Christmas 2011.  The very first Tucker Christmas.  And let me just say...I rocked it.  For as long as I can remember, my mother provides us with all the sweets and snacks we can handle on the days leading up to Christmas and every Christmas Eve she prepares a feast of roasted beef fit for royalty.  It truly is the most wonderful time of the year.  But this year was different.  This year my mother had surgery on the 22nd to remove a large cyst from her ovary.  All she could think about was all the things that had to be done for Christmas while she would be laid up on the couch.  That's when I realized it was my time...my time to run Christmas.  I took over everything...from last minute shopping and wrapping for her to baking and preparing the feast.  I took our Christmas Eve dinner and put my own twist on it, adding mouth watering appetizers of fried soft shell crab and raspberry baked brie.  Everyone pitched in and helped take care of mom, and my sister was instrumental in keeping a clean house.  Never once did I feel stressed or overwhelmed, in fact I loved every second of being in that kitchen and the look on every ones face when they tasted the tasty morsels I had prepared.  And the Tuckers?  The Tuckers were about as happiest as I have ever seen them.  Mason got a furvever home and family for Christmas...and if that wasn't enough he got more treats, toys, and bones than he will be able to take down by next Christmas.  August got the peanut butter big bone he has been sniffing in pet smart for two months among all the other toys and treats.  Mosie got a tempurpedic bed for her hips and a turkey leg raw hide bone.  And Mommy and Daddy got lots of good stuff, but nothing as good as being able to spend the best day of the year as a family.

Sometimes it is really just that good

  Wow.  Seriously wow.  i am surprised more and more every day just how happy i am with my family and my life.  it kinda blows my mind sometimes when i take a step back and just realize that yes.  i have a pretty awesome husband, two super cool dogs, and a pretty sweet life.  I have great friends who love me no matter what I am doing or where i am ( I love u kendra and shanny...which my iMac tried to change to shinny..hehe..).  Anyways I love this.  i need to just chill and accept the fact that sometimes it is really just that good.

Life has begun...

And so it is.  The beginning...the next chapter...a new book even.  Graduation.  All that you have worked so hard for, cried for, sweated for, screamed for, lost sleep for...lost your mind for...Commencement.  Time to go do even bigger and better things.  With the exception of the day I married my husband, it was single handedly the greatest day of my life, and by the far the proudest.  I went to sleep that night with the supreme joy of knowing that there wasn't a single thing in this world I couldn't accomplish.  It has been almost six months since I fluttered across that stage ready to spread my wings to a brand new world.  And a brand new, amazing, awesome, beautiful, exciting, crazy world I entered.  I have begun a partnership with my best friend and confidante, that I know, with hard work and a lot of love, can stand the test of time.  I have worked hard on being the best wife and partner my adoring husband can ask for.  I have begun to raise a puppy into a wonderful friend and member of our family.  I have turned a house into a home full of love, laughter, and a lot of kitchen messes.  I have not begun working in my desired field.  Put that degree to good use...I plan on it.  I decided to enjoy the "honeymoon" and learn some things about this crazy thing called marriage. And man is it the best time in my life.  When my time comes, I'll be ready to do the career dance.  But until then...I'll savor the spare time I have to write my blog.

Growing up is hard to do

This life I have here...it's pretty close to perfect.  But the older I get, the more I understand that nothing ever is.  My husband, my pups, our life together provides me with more happiness than I ever thought possible, but yet I yearn for the missing parts.  My best friend in all the world is preggos with her second child...and I'm missing it.  I'm missing watching her belly grow before my eyes, I'm missing shopping trips to pick out themes for the nursery, I'm missing every other day mexican lunches to satisfy her suiza's cravings.  All things I was very much a part of with her first child.  And it's not just the fun stuff I'm missing, I'm missing the "I feel like shit and could probably use a hug from my best friend" moments too.  Let's face it, a text hug just isn't the same.  But this is what growing up and starting your own family entails...especially when the start of your family is more than two hours away from all of your family and friends.  We make sacrifices and choices that are so much harder than any decision we made while in college.  And do I feel sound and confident in my choices?  Absolutely.  But every once in a while, I stop and I realize how different things are now.  And it literally takes my breath away.

Kendra I love you so much and couldn't be happier for you...I wish I was there too. xoxo

There's got to be an app for that

The puppy's toy has stuffing coming out it's face, the comforter has stuffing coming out of its seams, the hubby's sweater has busted a hole, and my halloween costume is handmade...better learn how to use a needle and thread.  Growing up I can not remember, not once, my mother ever sewing ANYTHING...so not having the slightest idea how to even thread a needle...I come by that naturally.  That's ok, I'll just teach myself.  I mean I made it through nursing school, I'm certain I can sew a straight line.  To the trusty iPhone I go, and low and behold, there is an app for that!  AppWarrior Sewing Guide is going to teach me everything I need to know to crack the code of the perfect stitch!  So with the confidence of Betsey Ross and my supplies to create the perfect Black Swan costume close at hand, I sit on the living room floor and prepare to thread my needle...which honestly I feel like any idiot could figure out.  I cut my piece of thread and reach for my....damnit! Where did I put the needle!! Hardly the type of thing you want laying around on the living room floor.  So after searching frantically, I find it exactly where it should be...directly in front of me.  Okay, step one: thread the needle...where is the damn thread??  August (the before mentioned puppy) is proudly prancing around the living room, thread dangling from his mouth.  After rescuing the slobbery black string from the jaws of death, I once again prepare to begin my project with a second wind of enthusiasm.  Except getting the thread through that teeny tiny metal loop is not the piece of proverbial cake I thought it was going to be...what does the app say? Hold up to the light...Got it! Yeah baby! Wait...where is the thread going?? AUGUST!! Drop it!  That's it...your mischievous ass is going in the kitchen.  Back to square frickin one.  All the while, the hubs is laid out on the couch playing poker on the Xbox and our oldest pup is busy sawing logs, hardly noticing our living room has quickly elevated to DEFCON 1.  I will not give up...I will thread this damn needle and I will sew this ribbon on to these slippers.  I do not care how long it takes me.  A few more fruitless tries to get the tiny string through the tiny hole and... YES!!  Needle is threaded and sewing is underway...the actual sewing part turned out to be the proverbial piece of cake I so love to indulge in.  Tonight's agenda includes August's Kong Monkey, whose face I am going to sew right shut.
Lesson learned...If you don't know how...figure it out.  And put the puppy in the kitchen.

become a blogger?? eh ok

Sooo...im super new to this whole blog world, but I thought I would give it a shot.  I am a newlywed of only five months and although I work "part-time", I think it's safe to say right now I am a modern day house wife.  No I do not churn my own butter or wash our clothes with a handheld washboard, actually I don't wash the clothes ever since I destroyed some very expensive items.  That's kind of a secret...I also don't separate the loads correctly and have the tendency to "forget" to listen to the dryer buzzer.  Crumply wrinkly clothes aren't good for any marriage.  Im making mistakes and learning everyday on how to "run a household" all the while having a blast riding this roller coaster.  Follow my blog if you can find the humor in the ridiculous antics I seem to get myself into.