Last Post O' the Year!

Crazy to think that Sunday starts 2012!!! Where has the time gone?!

I have a few ideas..
-buying our first house!
-moving (again!)
-decorating/painting said house (4 days after move-in, guest bathroom, guest room, dining room, entry and office, living room, bedroom, and bathroom, laundry)
-starting grad school
-trips to NYC, the beach, the mountains, Virginia, Texas, Kentucky (x2), Mississippi (x2), Georgia, South Carolina


What's happening in 2012?
-Boston with Clark and Amy
-Hopefully a trip to Charleston or Savannah
-Trips to the mountains and the beach
-David graduates from State in May
-Caitlin graduates from WKU in December
-Hopefully getting the house more settled- we need a dining room table!

Christmas has come and gone

We had a week long Christmas! Too bad I spent most of it not feeling well. I enjoyed it all anyway!

It started on the 17th. We opened presents from each other and went to see a movie.
The 19th I went into work, then drove straight to Mississippi. We has a great Christmas with Grannie and Granddaddy and Uncle Thomas and Aunt Linda. Rachel and Elise taught me how to play PIT and we ate lots of food! Santa came early in MS on Wednesday and brought us an iPad! Thursday, we had Christmas with Kate Kate, then off to KY! We enjoyed meeting the newest member of the family, Jordyn. We enjoyed looking at lights and eating too.much.food. Santa came and brought me the best dust buster ever. It is amazing! We had a good time playing games and still ate too.much.food. We left Christmas day around 5 and headed to Harriman, TN to break up the long trip. It was such a good decision! Driving back Monday didn't feel so long- we even got home before dark!

I slowly undecorated the inside this week. The Christmas tree was put on the curb last night. (The city picks them up for free!) It feels so naked inside the house now! The tree took up lots of space! J is taking down the outside lights tomorrow. I have been enjoying not working. And thankfully, the construction on the house next door started at 9 Tuesday- Thursday, so I got some good sleep! My one project for the week was making a curtain for the kitchen window. I went to get the fabric this morning and it is nowhere to be found! :( I hope they will restock it soon and it is not discontinued. The ladies at the store weren't much help. If I can't find it soon, I guess I will have to pick out a new fabric....

Work starts back for me on Monday. Of course, J has Monday off. Always seems to work that way. Classes start back January 9, so I will be busy before I know it!

9 days til Christmas!

We have been busy!

We had a Young Married's Christmas party full of food and an ornament exchange. We wound up with a Frosty the Snowman!

We discovered some awesome Christmas light displays set to music.

I finished the semester with a 4.0.

I had 2 cookie exchanges (just this week!) and an ornament party.

I celebrated my friend's birthday on Wednesday by painting pottery in Fayetteville.

We went over to a friend's house for steak last week. They must really like us!

We finished all our Christmas shopping!

Today, I woke up with a sore throat.. I am hoping it goes away quickly! Thankfully, today was a half day.

Now we are gearing up for our Christmas trip. Can't wait to see everyone!

Those neighbors..

must hate these neighbors!



Christmas Lights in Cary near church. Hopefully we will get a better video of one closer to the house to post.

Fa-la-la-la-la

It's Christmastime! But first, a quick re-cap...

We had Thanksgiving with friends. It was fun and food filled. Saturday, we went to the Vandy @ Wake Forest with them. So glad to cheer for a winning team! We had a great time with them. On the way home, J and I stopped at Steak N Shake. We needed a milkshake fix!

Other than that, not much going on lately. I am wrapping up my semester. My final Monday night class is tomorrow, and my final Wednesday class is Dec. 7. Both classes are just presenting our final projects. I am feeling confident that I will have A's in both classes. :)

Work has been busy, especially since I got a pre-schooler at the beginning of the month. Between adding a new student to the mix and meetings, I have been pretty busy! I was glad to have a break.

I did go out on Black Friday to get a few things, but mostly Christmas decorations. Since we are in a new house, we didn't have any lights for the outside. We also decided to get a real tree this year, so we needed more ornaments, garland, lights, etc. The house is now Christmas-fied, including presents under the tree. :) Less than a month now!

