Earlier today I submitted a paragraph to someone who is writing a book on love. They were looking for stories of all different kinds of love - puppy love, first love, new love. So I sent in a paragraph about the deepest, truest love I know... the everlasting love that Gary and I share. The person who read it emailed me back right away and said, "...the love between you and your husband Gary seems magical and it's one of the lovelier submissions we've received."
I didn't realize it would be published online quite so quickly, but here it is:
http://www.celebrations.com/content/Everlasting-Love
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Nothing says "buy this house" like a blue tarp and some mini-bungee cords...
We're rounding out week #3 with the repairs and renovations in the house. There is nothing we want more than to never see a tarp or plastic sheeting again, but God seems to have other plans. The other day it stormed and a lot of limbs littered our lawn. When we got home from work, we found this note, left by the gentleman working on our house. So we figured we'd go ahead and tarp it - to match the rest of the house...
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Plastic Palace and Plaster Pawprints
So the house is undergoing repairs and renovations - we're getting ready to put it on the market (it will be nicer when we sell it than it ever was when we lived in it). We are quickly closing in on the two week mark - two entire weeks that just about everything we own has been covered, taped or tarped. It's been almost two weeks that we've been living in a plaster palace where carpets, cabinets, countertops, light fixtures, lamps, stairs and sinks are draped with plastic. And everything - everything - we own is decorated with little plaster pawprints. We really, really, really want our house back. Maybe next week...?
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Bartlet finally gets his cake... and eats it too
After much torture, the birthday boy finally gets his cake. And just like that... it's gone.
Untitled from Mariesa Stokes on Vimeo.
Bartlet gets his birthday cake... almost.
Bartlet got close to eating his birthday cake after we finally sang the stupid song. Poor little Ba-Ba-Booey had to deal with that luscious cowboy cake just inches from his twitching nose and drooling lips - at least until Daddy yanked it away before he could get a big sweet bite. It's still pretty doggone cute though!
(Sidenote: Our house is currently undergoing repairs and renovations. We normally don't line the floors and stairs with plastic sheeting and store all kinds of random crap on the countertops. Gary didn't marry me for my housekeeping skills, but we are living in more of a disaster zone than usual right now.)
(Sidenote: Our house is currently undergoing repairs and renovations. We normally don't line the floors and stairs with plastic sheeting and store all kinds of random crap on the countertops. Gary didn't marry me for my housekeeping skills, but we are living in more of a disaster zone than usual right now.)
Untitled from Mariesa Stokes on Vimeo.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Happy Birthday, Bartlet!
On Saturday, our Bartlet turned 6. As I do with everyone in our little family, I made a big deal out of his birthday and tortured him with ridiculousness. I did NOT make him wear a hat this year, but I did make him wear a shirt that reads, "Just sing the stupid song so I can eat cake!" Here is just a glimpse of the pre-cake festivities...Oh, and the audio is horrible. You'll want to turn down when you can hear me, and turn up to hear Gary. Bartlet, surprisingly, is silent through the whole thing...
Bartlet's Birthday from Mariesa Stokes on Vimeo.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Mariesa & Gary's TV geek wedding (with a broken foot)
Some of you may recall when Gary and I got engaged, I went a little crazy. ;)
Gary loves to tell this story:
He proposed at the end of the Rock N Roll Half Marathon while we were on vacation in Virginia Beach. That was the Sunday before Labor Day, 2008. The next morning when we boarded a plane back to Birmingham, I got on with at least six bridal magazines in my carry-on bag. The planning started almost immediately. As I always interject when he tells people this, of course it did. I'm a planner. I was excited. And I had been waiting a whole lotta years for him to propose.
As I flipped through bazillions of magazines and surfed a ton of Web sites, I realized just how non-traditional I really am. I kept coming away with that "this doesn't apply to me" feeling. Most of it didn't. I was 37 when we got married. Gary was 51. We have both been married before. But mostly, we really wanted it to be as personal as possible. Not a lot of the information out there will help you plan that kind of wedding event. So, being who I am, I decided to speak up about who we are and what we were planning, how far we were going outside of the box and why it was so important to us. And I spoke loudly. All within about six months last year, I was bravobride.com's Bride of the Month, got our engagement story featured on theweddinglens.com, was interviewed for Modern Bride, Redbook and Bride's magazine (March 2010 issue, "Crazy Love," on newsstands now), and I was quoted on msnbc.com (this one was about the honeymoon, not The Wedding).
But through the whole planning process, there was really only one Web site community where I felt like I truly belonged. The women and couples featured there were my people. I was one of them. They had ideas and passion and fun with their weddings. They were creative and different and understanding and supportive - no matter how freakish I was (or was not). Beyond being married to Gary at the end of it all, I really, really wanted to see our wedding featured on offbeatbride.com.
And yesterday, it was.
Thank you, Ariel and Megan, for providing this service to offbeat brides everywhere, for a truly memorable wedding planning experience (okay, the good parts I'm thanking you for, not the crap) and thank you for choosing our wedding to feature. As I said yesterday to Megan, you chicks rock!
Real Weddings: Southern US: Mariesa & Gary's TV geek wedding (with a broken foot)
Gary loves to tell this story:
He proposed at the end of the Rock N Roll Half Marathon while we were on vacation in Virginia Beach. That was the Sunday before Labor Day, 2008. The next morning when we boarded a plane back to Birmingham, I got on with at least six bridal magazines in my carry-on bag. The planning started almost immediately. As I always interject when he tells people this, of course it did. I'm a planner. I was excited. And I had been waiting a whole lotta years for him to propose.
As I flipped through bazillions of magazines and surfed a ton of Web sites, I realized just how non-traditional I really am. I kept coming away with that "this doesn't apply to me" feeling. Most of it didn't. I was 37 when we got married. Gary was 51. We have both been married before. But mostly, we really wanted it to be as personal as possible. Not a lot of the information out there will help you plan that kind of wedding event. So, being who I am, I decided to speak up about who we are and what we were planning, how far we were going outside of the box and why it was so important to us. And I spoke loudly. All within about six months last year, I was bravobride.com's Bride of the Month, got our engagement story featured on theweddinglens.com, was interviewed for Modern Bride, Redbook and Bride's magazine (March 2010 issue, "Crazy Love," on newsstands now), and I was quoted on msnbc.com (this one was about the honeymoon, not The Wedding).
But through the whole planning process, there was really only one Web site community where I felt like I truly belonged. The women and couples featured there were my people. I was one of them. They had ideas and passion and fun with their weddings. They were creative and different and understanding and supportive - no matter how freakish I was (or was not). Beyond being married to Gary at the end of it all, I really, really wanted to see our wedding featured on offbeatbride.com.
And yesterday, it was.
Thank you, Ariel and Megan, for providing this service to offbeat brides everywhere, for a truly memorable wedding planning experience (okay, the good parts I'm thanking you for, not the crap) and thank you for choosing our wedding to feature. As I said yesterday to Megan, you chicks rock!
Real Weddings: Southern US: Mariesa & Gary's TV geek wedding (with a broken foot)
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