Inheritance

Between when my grandmother passed away in July of 2008 and now, I've been handed down a few pieces of her jewelry and thought they would be fun to show them off and share a little background about them.

A couple months after she passed, my Grandpa asked my parents if there was anything in particular they wanted - and they asked us the same question. I felt so weird asking for this ring... the only reason I did so was because Grandma had told me time and time again that she wanted me to have it after she passed away. However, I remember stories in the family of my great-grandparents telling multiple people that they wanted them to have things and large arguments ensuing. Arguing was definitely what I DID NOT WANT so I brought it up to my Mom but made it absolutely clear that if Grandpa wanted anyone else to have the ring or wanted to keep it that I was completely OK with that. I didn't hear anything about the whole thing until a couple months later when I was home for something. "Here," my mom said as she handed me a white envelope, "It's that ring of Grandma's." Sweet! I think I remember Grandma saying that the ring has been in the family for 8 generations and that she got it from her great-grandmother Carpenter. The ring fits my left ring finger perfectly and sometimes I wear it instead of my own wedding band and engagement ring. It's such a simple, gorgeous piece of jewelry. I remember her wearing it as her own wedding band... it's full of good memories.

Grandma also lent me this ring as my Something Old and Something Borrowed on my wedding day. She'd lent it to me with a white ribbon tied around it and I pinned it under my dress with my sorority pin. I remember obsessively checking it all night to make sure I didn't lose it!
My sister and I went to visit Grandpa last winter, and we were looking through a bunch of Grandma's jewelry. "Oh, fun beads!" I exclaimed, and Grandpa goes "Good price! Free! Take it with you!" My Grandmother had a love of collections, and there was an impressive amount of jewelry (costume and otherwise) that we were looking through. I think Grandpa was glad to pass some along! And I was so glad to have some fun beads to wear out and about. :)
I got this ring on that same visit with Katie. I have no idea what the stone on this ring is - it could be a piece of glass for all I know. However, I love this piece! The ring itself is nice and delicate and the stone is big and fun. I was going to have this ring sized to my right ring finger and dipped in white gold until I got the next piece. Now I keep it and wear it on my right middle finger whenever I'm wearing clothes with gold accents. This ring is just so fun... and my sister Katie wore it as her Something Blue at her wedding. It was so nice to have a piece of Grandma's jewelry that I could loan out to her for a special occasion like that.
This is the piece I wear the most. My grandfather gave it to my Mom, but she didn't really ever wear it. At Christmas, she asked me if I would want it. I loved it! I had it sized to my right ring finger and dipped in white gold (it was originally yellow gold). The work to the ring wasn't cheap, but now I have an amazing ring that I wear very often on my right hand. And I get TONS of compliments on it - people are always asking me where I got it and saying how pretty they think it is. It's nice to reply that it's vintage and was my grandmother's, and even nicer to have something of hers that I can wear all the time. I love having a lovely reminder of her with me!
So those are jewelry I inherited from Grandma. It's so nice to have these as reminders of her, and fun to imagine passing them down to my own kids or grand-kids someday!

10 Things I Like about Gayle

According to Birthday Tradition, here is 10 things I like about my Mom, a little late (her bday was Wednesday, July 21!):

1. My Mom just GETS it. She gets me perhaps more than anyone.
   
2. My Mom is great with kids. I don't know what she does, but she can get Gracie to sleep in 5 min flat when Katie's been trying for hours to no avail. Earlier this year I told her "I don't know how you do that, but you should bottle it and SELL it!" She has a natural talent with the childrens!
   
3. My Mom can order/heat up pizza like no one's business. When my Mom was in college, my Uncle counted during one finals week and we had pizza 5 times in one week. I would like to think that all her non-cooking days have given me a fine appreciation for pizza as it's own food group.
   
4. Mom knows all about the Information Technology. Sometimes when I have a question about a certain system, I'll tell someone at work that I need to talk to my "Subject Matter Expert" and then call Mom to ask how the system would work or if someone is pulling my chain. Plus she is helpful in fixing all the stuff I mess up.
   
5. I help her argue with her auditors. I love giving my Mom ammo to fight back against her audit issues at work. It is way too much fun.
   
6. She is one of my favorite people to gossip with. From family drama to what is going on with the people back home, Mom's always got the dirt.
   
7. I've gotten some really great recipes from Mom, even if 95% of them involve some kind of ground beef. And I love that she is always down for eating out, especially at Los Bravos or Rafferty's.
8. Mom is a great minister's wife and I love that she supports and loves my Dad. Mom sits through and is involved in countless church activities with a patience that I doubt I could ever muster. And I suspect that she thoroughly enjoys most of them!
   