Outside :) I have a porch tree being shipped! So the porch will have a little light, too!

Christmas tree in our room. Since it is in the front of the house, we open the blinds so it can be seen from the road.

Mantle and the real tree! :)

Painting and Shopping

The semester is winding down for grad school, so I have been busy with all the final projects. I am done with half of them, so that is a relief!

The trees have been beautiful here the past couple of weeks. Now, the leaves are on the ground. It is beginning to get cold, which can only mean one thing! Christmas is coming!

We spent yesterday shopping for Christmas stuff. (We also ended up with a cute Halloween decoration marked down!) We now only have 3 people to shop for (we had no luck finding something for 1 person... even after going to 5 stores!) So we are close to being done with others. So far we have no idea what to get each other though, There is still time, but after going shopping yesterday, neither of us has any desire to set foot in a mall again. We ended the night eat in Cameron Village and an early bedtime. You see, since we were both off work yesterday, we decided to go see J. Edgar at 12:01. We didn't get home until after 3 am. I still need some catch up sleep, and I slept 10 hours last night!

Today, we painted the laundry room. It is about time because the paint for the laundry was actually the first gallon we bought!!! Now our house is all painted! (Except closets, but we are so not going there. Khaki is just fine for closets!) We have out Young Marrieds' Thanksgiving tonight. I made sweet potatoes for the first time. Hope they are good! I also made a pumpkin cheesecake, but I know that will be good!

December 7 I will officially be done with this semester. Cannot wait! Next semester I am taking 2 classes on Monday nights. So I will be in class from 4-10. Going to be a long semester. At least they are both considered distance education, so my tuition was lower than this semester!

Laundry when we moved in

Laundry Today :)

Stuffed Shells

We made stuffed shells a couple of weeks ago. They were SO good!

20 jumbo shells
2 1/2 cups marinara/pasta sauce
10 oz bag of chopped spinach, thawed
8 oz bag of chopped broccoli, thawed
15 oz ricotta cheese
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

1 cup mozzarella cheese
salt and pepper
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1/2 small red onion, chopped


Heat oven to 400 degree. Cook pasta according to box.

Mix broccoli and spinach in a large bowl

Stir in the ricotta, Parmesan, 1/2 cup of the mozzarella, and 1/2 tsp each salt and pepper

 

Stuff shells. Layer sauce on bottom of pan. Put shells on top and sprinkle with the rest of the mozzarella. Bake for 10-12 minutes, then broil for 2-3.

While baking...

mix together the oil, vinegar, and 1/4 tsp each salt and pepper

Serve onion mix on top of hot shells.

 

 Enjoy!

Mountain Trip '11

This year, we decided to head to Jefferson, NC. We actually stayed in a cabin outside Piney Creek. That was about 30 minutes from anywhere. We thought we were lost getting to the cabin on gravel roads!

View from cabin

Friday night we grilled chicken and watched Hocus Pocus. The cabin didn't have heat- only portable heaters. When we put them in the bedroom and turned them on, the power went out. Now, we are in the middle of nowhere with no cell service. We can only imagine things from horror movies. Yeah, we blew a breaker (not the only time during the weekend!) Funny now.. not so much then!

Saturday, I made hashbrowns, biscuits, and veggie protein (always look closely when buying things at Whole Foods!) We headed to Mouth of Wilson, VA. The drive was beautiful! We drove on a gravel road along the New River.  We headed on to Grayson Highlands State Park. We hiked some and even saw snow!

After hiking up a steep mountain, we decided to head to Jefferson to find some food. We ended up in West Jefferson at a pizza place. It was so good! We headed back to the cabin to watch some football. We grilled steaks, then headed to the Spooky Forest. We had seen signs for it, but no real address. I typed in part of the address in every city around and picked one. And sure enough, after some gravel roads we ended up there! It wasn't too spooky, but it was cheap and the proceeds went to a good cause. And, again, it was in the middle of nowhere. We hadn't seen that many stars in a long time!

Sunday, we took our time heading home. We got on the Blue Ridge Parkway to near Boone. The colors were amazing. Pictures cannot really capture how beautiful it was!

