What We've Been Up To

I'm sure everyone is wondering what happened with the Cold Tuesday Morning. Its riveting, I know... Our last entry was posted on Christmas Eve. I really don't like that its been over 3 months since we've written anything, but it couldn't have been helped. Since then, we've experienced several changes and we've spent the past few weeks adjusting to these changes. Lets just start from the beginning.

1. I got a new job working at the University of Memphis. I am an Occupational Safety Coordinator and I started the beginning of January. Many people are very confused about what I actually do as an Environmental Health and Safety employee, and I'm not going to go into a long tangent in this post, but basically EHS people work for your company (in my case the university) for two basic reasons. The first is to keep all employees as safe as possible by eliminating hazards that could cause injuries or illnesses. The second is the save the company money through lower workers compensation costs AND avoiding OSHA fines. As I'm writing this, I've come to the realization that I'm going to write an more in-detail post explaining things an EHS person might do at work. 

2. Because of the new job, we moved closer to UofM, obviously. We found a perfect townhouse that has a wood-burning fireplace, huge bedrooms, and plenty of room for Koba and Yuki to chase each other around. And, its an easy commute to work. Although we have visited Memphis often, moving here has been different, to say the least, moving from a fairly rural area to the 23rd largest city in the United States! We've enjoyed trying new restaurants, doing Memphis things, and meeting new people at church and work.

3. Nathan and my dad went the the NHL All-Star skills competition and game on January 30-31. This weekend had been building up for almost a year since Nashville won the bid on the NHL All-Star festivities. When this season started, we decided to go in with my parents and buy half-season tickets to qualify to buy All-Star tickets. Well, basically we only got to use half of our game tickets before we moved and had to sell the rest, but we made the trip back to my parents house to enjoy a hockey-filled weekend. Nathan and dad loved getting to experience such as once-in-a-lifetime event (for Nashville) and my mom and I enjoyed watching it live on TV also.

4. Yuki turned 1. She's just so darn cute, still. Yuki Koehler was born on February 12, 2015. She enjoys eating, playing with Koba, getting belly rubs, and howling at the moon (literally, she howls like a little dog). Happy Birthday Yuki!

5. Nathan passed the CCNA test, so he is now a Cisco Certified Network Associate. Yay! This is us celebrating:

6. We celebrated Resurrection Sunday. It was a beautiful day to celebrate Jesus rising from the dead! We enjoyed the weekend with Nathan's parents and an Easter lunch complete with steak and pecan pie. Oh. Also, I joined the choir at church, so it was pretty exciting to get to perform during the celebration service.

As far as the next post on Cold Tuesday Morning goes.... I'm not sure when that will happen. We are going to try and post something at least once a month, but it isn't going to be near the amount of content as it was before we moved.

This Christmas!

As you know, we created a 2015 Christmas Bucket List. Well, there's only a few days left before Christmas, so I figured that I would post an update before this get super hectic. Here's a link to our Christmas Bucket List.

Kiss Under the Mistletoe. I'm so happy and blessed to have Nathan to spend my Christmases with. 

Look at the Lights at the Opryland Hotel. I have been to the Opryland Hotel before, and have even been there around Christmas (The first time I'd been there at all was with Nathan, if you can believe that), but I'd never walked around and looked at the outside lights. This year, we wanted to do this together.

Make Christmas Candy. Last year, I made Christmas cookies and candy for our Christmas Party, but this year, when we realized we were not going to be able to host a Christmas Party, I just decided to randomly make the goodies. 

Go See the Dancing Lights. Last year, we discovered the Dancing Lights of Christmas at Jellystone Park in Nashville. The ad recommends bringing your pets, so last year, we brought Koba, and he actually seemed to like it. This year, we were brave and brought both Koba and Yuki. Well, they really enjoyed the light show put to music by staring at the car floor the entire time....

Sleep Under the Tree.... Well, we never slept under the Christmas Tree. Honestly, we wouldn't have fit under this year's 2-footer, but I just wanted to show a picture of our tree ;)

Have a Christmas Movie Marathon. I collect Christmas movies and so every year, I try to watch as many as I can until I get annoyed with the cheesiness. This year, I didn't get far into my marathon. We did watch a few, and we also went to see "How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical." It was enjoyable.

Undocumented Items...

