Whoa...it's been awhile. Probably because I've been busy have nightmares about drowning in the ocean during freak scuba accidents. AGH! I'm not even kidding...I woke up this morning ready to throw up because I was seasick and nauseated being tossed around by the ocean as we made our way to our dive spot. No, this isn't the honeymoons fault, it started when I was getting certified and had these really weird drowning sensations during class.

Sometimes I really annoy myself...because in my head I'm this super-adventurous chick...but then in real life...I'm such. a. wuss. Take skiing for example, the same exact thing happened. I discovered I HATE going fast. Unless, I have complete control...like in a car. Complete disaster. John is taking me skiing for a second time this Christmas, in hopes of helping me overcome my phobia. Good luck, babe.

Maybe I just need to be okay with who I really am.

A cabin-dwelling-cocoa drinking-warm your butt by the fire and eat s'mores-kinda girl.

I can deal with that.

What's Cookin' Good Lookin'

My husband is a fantastic cook. Especially at preparing yummy Asian cuisine. We received an awesome spice rack for our wedding and unfortunately it is all too accessible to him. Being an engineer, he loves blending new flavor combinations together and sometimes they're great, and sometimes they're not so great. I guess it's like getting to eat your science experiment. For instance, his homemade chicken noodle soup, (I was told) had oregano, rosemary and cilantro. Um, CILANTRO?!?!

I had to explain that when cooking a European savory dish, it is often fatal to combine with this soapy herb. I have now dubbed myself, Spice Police. I must sign off on any and all spices used in the kitchen. Or else warrants will be issued. ;)

No but really, he makes so many great dinners for me. I'm pretty blessed. Oh and he's cute too so that's a plus. ;)

Here is his homemade sushi. <3

Love

My husband is awesome (as if you didn't already know). When I came home last night from California, there were red roses and he cooked me this delicious dinner of cod and an avocado/cucumber salad. Super blessed.

Here's a poster I'm working on for our bedroom. You know all those calligraphic pictures and scripty home decor pictures you see in the Christian bookstore? They're great and everything, but I think it'd be awesome to see more modern/retro Scripture art. Just a thought.

Vintage Posters

So...I had this fun idea. I'm really into vintage signs and silk screens right now. Here's something I cooked up for our dining room. I'll take pics once we get it hung up. I'm now taking orders so if you want to brainstorm, let's come up with something for your home. ;)

Naomi Wedding Suite

I had the privilege of designing my friend Naomi's wedding invitations. They have a very vintage/classy feel with lots of fun flourishes and swirls. I can't wait to be part of her wedding in mid July. Got them in the mail yesterday and snapped a few shots. Enjoy! :)

My Pops

Hallelujah for Fridays. Can I get an AMEN? I was listening to the radio yesterday and normally I hate this song...but the dj was doing a Father's Day tribute and he started playing Butterfly Kisses. By then end of it I was bawling like a baby (luckily I arrived at work 10 minutes early so I could clean my face up). Getting married this year has really given me some time to reflect on my childhood and I can honestly say I have two of the best parents any girl could ask for. It makes me excited to start my own family with John someday. That song must have struck some nerve because all of the sudden I'm having flashbacks of my family at Disney World, car rides on PD trips (shout out to all the missionary kids) & hanging out with my most awesome dad ever, the Kirbster. He is the ultimate Dad. Here are just a few of the reasons why I love him:

1. He instilled in me a passion for art and beauty. I just HAD to be like him. 
2. He taught me about Jesus and the Bible and answered every single one of my kajillion questions (& he had some darn good answers). & been an amazing example to me and my brothers.
3. He has some of the most hilarious dance moves on the planet.
4. Did I mention his facial expressions?
5. He was definitely the keeper of peace in our home, which is extremely necessary with 3 yappy, obnoxious, knuckleheaded kids.
6. His laugh is contagious
7. The all-time Iron Cross champion (This is a wrestling move that he would use on us...I'll just leave it at that. I'm pretty sure we had 100's of ticklefights.
8. He is my biggest life champion. You'll never meet a prouder dad.
9. He has put up with my boy-crazy freakness since Jr High and somehow talked John into taking me off of the market.
10. We make up awesome-secret family handshakes that we've been doing since Casey was 2.
11. He is the best listener. 
12. My current favorite memory is my most recent: Our father-daughter dance. We practiced for a month on my brother's X-box Kinect. Check it out: Daddy-Darby Dance

I love you Dadd-ay! :)

On another note:

I'd like to give a shout-out to Rob Scebold, my newly acquired Father-in-Law. ;) Rob has such a thoughtful and warm personality and I love him too! He has welcomed me with open arms into the Scebold family and that is something that I treasure so much. I'll never forget the special words he shared with me on our wedding day. I'm looking forward to spending more time with my new family.

O'Brien-Scebold Invitation Suite

I was snapping some photos for my new portfolio site and figured I'd share a couple shots with you guys. :)

Dibs.