We stopped at a cafe in Winston-Salem for lunch. I had pumpkin pancakes- delish! It was a great trip! Can't wait to see where we end up for next year's trip!

But before then, we will be heading to Boston with Clark and Amy!

Mountains

Mountain Trip Details coming soon....

View from our cabin

Hello, Autumn!

While it has been very rainy here this week, the temperatures have been nice. This weekend has been sunny and perfect!

Monday night I didn't have class, so I met with a project partner at a coffee shop to work on a video. This is where I discovered red espresso. SO good! No caffeine and apparently, better for you. I had a pumpkin spice red espresso latte. A mouthful for sure, but oh so delicious! The coffee shop is pretty out of out way, so I doubt I will get to stop by often.

Tuesday, I had girls' night with the young married ladies from church. Wednesday, I had class; last week was SOOOO nice with no class. Next Wednesday, we begin clinics where we actually are going to diagnose students with reading problems. Thursday, I video conferenced with a different project partner to work on this week's deadlines. Whew! I feel like I don't sit still. Friday was an interesting day at work that involved some legal issues, so that made for a long day.

J got to wear jeans on Wednesday, which was a treat!

I ordered from jeans and a couple of shirts from J Crew Factory this week. There was a sale and a coupon code. I LOVE my purchases and wished I had ordered more. The jeans I bought fit me almost perfectly.. just an inch too long. I need to figure out what to do about that!

Friday, we had a date night. J even came to the door and rang the doorbell. He also opened doors for me almost all night. I can't remember the last time that happened. We went to eat at a Japanese place in town. We had sushi! (Eel is still our favorite.) Then we went bowling. It was so crowded, but it was fun. I broke 75 both times! Impressed? I was. J beat me both times, of course. We had a good time though!

Today was a beautiful autumn day! We had the windows opened and enjoyed watching football (even if we did lose. That's the typical story for State.) After the game, we went for a nice walk. There is a park with trails within walking distance of our house, but we had never been. We decided to change that. It was a nice area- much bigger than we thought. We took a trail, then took a greenway to the community center, then walked back home. Now that we know how nice the trails are, we will definitely be going back! When we got home, we made stuffed shells. It was intense labor wise, but they turned out great. Hopefully, (if I can find time) I will post pictures and the recipe soon.

This coming week, I have several meetings. I also have class on Monday and Wednesday this week. It has been 3 weeks since that has happened. I was enjoying it! I still have 2 Monday classes where we won't meet and 1 week where my Wednesday class doesn't meet, so I am looking forward to those! I also found out that next semester I will have class from 4-10 on Mondays. Going to be a long semester!

Friday, J is taking off work, and when I get home we are heading to the mountains! So excited :)

Football Weather

J here for my 2nd blog post (I think that's right).

We had a good weekend with Mamaw and Papaw.  We showed them around the area including the farmer's market which was particularly nice.  C was like a kid in a candy store with all of the pumpkins and gourds for sale :)  We bought a pumpkin, a white pumpkin, a bag of decorative gourds, two mums, and apples (for pie).

Last weekend, we went to the Georgia game in Athens.  We stayed Friday night in Anderson, SC and had dinner with old friends.  It was nice to catch up.  Saturday morning we woke up early and headed to Athens.  The campus wasn't quite as nice as I'd hoped, but the stadium was huge.  We were very high up and neglected to wear sunscreen.  So on top of watching State play a horrible game, our faces got burned up.  After the game, we stayed the night at the Omni in downtown Charlotte which was very luxurious (C got a good deal on PriceLine for the room which we were both excited about). We treated ourselves to room service since we got such a good deal on the room.  Sunday we went out for brunch and shopped for a bit and then headed back home.  Overall, it was a good weekend.

We are heading for the mountains on the 21st for the weekend but until then it should be life as usual.  C is at Girl's Night with the girls from church.  Hopefully she will be back soon :)

Football note: So far this football season has been amazingly disappointing.  If we can beat South Carolina though, things will be looking better.  It is hard to believe that things will ever really change though.  Losing to Auburn pretty much sums up what it's like to be a State fan.  At least things are better than they were a few years ago.

Y'all have a good week!

