Man Bands

I apologize for my lack of participation on this blog. This has been the busiest month of school to date. Though to make up for my absence, I will give you all a taste of what I've been working on. This is a commercial I produced for a TV show we're in the process of creating for an assignment. Enjoy.



I'll post another video soon, involving yours truly. Here's a preview...

-Todd

two!

Two months!

2!

That's 61 more days until our wedding!

We attempted to take some pictures for you all tonight to show our excitement. It's been a long day for us with schoolwork so this was our best shot! ;)

Told you it's been a long day. Don't we look rough? Thankfully by May 28 school will be over and maybe we will look a little better!

PS: We awoke to snow here today! Felt like a time warp! We need it to be SPRING! 

-Todd & Sara

Nevermind

So remember how I said we started this movie but didn't finish.....

                             and I said it was pretty good....

well scratch that. We finished it tonight and were not impressed. The plot seemed to run in circles to us and we disliked the ending. Such a bummer because we like the actors/actresses but honestly we didn't think the movie was casted well. Paul Rudd was great but I wasn't sold on Reese being a softball player and Owen just gave me the creeps. Oh well, there is my two cents but I did read some other reviews online and most felt the same. Probably should have read those before renting. You live, you learn. (Suddenly I'm singing those exact wise words that Alanis sang to us all back in '96)

Anyways...I should balance the bad reviews by telling you that last weekend we redboxed (?) Catfish and we highly recommend it. I don't want to give too much info about it but it's a documentary about something involving facebook. Rent it! It had our brains spinning!

Hope you're having a great weekend! It's been pretty cold and rainy here all day and unfortunately it looks as if the bad weather is here to stay for at least a week. I was getting used to flip flops and no jacket...hope the sunshine returns soon!  

Now excuse me while I go dig out Jagged Little Pill from the vault....I love the 90s. 

-Sara

24

Just wanted to officially wish Todd a HAPPY BIRTHDAY on our blog! We celebrated tonight by going to the gym together then later feasting our brains out at Chilis. I must give a secret shout out to some sweet sweet friends that we saw when we arrived at the restaurant whom ended up paying for our meal without us knowing until it was time for us to pay. Thank you so much!

We also rented the movie "How Do You Know" with Reese Witherspoon and it's really good. Unfortunately we didn't finish because we were too tired. Our final conversation of the night consisted of talking about how this was his last birthday as a single man and the glorious fact that in almost two months we don't have to do this bye, text me when you get home thing.

Old photo but clearly I trust him with my life :)

All this to say, I'm thankful Todd was born and for God keeping him healthy. I think so highly of him and just love his presence. So when and if he reads this: I love you and I know it is going to be a complete honor to be your wife, Happy Birthday (not like I haven't told you a million times already today)!

A Place to call Home

As promised, we wanted to update you all on where we will be living. That is a huge part of getting married because the place you make your home, is the place all your memories and traditions begin. We both have one more year of school so we will continue to live in the same town for now.

When I was an undergrad I rented from an awesome landlord that owned several properties. When we got engaged, he was one of the first people I called. Places get snatched fast around our town so it was better to get our name on the list as soon as possible. We also continued to search for other places and had a few leads. Leads were all they ended up being. Our hearts were not content with the other places and when my old landlord called and said "I have you a place" we pretty much said SOLD without even looking at the place. But we are not that crazy, so we did go check it out. We loved it. We felt as if it was home. We knew we could make it ours. Here are a few pictures from my landlord's website so just note we have not moved in yet nor are the items in the pictures ours. I (Sara) will move in May 15 :)

Living Room but we have hardwood flooring

Master Bedroom

The place is a townhouse so it has a downstairs and upstairs which includes a guest bedroom so come on by for a visit! Other bonus features is that it is in town, flat ground and near the bus stop. Also we found out today that our friends whom are also getting married this summer will be our neighbors! I'm so pumped! If you have ever lived in our small town then you know it is hard to find a place. It may not be our dream home but considering we have never lived together, this will be a dream come true! It's perfect for where we are in our lives until we figure out where God will lead us next after school.