John and I were having this funny conversation the other day. "So, I don't like this whole, 'till death do us part thing,'" I said. He responded, "Well, we can have slumber parties at each other's mansions in heaven." Um, I did like this idea...but considering I might die early in life during child birth or some other horrific accident and John could possibly remarry I wasn't so sure. This might be awkward for wife #2 or even #3 depending on how tragically things turn out for John. Solution: I'm sure there's no marriage in heaven, but in the event that Jesus allows us to have bestest friends/lovers, I totally have dibs on John. <3

So let it be said, so let it be done.

Here's a Title

This past week was crazy. I'm super tired all the time. John tells me, "you should go work out, it'll make you feel better." But I'm so past it because I'm downright lethargic. I keep telling myself I'm going to and then I never do. Major accomplishment: this morning, instead of hitting snooze, I was up in the gym workin' on my fitness at 6am. Woot woot! Let's hope this is a sign of what is to come. Perhaps a little accountability/encouragement from a girlfriend will get my rear in gear.

We finished ALL of our thank you notes this weekend. All 139 of them. I know it took forever and hopefully people didn't think we forgot about them, but I hate writing something generic. I'm all about sincerity. Shout out to the hubs for helping me! PS Whoever gave us the awesome stove-top grill, please let us know who you are!

Friday night I hung out with my pops since he's all alone and my mom and little bro are in DC. & we just needed a Father-Daughter night. John took his little bro to a movie. Hilariously enough, my dad agreed to watch Country Strong with me. Good music...major drain-o though. I mean how depressing could it get?

Saturday night was nice because my brother and his girlfriend were in town and they came up to our place with my dad. My master chef husband made baked ziti and we watched the Pink Panther. & we ate Cake Guys cupcakes (same peeps who made our wedding cake!) that they brought.

Memorial Day Weekend

& what an awesome weekend we had. Friday after work, John and I went up to the Asian Market. Aside from the usual Cracker Nuts and Sky Flakes (John's personal Filipino favorites), we like to pick out an adventurous and sometimes disgusting food. Dun ta da dun--the taro flavored mochi. Now don't get me wrong I love mochi. For all you fro-yo lovers out there, you can top your creation with these amazing little balls of heaven, similar in texture to a mini marshmallow. Anyways, the mochi we ate was a lot larger and clammier in texture. Can you tell that I was trying not to gag?! Great success for John (He'll eat anything) and me...not so much.

Saturday we got together with our friends Ed & Addie and went to the local farmer's market downtown. We had so much fun and I even got a basket of blackberries for the crisp I made on Monday. We later chilled out by the pool and then on to our favorite little Mexican restaurant, Mariano's (P.S. The owner invented THE frozen Margarita machine).

Pride Goeth Before the Fall- I was all pleased with myself for being able to triple the blackberry crisp recipe. After mixing all the dry ingredients, the recipe said to pour it over the berries and then slice butter into it. You are normally suppose to mix the butter with the dry but whatevs, I didn't question. Something seriously looked weird. So after calling John over, we realized I read the recipe wrong and I had to painstakingly pull each berry out (there were like 40,000; see Divide by 40) so I could blend the butter in. Regardless, it still turned out pretty delish.

Monday we barbecued with both families a lot of our friends which was really nice. As usual, I ate too much, too quickly and then decided to play Dance Central with Casey. In the words of The Spleen, a beloved Mystery Men character, "BIG MISTAKE."

Quote of the day: my boss described her outfit today as "pre-menopausal Barbie." Pure gold.

Name Changing

Dadgum. It's easier to commit a felony than it is to change your last name. Not that I've tried the first but in the process of the latter. But seriously. You have to wait weeks to get the certificate of mawwiage. Then you have to get a new SS card before the driver's license...all of which you have to send in original proof that you got hitched. I had this brilliant idea though for event/wedding planners. They get together a cute little group of licensed professionals that can give you all the certified cards and forms you need, and they're all waiting for you at the back of the aisle, printed on the spot. See? Painless I tell you.

But enough ranting. My husband is AMAZING (Still really weird to call him that). He cooks fabulous dishes for me. Brings me flowers just because. He cleans up after himself and even sometimes after me (But just to clarify, I'm pretty tidy). Saving the world by day, handyman by night. I love being married to him. He makes me laugh SO much. & I'm really loving this whole being a team thing. But we have lots of competitions. Why? Because we're firstborn freaks who just have to win everything.

Winner winner chicken dinner.

PS After much contemplation, I realize it's probably a good thing it takes so long to change your name. Bad guys would inevitably take advantage of the system and there might be a lot of evil Darby O'Briens' running around.

Divide by 40

For some reason, John likes to think I exaggerate. Now, I'm not really being serious, but sometimes a message is most effectively communicated when using numbers of epic proportions. Whether it's "Ohmagosh there's like 40,000 cars on the freeway today," or "Sheesh, there are 40 mosquito bites on my legs." Sometimes he has to remind me to take it down a notch, but to me, I'm really just trying to paint a vivid picture that expresses the situation in its entirety. In the midst of my storytelling, he often interrupts (politely, of course) to make sure the listener is aware that they should divide by 40. Not a bad idea, but I'm thinking more like 10.