Awesome Potato Soup!

A few weekends ago when we went over to our friends' house for football, she had crockpot potato soup. It was so good, so I asked for the recipe.  I made it tonight, and it was just as good. So I thought I would share it here. It is super easy! I got it ready last night, put it in the fridge, then just moved it to the base and turned it on!

1 lb Sliced Bacon
2 pkgs Diced Hash Browns (32 oz each)
3 cans Chicken Broth
3 cans Cream of Chicken Soup
2 pkgs Cream Cheese,softened and cut up
1/2 cup Minced Onion
1 tbsp. Parsley

1. Cook all bacon and crumble.
2. In crockpot, combine the rest of ingredients. Stir in bacon. Cover and cook on LOW for 8-10 hours or HIGH for 4-5 hours. Stir before serving.

That's it! Hope you try it and like it.


P.S. It makes a TON! We froze half to eat later.

Peacocks and Baskets

Yes, that is the only exciting this happening around here. We seem to be in a vicious cycle of work-eat-sleep (and I have school thrown in there). So our lives haven't been update worthy recently. Next weekend we are going to see our bulldogs play, so maybe after that I will have a real update!

Baskets in Laundry

My painting I did at Wine and Design

Busy, Busy, Dreadfully Busy

Whew! Ok.. let's start with when J's family was here.

It was a quick trip for them, but we had a great time. We did some shopping, watched a movie, ate, and just enjoyed being together. The boys ate at the Seafood Restaurant at the Farmer's Market. We also enjoyed some stuffed pizza. We also introduced them to Red Hots and Cheerwine (both NC things that I don't really care for, ha). It was a great time, and we look forward to seeing them again soon.

I have also started grad school and work recently. Both of those have kept me extremely busy. I had meetings or workshops the first 5 days, then students came Thursday. And I have class Monday and Wednesday nights. So on those nights, I don't get home til 7:30. After getting to work around 7:30 (leaving at 7:00), I am just worn out! Thankfully, I think I will really enjoy my classes. Once I get used to having a schedule again, I think I won't be so tired. But it is an adjustment!

We got our tickets for the MSU-UGA game. We are super pumped to be going! Go State. Speaking of... football season starts Thursday for us! So excited.. I pretty much love everything about fall... the colors, the holidays, the crisp air (you know, the two nights that happens), pumpkin pie, apple pie, a trip to the mountains... ah, can you tell I'm excited?!

Yesterday we had rain and wind from Irene. It wasn't too bad here; we were on the western edge of where it hit. We even had power the whole time even though there were power outages all around us. But for some reason, we did lose power at midnight last night. It was out for about 4 hours. But Irene was pretty much gone around 6, so we aren't sure why the power went out. But we made it through a hurricane and an earthquake this week!

And as always, I promise to try to update more. But with school and work and football season, we'll see how that plays out!

Ch-ch-ch-changes

The painter's came... our house is getting closer and closer to complete! J's family also came this weekend (I will write another post about that later) and helped up do a few things around the house, too.

Our living room is now Weathered Glass. And our IKEA canvas is now in place (permanently). New curtains soon-ish. We have picked the fabric, just gotta buy it and make them!

Our picture half wall

Master Bedroom is now Love in a Mist (blue-gray) and thanks to David for helping J hang the curtains! They make the room seem much more put together now.

New color! It is a light blue-gray.

Our bathroom is Essence of Lilac. Yes, J knows it is purple- in fact he pretty much picked it! We still have a few things left to do in here, but it is all coming together!

Laundry Cabinets! Now you can't see my 9 bottles of laundry detergent! J's brother and dad helped him hang them. I still have to paint the room (Lime Green :)) and get some more baskets for the shelves.

We ordered the Mississippi print from etsy and Marion printed us one of her pictures for our wall. Hers is the middle one; it is based off a picture she took in London. We are slowly replacing our paint chip artwork!

