current obsession : gold and cuss words

Lately, Ray and I have been going through the Deadwood series. Deadwood, aka gold and cuss words. And South Dakota. And murder. And prostitution. It might be the crudest show I've ever watched (besides East Bound and Down...ew), but I've really started to enjoy it. It's a western drama set in the 1870s during the gold rush. I'm a big fan of most HBO series because, while they can be excessively crude, I feel like they are far more researched and realistic. The series is based off a real place with real people and events! I love it.

Speaking of western, our rehearsal dinner theme is Spaghetti Western. Spaghetti, because we're having Italian food. Western, because it's fun and all the groomsmen wear boots everyday anyway. I'm pretty excited about it...

fabric flower palooza

Just some wedding prep pictures. All of our flowers will be handmade out of different floral fabric. Thanks to some great friends, we were able to sew up about 150 last night! I know these pictures are absolutely horrible (hey cell phone camera hey)... but you get the idea.

what's on my mind

Last year at this time I was preparing for my trip to Macedonia. And while I have so many wonderful and amazing things going on right now, I still feel incredibly burdened for the Roma and people of Macedonia. I don't really have anything profound to say this morning, just that Macedonia is on my mind. If you ever have an opportunity to go and work with the Roma I would highly suggest you going.

Also, Remember how my soon to be husband made this Macedonia show flyer for me?

peanut butter banana bread

The other day Ray and I decided to go grocery shopping. Crazy, I know. And this time we actually bought things we needed... not just popcorn and grape juice. We purchased a bunch of bananas that started to get freckly in about 35 minutes. What was I to do? How was I to proceed? Make banana bread, duh. Then I remembered I had peanut butter chips and I knew it would be a match made in heaven.
I kind of used a recipe... but I mostly just made this up. I couldn't cream the butter and sugar because we don't have a mixer, but if you want to get us one we are currently registered at bed bath and beyond =). So anyway, I had to figure out about how much melted butter I could use instead.

Here's what I used:

3 1/2ish ripe bananas, mashed kind of chunky
1 1/2 c flour
1 egg
1ish c sugar (actually there was a little less than a cup... because I ran out)
1/4 c melted butter
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
about a 1/3 a bag of peanut butter chips (I just poured in what I had left)

All I did was mash those bananas and then mix all the ingredients together. It was kind of dry so I splashed in some milk. I set the oven at 325 and let it bake for an hour. Delicious.

I know I posted a picture of this on facebook and twitter and now I'm blogging about it. I know it's overkill. I'm just really excited to be able to bake in a cute kitchen with my cute fiance.

creepsters

We saw this saturday while antiquing. Clearly, I had to share.

summer lovin

I really love daylight saving time. I like when the sun isn't blinding me at 7am. I like when the sun is still shinning at 7:30pm. It just gives you more time to go for walks, swim in the springs, have a cook out, or in our case (Ray's case) sand paint off a 100 year old door. Ha!

I may have said this before, but I'm really excited about this summer. When I was a kid I would always say I didn't like summer because I didn't like to sweat, which is still incredibly true. However, I actually did really like summer... and still do!

Summer fun I'm looking forward to:
- swimming in the local springs. If you don't live in the Flo or if you've never experienced swimming in a spring, you should really REALLY look into it.
- floating down the river
- cook outs!
- our Wes Anderson Party! Ahhh! I'm really excited about this!
- 4th of July and watching the downtown fireworks from our house
- fort walton/mobile to see Jenna at camp
- watermelon
- flea market/trift/antique days
- sitting on the porch drinking sweet tea with my husband
- painting! We have a studio/office upstairs and Ray got me an easel (actually he found it on the side of the road... but hey, it works)

say my name

My good friends Daniel and Megan (remember when they got married) are about to have a baby any day now. Or any hour now. Super super soon. Exciting, huh?! All of this has got me thinking about baby names. Now, they have cute names picked out, but we all know those crazy parents that don't. I'm not a parent, so I haven't experience the crazy pressure of naming a child. I'm sure it has to be daunting, but I'm not sure if that's enough of an excuse to just give up and name your child whatever comes to mind. I just don't know what happens in a parents brain when they start thinking of names like Blade or Esmeralda, you know?

I just don't think I can name any future children of mine something like that. However, I also don't think I can name them Ashley (although, I know many great Ashleys), Stephanie, Makala, Justin, Taylor, Josh, etc. either. They're just too common. It's no fun sitting in a classroom with 3 other Allisons.

I also can't deal with southwestern names like Star, Cheyenne, Montana, Sierra, etc.

So, in my attempt to shy away from being a total negative Nancy, I've been trying to think of names I actually do like. These are the only ones I could come up with in the 3 minutes I set aside to think about it:

Alice, Clementine, Dolly, Annabelle, Drew (because it's my middle name and I love it)

Hmm... maybe I should think on this a little harder. What are some names you like/dislike?

monday letters

Dear new job,
Thanks for not being crazy as hell. Also, thank you for letting me listen to pandora. And for telling me that I'm doing a good job.

Dear Ms. Vikki, Whitney, Elizabeth and Jenna,
Thank you for offering to help me make wedding flowers. I'm taking you all up on it! You're saving my life.

Dear Tifton and Valdosta,
Thank you for being part of my weekend. Sometimes I just need to be in Georgia.

Dear Bruster's,
Thank you for the best peanut butter milkshake of my life.

Dear weekend,
I liked you. Let's do it again real soon.

Dear springtime,
While I do not love your pollen, I do love your flowers. And daylight savings.

Dear local printing company,
If you ruin my invitations I will punch you in the throat.

Dear newly painted living room,
You are perfect.

Dear Ray Hancock,
I love you.

LOVE, Allison

wedding technology

I have wonderful exciting news...
We FINALLY have a wedding website!

You can read all about our ceremony, proposal, bridesmaids, etc.
Yay!!

alliray.com
ps - please know that that picture is from 2007. #old

job

I've kind of been completely neglecting this blog recently. Lots of great and not so great stuff has been going on here in my world. And I guess, I just don't always know what I should let the entire world know. Or if this is even the right forum.

I quit my job last Monday. It was seriously stressing me out and just wasn't the right fit. I knew it was the right decision and had faith that God would provide. Five days later I got a job offer. Amazing huh?

current favorite thing

This is one of my current favorite songs.
This may come as a shock to you, but I'm really bad at roller skating. I always get really sad when five year olds start flying past me... backwards.