TGI 80's Tuesday!

Last 10 songs played:
8:26 am - Laid Back - White Horse
8:23 am - Devo - Whip it
8:18 am - Herbie Hancock - Rock It
8:13 am - Phil Collins - Sussudio
8:09 am - Shelia E. - Love Bizarre
8:05 am - Laura Branigan - Gloria
8:02 am - ABC - The Look of Love
7:56 am - Steve Winwood - Higher Love
7:52 am - Air Supply - All out of Love
7:49 am - When in Rome - The Promise

Play it now.

Feels good

To get back into the gym. Ran 2 miles through for the first time in a while and it felt pretty good. Also spoke with a good friend last night (Scott Baker) and he decided to officiate (that's definitely a sports term) the wedding. Maybe he can officiate the Ultimate frisbee game that morning as well!?! There is lots going on and I think the extra sleep and working out will greatly help all of it, from productivity at work to wedding planning and house buying. And through all of it I've been finding ways to relax and do a bit of reading, it's been nice.

Why I like shooting DaySpring Basketball.

And thanks to Jilian for inviting me to Saturday breakfast :) Hope you are having a WoNdErFuL Day!

On the Market

Within this past week I have decided to look at homes. I have spoken with my mortgage agent and with a real estate agent as well. I am hoping to go check some of these places out as well. The original plan was to get a place for a few years and move, but now it's looking like Erin & I might stay a while. So let the housing search begin...

In Training

As of today, January 24, 2006, I am in training for the Nashville Country Music Half-Marathon. The date of the run is Saturday April 29th! I have even created a blog to track my progress. I hope some of the other regular runners are thinking about this one as well. See you out running!

Nashville '06

Location Selected

Want to know more about the wedding planning?

Go Here: http://weddingplanninggroom.blogspot.com/

And wish me luck!

Jeff Lang's Birthday Bash.

Last night I went out to dinner with a slew of folks for Jeff Lang's 26th Birthday Dinner. We ended up at Kabuki, a Japanese Steak House, and it was quite amusing. I'll let the pictures tell the story:

Tuesday morning blogging

A quick blog for this morning. This past weekend I spent in North Carolina with my relatives. They are great and offer me time to relax, enjoy company and watch some TV shows I'd never watch otherwise. For example we watched 2 full nights of the Rodeo and I got into it a little. Surprising. I know Jilian is happy to hear that, she's thinking "Today Rodeo, Tomorrow Country Music!". Sorry to say, but that isn't so.

Also took some time to reassess life and I'm ok with things now, but they can be better, so I'm taking steps toward that direction. Nothing major, just some changes I'd like to see over the next year. Erin was out in Arizona running a half-marathon and checking out Sedona and the Grand Canyon (which she said was freezing). I'm looking forward to seeing some pictures. I also did a bit of wedding budgeting. If Erin & I can pull this thing off, it's going to be impressive. Guest list hovers at or above 250 as I type.

Looks to be a full 4 day week, here we go. I'll start with some tunes from the 80's... It is Tuesday.

The dust settles

As the dust settles and life gets back to normal from the fall of travel and various other things I find myself excited to get caught up with everyone. I realized it tonight as I stopped to visit the links in my blog for the first time in a few weekend. There was all kinds of new material and I'm just thankful that blogs are keeping track of it all. When I started blogging back in 1996 I had no idea that one day I would be able in some ways to keep track of friends and family members in ways that I would never have been able to do with myself and a phone.

How I've viewed blogs overtime has changed and it would be an interesting post to revisit some of those thoughts and how I got to where I am now. But that is another post, until then I'll sit back, take in a deep breath and enjoy the blessing of so many wonderful friends and the technology to pseudo keep track of them...

Engagement responses

Some funny, some kind, some ...

"Nice. Just one important piece of information to share as a married man: being engaged sucks. I've been there. So HAHA! Get married quickly. Erin, I'm here for you. If you need any dirt or if he gets out of line, you drop me a note. I'll fix it."

"I am SO happy for you! I can't wait to have a Great, Great Grand Big
in Law! Congratulations again, she is a very lucky lady! What a way to start the new year!"

"You just don't know that's like the best news I could have received at the beginning of the year. Wait till I tell ol' Danny :) AWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Its great when good things happen to good people...

take care,

and i'll be in touch..."

"I'm so excited for you. Read your blog and the relateds - you guys look spectacular together. I hope you are immensely happy."

"Haha, Mr. Card you never cease to amaze me. Engaged? This from the guy who was like… I am just going to sit back and be single… haha. Well, tell me a story. I must say I am proud of you, that is a big step."