Virginia is for (all things historical) lovers

We ventured up to Lynchburg and surrounding areas for the weekend. We didn't really have much planned except for a nice weekend together.  We drove up Friday night and stayed near Liberty University. Saturday, we woke up and headed to the Community Market, which is the 3rd oldest in the country. It was small, but neat to see.  We decided to walk to the Old City Cemetery.  It started raining on us, then we looked up to see where we were going... it was still over a mile away! We quickly decided to walk back to the car and drive there. Great decision! We got there at 9:56 and at 10:00, they were offering a free walking tour. Sweet! 

Old City Cemetery, including some history you probably don't care about:

Some of the oldest tombstones in the cemetery

A hearse from around 1900- carved out of wood. Of course, only wealthy people would be able to afford this, although children sometimes got it.  When a child was it in, it would be pulled by white horses.

Lotus Pond

One of 2200 Confederate graves. This soldier was from MS!

The only Union soldier buried here. There were about 500 others, but they were taken back to Union territory to be buried- except for this guy. He was in a Union branch from North Carolina and was captured by Union troops who didn't believe he was fighting for the North, so they took him captive.

View of Confederate graves

It was misty as we walked around, but that meant it wasn't hot!  It was a very interesting tour, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Afterwards, we headed back downtown to eat. We ate a Depot Grille, which is built like an old train station- right next to the tracks and everything. We then walked around downtown some more going into some antique stores.  After a quick nap at the hotel, we went to see Crazy Stupid Love. (So good, btw!) After that, we drove back downtown to Water Stone Pizza. It was delicious!

My brownie sundae

J and his cheesecake

Sunday, we decided to head to the Blue Ridge Parkway. We also decided that it was a no technology day. We didn't use our phones or GPS for directions or looking up anything. It was enjoyable getting around without something barking at you to turn left in 300 yards.

We ventured down through Roanoke, Martinsville, and Danville before heading home. A great, relaxing weekend!

Finally!

We finally have painters in the house!  This is pretty much the last day that we could have painters come, so I am glad they are here. After today, the laundry room will be the only one left to paint, and we are waiting to decide on cabinets before we do anything in there.

I passed my class with a B+. I had a 89.5, which apparently does not round up to 90. :( Oh well, it was a really rough class for me, and I struggled a lot. So I am just glad it is finished so I can continue forward. 8 more classes to go!

J's family is on the way here, so we will have a busy, fun weekend! Tuesday I have orientation at NCSU, then Wednesday it is back to work and my classes start. My summer is winding down fast. I will sure miss it!

We got Netflix (streaming) about a week and a half ago so we can watch Friday Night Lights. I have also enjoyed watching movies during the day. We are in the middle of season 2 of FNL. Seriously, one of the best shows ever. I really hope they make a movie!

We had a nice weekend trip to Virginia, which I will cover in another post. It was nice to get away, just the two of us.  It has been a crazy, busy summer- Caitlin and Brian's visit, a trip to MS, my parents' visit, a quick trip to KY and TX for a wedding, and now J's family visit. And 2 grad school classes. Next summer I shouldn't have to take any classes, and I am hoping for a real (more than 3 day) vacation with J!

Remember Me?

It has been a crazy past few weeks. I just turned in my last 4 assignments for my class, so I am DONE, DONE, DONE! Well, for the next 13 days anyway.

What else has happened since our painter didn't show?...

-We hired another painter, who will be here next Thursday!
- I joined the smartphone world thanks to a Target sale. I <3 my new phone. I am now addicted to words with friends.
-My parents came for a visit.  We enjoyed some Sunni Skies, Moe's, a movie, installing a ceiling fan (so, the process wasn't enjoyable, but sitting in our living room now is!), the farmer's market, and grilling out.
-I went back to Kentucky with my parents. I got to meet my two new cousins! They are so cute... and very small. I don't think I want a child that small.. I think we are going to look into renting kids from age 4 months- 3 years, then sending them back. Sounds good to us!
-I traveled to Texas for Clark's wedding. Thankfully, mom and dad now have DVD players in the van, and Caitlin rented The Office, so we got lots of use out of the DVD players! We spent most of Thursday decorating, then rushed to get ready for the wedding, enjoyed the wedding, then undecorated. It was a crazy, busy, exhausting day, but it was beautiful (if I do say so myself) and they are happy. The day, we woke up and headed back to KY, but I got dropped off in Little Rock and caught a flight home. I got home around 1 AM Friday night/Saturday morning. Whew!
-I spent this week finishing up my class. We also decided to have a weekend away. We haven't had a weekend away with us two in a while. We have been busy coming and going! We wanted to go to Charleston, but priceline wouldn't accept my price, so we are heading to Lynchburg, VA instead. I don't think I have ever been to Virginia, so I can cross that off my list, too.