9. Venting to my Mom is the best thing ever. I will have talked about something to a few friends or Mike, and if it's something that is REALLY weighing on me, nothing really lifts the burden off my shoulders like talking to my Mom. After hanging up the phone with her I feel immediately lighter and better about the world.
10. My Mom knows exactly what to say. Whatever I'm venting about, she always has the perfect thing to make me laugh or give me perspective.

As you can see, I love to just CHAT with my Mom... she is the best :)

Easter pics

Mike and I get in a pic. Two words: Need tan. Vacation cannot come soon enough!!

The kiddos wait for the egg-hunt go-ahead.
And they're off!

Aydan "helps" Odin. And by help I mean takes eggs out from under him. hahaha... like Odin would really get much of that candy anyways with two older brothers!

OK, I have two eggs. All I can hold. Are we done here yet?

Mike helps Odin hunt for eggs by holding onto the basket that is almost as big as Odin!

I wonder if this one tastes good?

Ooops! thought the drive-by egg grab would work... notsomuch.

I finally get a tiny smile out of Dade a little later in the day.

I love the Easter egg hunt with all the nephews. It is so much fun to see all these little boys run all over the place for eggs, and it's even more fun now that Dade and Aydan are a little older and don't stand in one place throwing one egg against the sidewalk (a real hardboiled egg... ahem, I'm looking at you, Odin) for the duration of the event. Plus the weather was gorgeous. I was sad I missed my niece, Gracie, in her Easter finery, but it's become a bit of the tradition to load the nephews up on sugar and then deal with the consequences.

As a random aside, Dade and Aydan made the paper bunny ears that Aydan is wearing above while I was napping on Saturday, and they sported them almost the whole weekend. It was so cute!

And SO SAD I totally forgot to take pictures of the newest little nephew. Little Loki was born just about a month and a half ago. Doh!

Happy Birthday JayJay!

Jay on Saturday, right after housing an entire cupcake in one bite. He looked like he was going to barf.

Again, a little late. But better late than never. My younger brother, Jay, turned 27 on Sunday. I told him and his girlfriend that turning older myself doesn't make me feel old, but Jay and our sister Katie getting older sure does!

Happy Birthday, "Little" Brother! Here is your Birthday 10 Things I Like About Jay!

1. Jay makes everything funnier and more fun. He has plenty of jokes/puns/mocking about everything, including his monstrous noggin'.
2. He is always up for some good competition - whether it be a slap bet or a pushup contest with Mike
3. We've always been like peas and carrots.
4. He is such a good uncle to our niece Gracie - he just loves her soooooo much! My favorite Jay Quote is "I love pizza and I love Kim but I LOVE THAT LITTLE BABY!!!!"
5. Jay can always make me laugh. My mom tells me that, when we were little kids, Jay would do things to make me laugh (bad things like smash cake onto his head, etc) and I would crack up and he would keep doing them until my mom would scream "You! Stop doing that! And you! Stop laughing at him!!"
6. Jay is always there when you need him. Need a kegerator carried upstairs or fixed? He's there. Need someone to step the party up a notch? He's there then, too.
7. He thinks of funny shirts like "Screw the kiss, gimme a beer." or "F*ck ya'll, I'm from Indiana" to wear on St Patty's Day
8. He gives me lots of material. I get about 80% of my funny sayings straight from Jay. I would be a lot less amusing without him.
9. He's one of those people on earth that I feel 100% comfortable saying whatever it is that comes to mind. No filter required.
10. So many of my life memories are imprinted with Jay being right beside me. He was (and is) a GREAT partner in crime!

Happy Birthday Jaybird!!

Weekend Recap

Another busy weekend!

Luckily I was able to leave a bit early from work on Friday and headed to Purdue to meet my cousin Zach for dinner. We got some Hot Box pizza and breadsticks (LOVE) and then continued on my merry way to Indy.

I think my sister is lying about that baby sleeping, because everytime I see her and Gracie she totally does not sleep through the night. I think she's in for another bad bout of teething, because she had one on the top front that popped through the gums on Saturday. Poor little booboohead. She definitely felt under the weather, as is evidenced by this picture I took at lunch on Saturday.