• Go Black Friday Shopping
• Drink Hot Chocolate

Our Christmas Bucket List Failures....

• Watch a Christmas Parade
• Host a Christmas Party
• Sleep Under the Tree

More Mistletoe Photos

Merry Christmas!

BPP #13

K + D Forever. Two weekends ago, Dustin Tysver and (then) Kaitlin Chiaventone got married! I was given the opportunity to not only be a bridesmaid, but also help out on the invitations and programs. I have to say, it was such an honor to serve and celebrate with Kaitlin and Dustin! Congratulations, you two! Also, note this was our 4th wedding (and I think last) for 2015.

USA Forever. Our biggest event for 4th of July weekend was attending the USA vs. Guatemala Soccer Game. Neither of us had ever been to a soccer game, and really did not know what exactly to expect. I'd have to say, overall, it was pretty fun and extraordinarily patriotic. For more, click here.

Weird Al Forever...? When Nathan said he wanted to go see Weird Al Yankovic in concert, I was a bit skeptical. For one, I don't know many of his songs, and secondly....well.....he's weird. Long story short it ended up being a fun concert, and an interesting night, to say the least. For more, click here.

K + Y Forever. CAT PHOTOSHOOT. No explanation needed. Leave a comment on which photo is your favorite!

Koba:

Yuki:

Koba & Yuki:

All About Yuki

Hello! You may or may not have seen pictures or videos of our new kitten, Yuki. This is everything you need to know about our new ball of fuzz. Also, watch this video for some intense cuteness.

Name: Yuki. Pronounced Yoo-KEE

Birth Date: February 12, 2015. She was adopted by us on April 9, 2015. Supposedly, she was 6 weeks old when we adopted her, but the calendar dates don't line up. Plus the vet said she looked younger. Who knows.

Current Size: The same size as a women's 8 1/2 shoe. Small enough to fit inside pockets.
















Cat Breed: Domestic Short Hair, Gray Tabby

(Fully Grown) Size: Small

Name Origin: We have both really been into watching the TV show "Once Upon a Time." Our favorite character's name is Regina. Regina is no name fit for a cat, so we decided against that name. Our second favorite character is Snow White, but we didn't want our kitten to be confused by being named snow and not being white. Nathan happened to know that 'Yuki' means 'Snow' in Japanese. So now, she's not confused by her name, only by her nationality.

Nicknames: Yucky, Poopsy, Mrs. Grumpy Whiskers

Favorite Color: Purple

Current Hobbies: Sleeping, Climbing, Playing, Biting, Ambushing Koba, Cuddling

Here's the video, if you missed it!

Brown Paper Packages #7

I waited two weeks to post a Brown Paper Packages again. I think I am going to start posting these every other week intentionally because it is a bit easier to talk about cool or interesting things that have happened in the last 2 week, rather than in the past week. Because, lets be real, some weeks are just really uneventful and boring. With that said.... presenting the Brown Paper Packages #7!

As Lauren's Matron of Honor, I was involved in helping plan a wedding shower for her and Blake in Murray. The shower was really fun and everyone seemed to enjoy the activities, food, and theme. Additionally, this allowed us to take a trip to Murray and see some friends that I haven't gotten to see in quite a while, as well as see Lauren and Blake, of course. Click here to read more about the shower.

We went to a Predators game (bottom right frame). MORE IMPORTANTLY, I finally got to make this collage. I've been planning this for 6 months, and it finally came to pass. #OCDprobs

The weather finally figured out its grilling season. Hallelujah. We've already grilled 5-7 times this year.

Resurrection Sunday was full and fun. First we went to our church, Hillvue Heights, at 8:00. Then we went to my home church, Oak Grove Baptist, at 10:30 to see my dad's cantata. Then we had pictures and lunch with the whole fam. We had a great day celebrating the resurrection of Jesus.

Family photo from the day. 

Just missing DanDan >>

We went on a date night to see WKU vs. Bowling Green Hot Rods. It was good, and then it started storming. The storm was very pretty though! Nathan has really been enjoying the past few weeks because of all of the storms.

Because of all of the events, we have gotten to see our both sides of our families more than usual. So that has been nice too!

and..... we got a new kitten. Meet Yuki!! (pronounced yoo-kee) She sleeps a lot.


Those are the highlights!