My one-of-a-kind, original Brent Sanders

My very own Brent Sanders painting

For my 25th birthday in April, Mom and Hal gave me money to buy something I wanted but would not normally get for myself. The conditions were I was not allowed to spend the money on bills or for repairs/updates to the house or put the money in savings because Hal wanted me to have something that I could always keep.

So after lots of thinking and talking with Mark about what to do with the money, I decided to have my favorite artist paint a picture of Wilmington for me. Brent Sanders is a Chattanooga artist who does mainly studies of architecture in acrylic, watercolor and inks. If you've been in our house, you've probably seen some of the prints we have of his other work.

Well, my painting came yesterday and I LOVE it! It is of the Oceanic Restaurant and Crystal Pier on Wrightsville Beach where we got married. I sent Brent a picture and told him to use whatever colors he wanted and if I had given him paint samples from our house, he could not have made the painting more perfect to hang on our walls.

Two Years Ago

Two years ago on July 20 Mark asked me to marry him. And for the second year in a row, we've let it pass by without even knowing. I usually think of it a few weeks before and then I remember a few days after it has passed. I know it is not the most important date to remember in the grand scheme of things, but it is the day he proposed and it deserves to be celebrated. Maybe next year.

So far this July...

After an uneventful Fourth-Mark worked that night and I stayed home and watched House- and a midnight showing of Pirates 2 last Thursday, we had a relaxing weekend with his parents when they came to visit. It involved lots of seafood (yes, I know I actually eat some seafood now), Yhatzee!, and touring Orton Plantation where we saw Screen Gem Studios filming a movie called Hounddog starring Robyn Wright Penn and Dakota Fanning. Mark had to restrain himself from shouting lines of The Princess Bride ("Bow down to the Queen of Garbage...) as Robyn-or who we think was Robyn, walked amongst the trailers.

Now, I'm trying to convince Mom and Karen to come visit sometime in the next few weeks for Karen's birthday (on the 26th!) so I can give her her presents in person because I missed out on Christmas in person. It's so much more fun when I can see her open them. The reactions are always priceless!