J's family is coming next week, so I will be busy getting ready for that. I start classes and back to work on the 17th, so I will be trying to enjoy what is left of the summer!

Paint!

Want to see our house with the new paint?!

Us, too. The painted did not show up and is not returning calls. We have no idea what's up, but we are pretty bummed. We had moved all the furniture and taken all the outlet covers off. We have all the paint... just no painter. Hopefully we can find someone else and get it done this summer...

2/5ths there

As of yesterday, I am 2/5th finished with my class. I really, really cannot wait for it to be over.  It requires lots of work. This past session, we had to answer 3 questions for our discussion. Each answer was 500 words+. After we read 3-5 articles. Then we had an assignment on top of that, which was 600+ words. In 3 days. This happens twice a week. Although next week I have two videos to do instead of writing things out... joy! Just 3 more weeks...

So with my class, I haven't had a whole lot of free time. However, this week I did manage to sneak in Harry Potter 1-5 and three trips to the gym. I also made zucchini bread and strawberry bread. Yummy! We still haven't hung the curtains I bought at Dirt Cheap, but they will be hung before Thursday... because my parents are coming! They are also stopping at IKEA for us on the way here, so hopefully I can update with what they bring.

Our Mississippi trip was great! We swam everyday, went to 3 Dirt Cheaps, and ate. J had 2 golf lessons and played twice. I got to eat Abner's! How I miss the grilled chicken tenders....  It was so good to spend some time there. We haven't spent that much time there since we moved. As we were packing up, I checked our flight and saw it was delayed. I called and they said it might arrive earlier, so we should head on over, but they would switch our flight from ATlL to RDU to the later flight.  All was well... until I started checking online that the place flying INTO GTR was being delayed over and over... then. Cancelled. Ugh! That was the last flight of the day. So after talking with an agent, we booked a 5:30 am flight out of Birmingham (J needed to get back to work!). J's parents had waited with us at the airport, so we just drove straight to Birmingham.  We stayed in a hotel pretty close to the airport. We took the shuttle to the airport... and we couldn't check in??? It took us almost 30 minutes to check in since our rebooked tickets weren't done correctly. Then the security line... how I loathe it. The line was insanely long and we had 20 minutes to catch our flight. As we finally made it through (me being on the verge of a meltdown) here the final call for our flight, so we book it and just barely caught it. Whew! After that, I wanted to be done flying for a while, but things pop up, which I will discuss later.

We finally made it to Krispy Kreme here! It opened right before we moved and we have never been. No clue what is wrong with us. But now all is right with the world.

Last Friday, we went to eat at Barry's Cafe in Cary.  J had won a gift certificate there during a golf tournament. It was in a shopping center, so we didn't have high hopes. But it was so good! It is the perfect place for us because they serve breakfast all day everyday, but they also serve burger type stuff for J. I had the best French Toast! We will definitely be going back. After we finished up, we headed to the mall to buy J some more khakis and polos since he doesn't have to wear a shirt and tie anymore. Exciting!

Saturday after J played golf, we rented How Do You Know?. It was pretty good!

We also found out this week that my brother is getting married in 2 weeks. In Texas (hence more flying for me.) J doesn't have any more time off built up after our trip to MS, so he isn't going. Since my parents are coming here next week, I am riding to KY then to TX with them. Then they will drive me to Little Rock so I can fly home. They are going to be some serious road warriors!

And finally, a small house update. While Caitlin and Brian were here, I bought a few new colored glass pieces at TJ Maxx Homegoods.