The lease has been signed (today!) and we are so anxious! I'll be sure to keep everyone updated on the moving process and decorating since it comes unfurnished!

Where are we?

Life is busy busy! We are both slammed with responsibilities between work, school, activities, wedding...the list goes on and on. I (Sara) have three full weeks of school left and although that number looks glorious, the schoolwork is not. If you see me these days, I'm always in turbo mode. I hate living like that but its something that has to be done right now. I'm always coming and going, writing papers, making phone calls and on top of it all I've finally got into a workout routine which is usually one of the best parts of my day (unless I forget my iPod, then I'm miserable).

The weather has been fairly nice here in the mountains and I'm loving the longer daylight hours. Tomorrow we sign our lease on our new place which we plan to fill you all in with the details soon including some pictures! Thanks for reading our blog and since Todd posted a glimpse into his school projects I'll leave you with my latest one. Not as cool as his by no means, I mean I'm a librarian afterall, what do you expect? It's a tutorial on how to use an aspect of a database for research.

Sorry it's small. Sorry if I bore you. I warned you!

Repeat!

I do apologize if you have already watched our proposal. In my previous post, I had to link it but really wanted to have it embedded on our page so we can easily view in the future if we wish or show friends. I figured since I'm posting it again I'll give you another behind the scene fun fact. Clearly I was unaware that I was going to be getting engaged that morning considering I am wearing the shirt I slept in the night before. I'm pretty sure I don't match. My brain was in vacation mode! But if you were a smart viewer, you noticed I have a different outfit on when we met my family at Provco. Yes, I made a two minute wardrobe change in between because he told me we were going somewhere else and I just couldn't leave  those gates of Caswell in my lazy attire on such a special day.


Enough of fun facts. If you haven't viewed it yet, check it out. If you have seen it, enjoy again or ignore this post. Is it May 28 yet????????

LOL

Every now and then I see a commercial that I find laugh out loud funny. Sometimes they are really cheesy or lame that others in the room will find annoying. This happened the other day when Todd wouldn't stop laughing at a commercial that I thought was "just another commercial." I can't remember which one he liked but tonight I laughed hysterically at this one:



Hahaha I can't stop. I'm pretty sure the guys name is Todd which makes it even better for me. Plus I can relate...okay well not that I was ever only his girlfriend for food but I'm positive this happens every time we eat. We each are poking at each others plates but unlike what the Todd in this ad says at the end...our relationship is working out. What's your favorite commercial?

-Sara

One Year Later

As of three weeks ago, I'm leading worship again. 

I've started playing drums for the worship team at our church here in Boone. It's been so refreshing to play in a worship band again. I've led worship most of my life from middle school to high school for my youth group and for FCA and Campus Crusade during my early college years. Now I'm at it again, doing what I love the most. I'm sure some can relate but for me using my musical abilities to lead worship just feels right. Everyone has their own unique God-given gift and when you can use that gift to bring glory to God it's such a satisfying feeling. 

Ironically enough, the first Sunday I played drums at church was exactly a year to date from my last show with my old band, Philmont. It seems like just yesterday I was traveling the country, living out of this  

If interested here's a link to my last post on the band's blog describing what I was feeling during my last show: "The Final Post from Todd"

It's funny looking back how apprehensive/eager I was to take on life, post-Philmont. Yet the Lord has been looking out for me and he has blessed me far more than I ever expected. Perhaps the greatest lesson I've learned this past year is to never doubt God and his plans for my life.  

"For I know the plans I have for you, " declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."  -Jeremiah 29:11

Have a great week, 

Todd 

Back to Reality

Hope you enjoyed our proposal video! In case you are curious, the reason I pushed him away after he gave me the ring was because I had been totally lied to all day long by so many people. It was a friendly shove, just stunned that I got tricked so well.

