fondue

Trying to get a good couple shot, darn that Ice Age movie

Despite the flowers not being real, Ash went in for a sniff

My love for Charlottesville

We received a letter in the mail today from our county service authority saying, "When we attempted to read your meter this month, it was discovered that the meter was covered with mulch. As a result your account has been estimated for this month." This didn't sit well with me. #1 We rent therefore landscaping is out of our hands and not our concern. #2 How hard is it to sweep away mulch? Michael immediately called their number just to check on the situation and found that it is company policy not to move mulch. Who knew? Those meter-readers must have a tough job. We are fine however and now more aware of our meter. We aren't the complaining type and Michael graciously dealt with the women on the phone and didn't become condescending - as I probably would have. After all, how hard is it to sweep away mulch?! Here's a picture of the giant water meter that sits in front of each home and was hidden by mulch in our "yard":

I just love this stone set in place on Park Street. If you can't read the photo, it says,

" America Our Beloved Country 1776 - 2009 Lest we forget: 'WHERE MARXISM THRIVES FREEDOM DIES' RIP This 'art-out-of-place' dedicated to President Obama & his liberal disciples"

Hilarious, but true. And if you know Charlottesville, you know that this truly is art-out-of-place. There are so many comments that I could make right now, but I shall leave this post as it is and rest in the joy of knowing that there is redemption here after all.

2 Months Old

Tom and Tina and Huckleberry and Finn are looking good! Our tomato plants have really taken to their pots of soil and blossomed right before our eyes. Michael's been such a great caretaker of the plants. He waters them regularly and I am more like the cheerleader. Huckleberry has produced the most buds and we think he is the cherry tomato plant. Tom and Tina are perfectly straight but have yet to show us their producing power. Finn, he just grows sideways and does weird things. I'm not sure what he's doing. I don't like him very much. But look at how big they are!

Here's a sweet glimpse of some baby tomatoes growing on Huckleberry:

Hopefully we will be able to eat lots of salads and caprese and tomato sauces very soon! If you're lucky we'll even bring some to your door as a gift - homegrown tomatoes.

Megan Daubert Events

....Has finally arrived! Thanks to a fantastic web-designer who got the job done (and did it well!) my business is now internet marketable. Please check it out and give me any feedback on it: www.megandaubertevents.com

I really want to focus in on advertising and getting the word out about my wedding business. I love this job so much and would be thrilled to see the Lord bless it! If you know anyone getting married encourage them to think about using at least a wedding coordinator - it makes a world of a difference in the wedding day. I could talk all night about the benefits of having someone behind the scenes running the show and taking care of the details.

I am focusing on the Northern and Central Virginia areas but would go anywhere else with travel expenses covered. One of the first weddings I did was in Maine! Feel free to share this with anyone and if you have any suggestions for advertising please let me know. I'd love to hear your ideas!

Nature

Everyone knows Florida is famous for it's wealth of tiny little salamanders and frogs. There was no shortage of them in Daytona. This picture below is one of my all time favorites. Now I do not have have nice, good quality camera but my little point and shoot impressed me with this one, Love it?

This fat guy was taking a walk out in the sand dunes. I thought turtles were slow but he was very fast, blew my mind. Apparently this is a tortoise...who knew?

The people that put this sign up are probably the same people who knew that this turtle was a tortoise. I know that sea turtle nesting is important but I never knew how extreme it was, "VIOLATORS SUBJECT TO FINES AND IMPRISONMENT." Imprisonment? What on earth is this world coming to? I like animals - puppies, kittens, tanked fish, stuffed animals - but PETA has taken things way too far. I can see it now, Inmate #1, "What are you in for?" Inmate #2, "Manslaughter, 1st degree murder. You?" #1, "I sat on a sea turtle's nest." Ridiculous. Fines are Ok, imprisonment is not. Humans have freedom and rights, animals don't need it. Our Founding Fathers would disapprove.

Blast off

While in Florida we got to see Cape Canaveral launch a rocket into outer space. It was really far away from our balcony but you can still see the glow and the trail that it left behind. I love seeing things like this in person. If you have the patience, check out the tiny video I took while watching. It starts out to the left of the lighthouse and gets easier to see when it moves higher.

Supposedly it is a "weather satellite." We shall see. Afterwards, I ran in to take a picture of the TV coverage for a close up of the rocket - just for you guys! (That's not a sun but rather my camera flash -oops.)