Gracie and Grandma snuggle at lunch

The point of the weekend was not only for visiting but to ACCOMPLISH on the Katie-wedding-front. And accomplish we did. We found Katie's wedding gown, bridesmaid dresses, invitations, agreed on bachelorette and shower festivities and figured out what weekend would be good, and made to-do lists on top of to-do lists. I don't know about Katie but I feel like the whole thing is actually coming together now!

Gracie and Katie get a fun shot in at David's bridal

I gotta tell you, we went to this Posie Patch Bridal Superstore after David's Bridal, and it was a bit hell-ish. We had to wait about an hour and a half after our appointment to be helped by a bridal consultant which was crazy ridiculous. And there were about a million rude people there. We had so much time before she was helped for bridal gowns that we full-on picked out a bridesmaid dress.

Then her name was called and she started trying on dresses. I was so happy when she found "the dress"... she had tried on many dresses that would do and were gorgeous, but I kept telling her that she would know when she found The One. And she did! She came out of the dressing room with tears in her eyes proclaiming "This is THE ONE!!!" I was so happy for her that she truly felt that when finding her gown instead of being lukewarm about it and saying "Oh, this will do." Once she decided on a gown I realized with a jolt that the bridesmaid dress we had decided on just would not go with the wedding dress AT ALL. I turned to Katie and the other bridesmaid, Melanie, that we had with us and said "JUST ONE MINUTE. I'll be right back"

I must have looked slightly like a mad woman, tearing through the bridesmaid dress section, pulling dresses off the racks quickly and tossing them on my pile. I picked out 5 I thought would look good, we narrowed it down to three on the spot and then tried on those. Out of those three, the other bridesmaid and I wholeheartedly agreed on one and Katie liked it, so we were golden! It was so funny, we waited around for like an hour and a half at that place and the action went down in 10 solid minutes!

Once we were back at Katie's place and Gracie got some Tylenol in her system to sooth those gums, I decided to take some pics. No wonder I am in love with this little nugget, check her out!

Man, I love that baby.

On Sunday I drove home in a monsoon and Mike and I decided to go see "He's Just Not That Into You" At the theater we ran into Jay and Kim, who were seeing the same thing! So we ended up going to a movie with them totally without meaning to! Pequod's pizza for dinner was a nice way to end the weekend.... if you haven't been there you just have to try it - it's our FAVORITE!

Hope your weekends were great! Is the monsoon season around here crazy or what? I am thanking my lucky stars I purchased wellies.

Jay....

DSC_0032.JPG, originally uploaded by agstratt.

.... thinking Deep Thoughts.

Daddy Dearest

so a couple days ago (Sept 9th to be exact) was my Dad's birthday. For my dear old pops, I thought I would pull out the "10 things I like" format, since I have yet to send him a birthday card and am an awful daughter.

1. His laugh. When my dad really cracks up, he rocks back and forth and scrunches up his face, just laughing really hard. It is funny, it's like his whole being is laughing
2. He knows how to do everything. I swear to you, he does. I can call my Dad and ask him anything from investment questions to how to anchor some mason screws in a concrete wall. I am not saying this in the typical little girl "My Dad can do anything" way. He really can. Go ahead, ask him!
3. He also knows everything. Closely related to #2. But seriously, it blows my mind how much this one person can cram into his brain. He knows everything from which little old ladies at the church need their walks shoveled during a snowstorm to how to whip anyone at bags (ahem, Calbert Cheny, ahem).
4. He is super sporty. My Dad can pick up almost any sport and win at it. It makes me feel hopeful that my athletic non-prowess is a dominant gene, and somewhere there is a recessive gene for athletic ability that my kids may someday inherit.
5. He more gets along with Mike. I have never had a problem with the typical "Girl marries someone like her Dad" stereotype because mine is so great, but it really delights me that they look forward to seeing each other.
6. His committment to my mom and our family. We've been through rough times but I have never once doubted that we wouldn't get through those times as a family. He has set such a great example for my life and my marriage.
7. He's not afraid of anything. He'll jump up and defend me in the middle of Kilroy's when some 6'5" chick threatens me. And he'll order a shipment of stone crocks from China to start a new business.
8. He helps so many people. Whether he's going to Mississippi to rebuild or evacuate a town, heading the relief efforts after a tornado, or just visiting people in the hospital, he is constantly leaving a real imprint on this world in a positive way.
9. He supports everything I do. He may play the devil's advocate with me sometimes, but he is proud of me and supports everything I do in life. It's amazing to really know, deep down in my soul, that kind of support.
10. His big heart. He cares about everyone and everything, and loves me and the rest of our family so fiercely that I cannot even describe.