Anyways, we are back from our spring break road trip. Remember how I mentioned it was snowing when we left? Well the snowy conditions were here when we returned. Yuck. I'm so over it. However, I did just order a new coat because it was cheap cheap due to "off season" so that is the only bonus of the cold we are having.

During the break we were able to squeeze in two counseling sessions, visit Todd's mom and Mike, visit my parents and go to Wilmington. We got to play with Penelope (niece) and spend quality time with Matt & Melissa while in Wilmington. Picture recap:

Taking a snooze on the way to Wilmington

Sunshine!

Trolley Stop downtown...yum

Todd, Mr. Photographer 

Mother/Daughter snuggle time, so sweet.

Chick-fil-a with P

Such a good uncle! Climbing the play place.

We wore her out!

That just scratches the surface of our fun. Todd took some great photos and I know he will be blogging next to give you his own recap of Spring Break. Now that we are back it is time to get back into school mode. My last class is April 13 (woohoo) but I have lots to do between now and then. Better get started!

-Sara

Our Secret Proposal

July 31, 2010 was such a special day as Todd proposed without me having any idea! (Okay so I thought maybe it would be the day before or something but when he didn't do it then, I gave up!) Anyways, yesterday we drove straight to Wilmington for vacation and Matt (Todd's brother, owner of Lifestage Films) just got a new studio so he asked us to swing by. Thus we did and Matt was very clever as he sat us in his conference room and told us to check out a new highlights video he made. Little did we know he had more up his sleeve....he had finished our proposal video! We love it and think you will too!

Since the embedded video for our blog was a little messy, you can just go to directly to Matt's website to view it. Matt wrote a great blog post that gives his point of view so check it out by clicking here....plus you should check out his business while you are there, good stuff!

If you want to know more about our proposal then check out our knot page. Thanks Matt! We can't thank you enough for this special memory you created for us! We love you!


-Sara...& Todd :)

Snow Break?

I thought this week was suppose to be our SPRING break! Apparently the weather for Boone didn't get the memo. Todd and I stuck around this weekend since he was playing drums at church today and we were surprised to see snow all morning. Actually it was a huge mix of rain/sleet/snow. I snapped this photo just as we were about to roll out.

Thank goodness for a safe arrival in Charlotte despite all the rain and we finally got to see some sunshine just before dusk! Tomorrow morning we are leaving for Wilmington and we have high hopes for warmer weather. We will settle for anything above 50 degrees! Oh and one more request...green trees and flowers would be a nice added touch! 

-Sara

Toot, Toot!

Hope you tuned in yesterday to hear Todd's awesome commercial he made for a class project. I just want to give you a quick view from my perspective. First of all he works in a neat studio on campus that is full of equipment which is totally overwhelming to me. Just imagine buttons everywhere. If you are like me you would love nothing more than to hit them all and see what happens...which is probably not the best idea so if I had to actually use them for a purpose such as making a commercial, I'd freak out. Over the past few weeks I have watched Todd form an idea, write a script (which he hated for a long time--such a perfectionist), and gather sound clips. This process takes hours outside of class. Hardcore dedication. My favorite part of this project was joining in at the studio when Matt and Blake (his roommates) did the voiceovers. Hilarious. Fun fact I learned last night: during the campfire part, Todd is the one actually playing the guitar. Anyways all this to say, Todd is not one to toot his own horn so I did it for him. Can you tell I'm a really proud soon to be wife? He constantly amazes me at his talents! 

I apologize for the extremely cheesy title. Forgive me. It's been a LONG week and I'm a little delirious yet thrilled for some free time without the worry of classes. So how do I begin my break? Cleaning out my closet. Is it weird that the older I get the more fun staying at home on Friday night watching Who's The Boss and cleaning is thrilling to me? My plan is to follow some rules that you can see by clicking here. Pretty reasonable, right? Hope so.

Have a great weekend!

Listen Up!

Yesterday I finished a commercial spot for my Audio Production class so I figured I'd post it for the world to hear. The spot is for Nature Valley Granola Bars. Enjoy...