"Holy crap. I never thought she'd agree to it.
:-)
Just kidding ... hearty congratulations"

"You rock. :)"

"You have no idea how hard it was to keep that secret during lunch. And thank you very very much for lunch and coming to see me. I had a very nice time and Erin is absolutely wonderful and perfect for you.I definitely had to bite my tongue several times to escape screaming "i'm so happy for you both!""

"Joey! That’s SOOOOOOO exciting!!!! Congrats to the both of you! Erin is such a sweet girl and you are such a standup guy..what a great combination!! Thank you so much for sharing with me and I wish you two the absolute best!!! Ps. nice pickin with the ring!!"

"Wow. Congratulations, Joey!!! I'm impressed that there were no hitches in your plan. :o)"

"congrats! she's a lucky gal to get such a great guy like you who has Jesus at the center...may God bless you both from now and on into marriage....God is good...."

"Hey Great Grand Big!
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!! I'm so glad to hear that you are engaged!!! I remember
you mentioning your devious plan of New Years and I could not stop wondering
what the result was! Thanks for e-mail letting us know! Congrats again Rex!!!
Both of you are such wonderful people and I'm so happy for the two of you! :)"

"Awww!! CONGRATULATIONS GREAT-GRAND BIG!!! I'm so happy for you :-) It
sounded like a great night, and it sounds like you've found yourself a
fabulous lady!! :-)"

"Congrats you guys! You two were absolutely made for each other, there is no
doubt in my mind. While I realize that I haven't known either of you for more
than a full year, I feel like we bonded well, more so than the vast majority
of people I have had the pleasure of meeting. You two together are the most
warm and inviting bunch I have ever met, and serve as the ideal in terms of
relationships to try to emulate, at least in my experience from seeing you
together. I'm so happy for you!

Can't wait to see you all in the spring!"

"Congratulations! Pete and I were discussing this this weekend and couldn't quite remember if it was supposed to be on the 1st or the 2nd. We figured we'd hear from you when she had said yes. Good to hear man, add another wedding to the 2006 itinerary!"

"That was the first blog I've read in a long, long time! Congratulations,
Joey, really...there's no question that you're going to be fantastic, and if
your judgment in wives is as good as your throwing arm, she'll be absolutely
wonderful to you, too..."

"Well congratulations !!! to you and Erin. I'm glad I got the opportunity to meet her( and your dad too ) at our tailgate. Being married is wonderful. It's filled with highs and lows like anythng else but experiencing those highs and lows with the person you love makes life what it was meant to be. I'd wish you good luck but, luck is just a small piece of it. It takes love, and hard work to make a marriage fun and worthwhile. I'm happy and thrilled for you."

"Another one down and another one down and another one bites the dust!!!"

"I hear you're about to put on the worlds smallest handcuffs. Seriously, congratulations on your engagement!"

"The beginning of your troubles......ha ha ha....."

"I know you are on cloud nine right now... and she is on cloud 109!!!!!!!!!"

"I just wanted to send my sentiments of jubilation for your announcement on your engagement! I know we talked about your plan at Jared and Jaime's wedding and I am just so incredibly happy for you. It must be such a wonderful feeling to be so in love with a person... and then make the decision that you want to spend the rest of your life with them! You truly must be on Cloud Nine.... I can't wait to meet your fiance as she must be one incredible woman! I wish you all the love and happiness in the world and I hope you enjoy every moment of these exciting times as well as many more moments with her to come! Congratulations on such a wonderful moment..."

Monster Spreadsheet

It's late.
I'm tired.

I have created a monster spreadsheet and think this wedding planning thing is actually pretty fun. No major details nailed down yet, but we are creating several options. And for the record all of my posts from here on out will not relate to wedding planning. I've decided that it won't take over my life. What will? How about the half-marathon I get to start training for that I'll be running in April...

Engaged!

I'm, Engaged!


This post has the possibility of getting quite long, so I'll have to watch myself. I'll give the basics :) This past Sunday afternoon I asked Erin Collins if she would marry me. She looked at me, put her hands on her hips and was taken completely by surprise. I am glad to say she said yes, or actually in our case she looked at me as if there were no other answer and said "Yeah". It was a great moment and went off perfectly.

After the proposal all of her friends came out from hiding and we had a small get together with family & friends. It was a really good time.

All in all I am glad to say that all of this has happened exactly the way it has. I am incredibly lucky to know a young woman like Erin, much less be on the path toward spending the rest of our lives together...

The Roanoke picture below was after proposing, so there is a ring on her finger :) More photos to be posted later.

Related Posts:
Lauren's Blog
Tricia's Blog

In Roanoke