For all these reasons and more, I love my Dad so much! I am a total Daddy's girl, it is no lie. My hope is to spend many more happy and healthy birthdays (maybe where I also actually send a card) with my Dad.

Here's to you, Dad!

Can't believe I'm writing this...

I feel like I have to write this, but writing it will make it real. And I can't believe it's real yet.

This is adapted from an e-mail I sent my sorority sisters on Monday:

I know most of you already know... but I lost my Grandma Stratton this weekend.

We were at the lakehouse on Friday when we got the call that she had been admitted to the hospital the day before, didn't fully wake up on Friday and was in a coma-like state. We hightailed it to Fort Wayne; it was a blessing that we were close enough to make it there within an hour. Jay and Katie arrived shortly after Mike and I, and my parents got there right when we did. They did a ct scan, but we found out only the next day that she had a perforated bowel and had gone into sepsis. We visited and hoped for the best, and all went to dinner as a family once we learned that she seemed stable. At dinner, my aunt got the call that her vitals were doing very badly and she, Dad, and Grandpa got up and ran back to the hospital. When we got back to the hospital, the decision had been made to take her off the machines. She died later that night at 2:45 AM.

I feel like I have lost a person who was a main constant in my life. She was ALWAYS there for me. She was always on Team April, 100% of the time, without having to be anti-team-anyone-else. No matter what I did, she was proud of me. All of us grandkids felt this way, she made us all feel loved and treasured. I cannot believe she is gone. I cannot believe that this is happening. I cannot believe that she will not be around to make my kids feel loved... to buy them doughnuts and grapes, let them eat all the LifeSavers, and tell them funny stories or teach them how to cook. I feel like I'm in stuck in a bad dream. I have been so lucky thus far related to death and it's toll on those close to me. For this, I am thankful. I am glad that I followed my gut at the family reunion this year, however dumb or rash that it seemed, to tell my Grandma that we plan on naming any little girl we have after her. I am thankful that I got to say goodbye even though I didn't say those words exactly.... I could only get up the courage to say "till next time..." and tell her that she was one of the most amazing women I have ever known.
It was funny, talking to my cousins at the funeral, we realized that each and every one of us thought we were Grandma's favorite. I laughed a bit, thinking of course. It made so much sense to me, and was such a testament to the kind of woman that she was, that all of us felt so treasured, so convinced that we were by far the most important. It's still very hard to think she won't be around.

I'd like to say I'm doing ok. I know that I will be OK someday. But I don't think I'll ever get over the fact that she's not around anymore. It makes me think constantly that I should have visited more, should have called more, should have paid more attention. I always thought there was more time, would be more time in the future to see her. I should have known better. I can at least say that she knew how much I loved, looked up to her, and adored her. And for that I am thankful.

I'll miss you, Grandma.

More Gracie!

I think I've got Katie talked into sending me a daily Gracie pic.... it totally brightens my day!

so tired, Mom. Can't you just chill out?

always halfway between food and sleep... the life of a newborn

Stratton Fam Reunion

Just got back from a weekend of Stratton Family reunioning! Here are some pics from the weekend.

Little Jaxon, my cousin Brian's son

Jaxon and Aunt Gayle

Jayden (my cousin Stephanie's son) holds onto Jay's large noggin' for dear life

Little Jayce (Stephanie's younger son) zonks out

Jaxon and Daddy

I love this picture of Brian and Jaxon, but Jaxon is out of focus! He looks like such a Gerber baby though.

Oh, Cousin Zach, you are truly one of a kind ;c)

The whole reunioning group (except for those who left the night before)

And a funny one to end the group of pics... Grandma giving me not one but TWO stinkeyes. Her expression in this one just cracks me up. Grandma is the best, so loving, but a tough cookie!

is she taking a picture? hmmmmmm

October 5

This weekend Chad came into town to go to the Purdue-OSU game. Jay was in town to attend a fraternity brother's engagement party, so we also had Carl over for dinner and made it a little dinner party! Yay, got to use our new china and our new dining room table with the extension leaf out. Don't so much have a dining room, we just shove the couch to the side and eat in the middle of the living room! But it works great.

Yay! I love it when Jay is in town!!