I had free rein to choose the product, write the script, and produce the spot in its entirety. My roommates helped me out with the voice over work and the narration is performed by yours truly. The spot could potentially be selected for the BEA Festival of Media Arts Competition where I could win $1,000 and a trip to Vegas for the awards ceremony! I'm quite pleased with the finished product. So there ya go. Feedback is appreciated. Let me know what you think!

-Todd

Marriage 101

Todd made an appearance on the blog this week and not sure about you but I thought it was great and also made me laugh out loud. I will never try to compete with his writing style and that is a-okay. He is one of a kind and I'm a lucky lady.

This week has been incredibly busy. It's the week before spring break and if you have ever been in school/college then you know how it is. Everything seems to be piling up. But I'm hanging in there and trying to get everything I possibly can done so that I can enjoy our time out of town. We plan to travel to the coast for just a few days to visit family which will be a great change of scenery.

But in the midst of working/studying/cataloging/projects, I managed to order and receive via mail (thanks Amazon) a book that my roommate Hollie suggested titled His Needs, Her Needs. As tired as I was last night, I still wanted to start reading it before bed. The book immediately hooked me as the author quickly brings up the subject of affairs. Not that he wishes that upon anyone, but he clearly outlines the emotions of men and women. Thus when those needs are not met, people seek them elsewhere. Affair is scary word. Personally, Todd and I don't want it in our vocabulary and vow to never threaten those words. However, I do believe that doesn't mean we aren't immune to it. After reading just the first chapter of this book, I know I'm going to gain so much insight into learning how to care for his needs and being aware of our emotions. The book does remind me a little of The Five Love Languages that I read a few weeks ago. So whether you are getting married or already married, this may be a book you want to check out just to guard yourselves and be reminded of what love is all about. I'll try to keep you updated on any other points in the book I find interesting!

Just like I'm taking four classes this semester, I take the idea of marriage really seriously as if it's a class. I truly believe people spend too much time planning for the "big day" but after they walk down the aisle they have a "what's next" attitude. I'm thankful for the incredible couples I know in my life that have gone before me to be such great role models at gaining wisdom for life after the alter. I know I can't read all the books and get all the answers before May 28 but I never want to look back and remember just a big celebration. The true celebration is that God is joining two people together as one that represents the body of Christ. May we never forget that.

-Sara

The Inaugural Post

Hello world, I figured it was about time for me to contribute to this here blog. Though, don't expect me to blog nearly as much as Sara. She is a blogging machine. I foresee a blogpost ratio of 9:1. But I will surely try to keep up.

As Sara had stated in a previous post, she obviously hasn't taken on the greatest surname ever just yet. Though we both felt it'd be appropriate to let the world know what's going on in the few months we have left until marriage (less than 3 months at this point...yowzas!)

So I'm sure most of you are wanting an update on my current collegiate lifestyle. I'm staying very busy finishing up my degree in Electronic Media and Broadcasting, which has been very fulfilling. I've thoroughly enjoyed learning the skills and techniques to record, film, and edit audio and video. It's a great trade to learn and will surely pave the way for a promising career.

Most people assume it's super weird for me to be back in school after a two and a half year hiatus. Though in reality, it's been wonderful to be back in Boone. I love this beautiful town. I'm such a social person it's great to be around so many people so often. Not to mention the great company Sara is as well. I'm so thankful she's up here with me as she pursues her masters degree. We still have a pretty solid network of friends who are still in town, and we've made plenty of new friends as well. So stop assuming it's super weird. I'm in college again! Who wouldn't want to go back to college!?

So there's my introductory blog post. It's great to be blogging again. More blogs to come. I haven't blogged since when I would blog on the band's blog. Phew, that was a whole lot o' "blog"s. "Blog" is a funny weird isn't it. "Blog" can be a verb or a noun. Of course it stands for web log, but I think "blog" could be an onomatopoeia for the sound of throwing up as well. Too far? Perhaps. Go ahead, make the sound for yourself. See...

until next time, folks
-Todd