American Idol Tour

Today was my (Beth’s) first day of classes and yesterday was Mark’s. Last night Mark took me to the American Idol Tour, which shows how much he loves me. I have never really watched TV my whole life. Then, last season of American Idol I watched with some of the youth I was working with. It was the only show I really had ever watched. And, even then, I didn’t religiously watch it, but, I would say I followed it. Being that I live in Midlothian I have recently started watching TV. So, this season I was an avid follower of American Idol, for the first time I was a true fun of a TV show. It was also really interesting because I was in a class studying youth and popular media. My favorite all season was David Archuleta, although I did support several of the contestants. But, when he came in second I was kind of sad. So, Mark got me tickets to the concert (after I asked to go). Anyways, Mark was not very excited about going to the concert. The highlight of his night was meeting up with his friend from law school and his wife for dinner before the concert.

I was surprised by some of the contestants' live performances. Here is David Archuleta who was the best voice I thought, but kind of awkward rambling in between songs. Then, David Cook, who pretty much just ran around on stand yelling and thinking he was hott stuff. His music was good, but I did get tired of him. I bet I will enjoy his cd when it comes out.

10 Day Vacation

I (Beth) has 10 days of vacation between the end of Sumer Classes and the beginning of Fall classes. Sadly these days are almost over, but they have been fun. I have slept-in, cleaned the house, decorated, and watched the Olympics. I love the Olympics, and can remember watching all the sports growing up. I still get that same excitement watching them this year. The last Olympics I actually missed because I was working at Camp Ozark that summer and we didn’t have TV, computers, or phones.

I am so proud of myself for decorating because it takes a lot of decisions and I am a very indecisive person. I just had to jump out there and make the decision. Here are the pictures.


The kitchen was one of the first room done because I already had everything I needed for it.

This room took a while. Mark refinished the table for me this summer. Before it was a birth wood color. I made the curtains out of clearance fabric at the fabric store. Both of the iron decorative pieces came from hobby lobby on sale. And, then the tableware came from Pier1.

Mark enjoyed the glasses because they have chalkboard paint on them. He went ahead and wrote his name with the chalk on every glass.

This was my last purchase. I got it from Pier1. I looked and looked for something for this nook in our hallway between the kitchen and master suite. When I saw this vase I knew this was it. I was so glad to make this purchase because it meant I was done.

I will post some pictures of the living room and other rooms later.

Summer Recap

This summer went by so quickly. I (Beth) took classes, lots of classes. I got burned out by the end f my Greek class this summer. It was not a very encouraging situation, and I only wished we could have had a real professor because I really enjoy languages. This was my sixth language to learn. I think Learning languages are so rewarding. But, this experience was not the best.

We had over some friends, Brian and Laura and Luke and Brittany to help us break in our new furniture (our anniversary gift to each other) and our new house. I haven’t decorated yet, but it was fun to show off the new house. We fired up the grill and had a feast. And of course we watched the Olympics.

Jeff convinced Luke, Brittany, Mark, and I to go to a Rangers Game. We got the all-you-can-eat tickets. It was wroth it, just for the drinks alone. We sacrificed watching one of Phelps’s swims that night, but it was fun. Yay, we took 2 pictures…. Unfortunately, they aren’t the best.

Our 1st Anniversary

Our anniversary was wonderful. Mark and I had planned to go out to our favorite restaurant in Dallas. And, at work that day Mark’s boss gave us a big gift certificate to the restaurant because she new it was our favorite. I drove up to Dallas and picked Mark up from his job. We went to the restaurant and we both got lobster. It was amazing. Then when we got home I had secretly made a triple decker devil’s food cake with chocolate icing. I told Mark we had to eat our cake we had saved from the wedding. He was not very happy about it, because he thought it was gross to keep it. But, then I surprised him with the chocolate cake, and told him to just take one bite of the other. He had one bite and really like the wedding cake, it did taste so good. So we ate the old wedding cake and then grazed on the chocolate cake the next day. I am upset that we didn’t get a picture together for our anniversary. I am so bad at taking pictures! Here are two I did take...

The top of our wedding cake and the chocolate cake I made for Mark.

For our anniversary we got each other living room furniture. We got a coffee table, side table, and couch to match the rest of our furniture. This is our coffee table and some flower Mark gave me.