July 25

I have never had so much trouble with a picture in my whole life. I can't get the darn thing to turn right way up. Maybe it's a sign, a sign from "Gawd" as the Blues Brothers say. At any rate, this is a pic of the fantabulous Tribune Tower, which holds a special place in my heart. ;c)
Speaking of the Blues Brothers, one of my favorite stories about my brother, Jay, is from when he first visited me in Chicago. I had recently gotten a traffic ticket (wrong way on a one-way street tickets are just EVIL!), and needed to go downtown to pay it. As we emerged from the El, Jay stopped and was like "I have been here before." He mused over it for a minute before realizing that we were in Daley Plaza, and that's where the Blues Brothers pull up and their car just falls apart into a million little pieces. I guess that cracked me up, because it made me realize how much we had seen the Blues Brothers growing up. Everytime I see that movie I think of Dad putting on the soundtrack record (on vinyl!) and playing "Shake Your Tailfeather" and us three kids and Dad dancing around, shaking our tailfeathers. Fun times!

July 21

Today was my shower and Mom's birthday. Here are some pics!

Katie and I get in for a photo op

Mom's Birthday Cheesecake... Jay told the waiter she was 21!

The birthday girl!

July 6

Today we went out on Grandpa's new boat. This is a pic of my sis, Katie, and brother, Jay, out of the boat at the sandbar. When we got home we went to Legg's Inn and had Leini's Summer Shandy drafts and Pierogis and schnitzel. Holy cow, what a good meal.

July 3

Today, we drove from Cedar Point to Fort Wayne, had lunch with my grandparents, and picked up Katie to head to northern Michigan. This is a pic of me with my Grandma. I love my grandparents!

May 27

Today we spent the day in Evansville. First we went to church, then to the country club for brunch. Then we headed home for a busy day if wedding invitation/decoration fun. In the midst of all the fun, my Dad took Mike out rabbit-hunting in the backyard. They were hunting with very advanced tools, including the pool net, my dad's golf driver, and a baseball. It was a rockin' good time.

Mike, waiting for Dad to scare the bunny down this way

Mike shakes the bush so the bunny runs toward Dad
Dad, showing off his main bunny-hunting weapon: the golf driver

Darn wabbit, outsmarted them on this day. Another day he will meet his maker, Calloway.

April 7

What I did today:

• Woke up at 7:30 AM
• Ran 8 miles at the Logansport gym (Good treadmills, loved that they didn't have a 60 min limit!)
• Went to the chiropractor for the pain in my left hip. He noted that my hips were twisted; as a result the right leg was a full inch longer than my left (THAT would be why it hurt)
• Had lunch at Mr. Happy Burger (omg SO GOOD)
• Visited with Mike's Grandma Knowles (totally reminds me of a southern version of Grandma Stratton)
• Napped a sweet, glorious, 3 hour nap
• Had dinner with the fam
• Played with Dade and Aydan

This is my favorite pic from the day, Dade cheesing. He cracks me up!

March 16

On Friday we were at Joe's for the March Madness games and then hit Mystic Celt, where I took this pic!

March 15

Happy Birthday to Jay! On Thursday, we went to Messner's and watched the IU game. So fun!

Today is the day....

...that I have been looking forward to since almost New Year's. My little brother Jay is flying up (I am praying to the sweet, sweet Baby Jesus that his flight is on time) and we are kicking off the St. Patty's Day Fun with the IU game. Tomorrow we are up bright and early to watch all the games. Let me just lay it out there: Mike and Jay will be there to watch the games with and there are no other two people I would rather have by my side at a sporting event. Mike explains everything tirelessly (although I am pretty good with the basketball knowledge by now.... oh how far I have come from "Tom Coverdale is such a jerk, he never lets any of the other guys bring the ball down the court!!!") and Jay is always good for random comments, heckling, and IU comradery. Katie is cool, but she's more into the gossip, dancing to ghetto music, and social interaction than sporting-event smack-talk and screaming "DEAR LORD why can't the guy in the red outfit just making a freaking shot already?!?!?!"

SO. FREAKING. EXCITED.

In other news, today is Jay's Birthday! Happy Birthday, Jaybird!! 25! I know we made a hella big deal out of Katie last year and I feel like we totally neglected your birthday. But this year is your year, baby, Katie turns 22 and that is NO FUN at all. So this is your BIG-BIRTHDAY-CELEBRATION-in-Chicago weekend. I even made two sets of cupcakes, brownies, and oatmeal cookies. Get ready to eat plenty of snacks, houseguests.

An advance apology:
To Jay and Katie, I apologize for an extremely lame round of birthday presents this year. You each only get a 20 spot for your birthday, as I am broke as hell.
Love, Your Big Sister

Mike pretends to push Jay from the lookout point on Mackinaw Island