The purple (My fav!) was $6, and the blue and pink ones on the left were $5 each. Not bad! And you may notice the blue color in the middle there. Well we were making sure we liked that color since the painter will be here in the morning! It is called Weathered Glass, which goes well with our dining room (Sea Glass). Super excited to be getting everything done! And once my parents stop by IKEA, we will have something for over the mantle. It's all coming together slowly.  I will try to do an update once the painting is complete.

I know, I know

I haven't updated in a while. My class is kicking my butt! It requires lots of time!

Here is a quick overview of the past couple of weeks.

-Sh'Bam!
-Mississippi was awesome
-Love dirt cheap!
-hate canceled flights
-J hit our ceiling fan while swinging a golf club. It still works, but has a dent :(
-Krispy Kreme!
-No more shirt and ties for J! Clothes shopping!

1 Down 9 to go!

I just completed my first grad school class. I turned in my final project about 3 minutes ago! It feels great. I am anticipating an A in the course, but I guess I will find out Wednesday. I believe my next class starts Thursday, so I am glad for a 3 day break!

Now let's backtrack a little...

I have now joined a gym in town. I have only been a few times, but I like to so far. They offer more classes than our last gym, which I will talk about more in a few.

We had some friends over for supper last week, then I babysat their little girl Tuesday. We hid from monsters, watched Beauty and the Beast, and ate ice cream. It was fun, but I don't know that I could do it all day everyday!

I have been keeping busy reading, doing laundry, doing house stuff, going to the gym, etc. Last week, I went to the doctor about the knot in my knee (that has been there for over 2 years.) It is bursitis, and there is not a lot to do about it. Right now I am on medicine to shrink it, but beyond that they can only continually drain it forever. Not sure if I want to commit to doing that! Let's hope it shrinks.

Caitlin and Brian got here Wednesday and we had a fun time. We did some shopping, ate with J, got ice cream, got cupcakes, and watched movies. J and B played a little golf. C and I got mani/pedis and went to a couple of classes at the gym. We went to Zumba, which was okay. I couldn't really keep up and the instructor didn't really explain how to do anything, so I basically just twitched for an hour. Friday, we went to SH'BAM. SO. MUCH. FUN. It was simple, but not easy. I think I am still a little sore. I am hoping to go again tonight. I hope C and B enjoyed their trip... they never really told us if they did. Ha! B also did some photoshopping on our wedding pictures. They look so much better! Once he sends them to me I will have to get some printed now that I don't look so much like a ghost! Thanks, B!

J played in a golf tournament this weekend. He did pretty well and won $16 to the pro shop in Sanford. Woo hoo!

I have a pretty busy few days. Both cars need oil changes. I have a dentist appointment. Have to catch up on the laundry from the weekend. Trip to the grocery. Trip to the bank. Have to return a library book. Go to dry cleaners. Appointment with the personal trainer (don't worry, it's free :)). Put car in shop (check engine light is on...) And have to pack since we are leaving for MS Thursday!

Entry and Office Update

We have been busy this weekend. Since Caitlin and Brian are coming this week, we figured we should get everything looking more presentable.

We started a gallery of sorts in the entryway. This is the view from the laundry room. It will be a work in progress, adding frames and hopefully adding some art instead of paint chips. We played with the arrangement for a while and finally landed on this. We are excited with the result! It was still scary putting holes in the wall though!

And the office was painted Saturday. J even helped this time! It was nice not to have to do the entire room myself. It is Pebble Gray. J picked it, but I like it, too. This will also be the Mississippi State Room; we just haven't gotten around to hanging pictures and decorating just yet. This will be the air mattress room when we have visitors. (Say hi to your room, Brian!)

So it has been another busy weekend here at the casa! Getting closer and closer to complete (if there is such a thing.)

Guest Room Update!

Ta Da! A can a spray paint can change something quickly!

 

Grannie gave us this mirror before we moved to NC. In our last house it looked like this (man, how I miss that wallpaper): 

I used the same spray paint that we used for the knobs when we redid the dresser. A couple of quick coats, then a sealer (that we already had) and this makeover cost us $0! Yay! I love quick, free fixes. It adds a mirror to the guest room (which it needed), adds some interest (which it also needed), and  helps tone down the green walls. Win-win-win. It was also the first thing that we hung in the house! Kinda scary to puncture our new, green walls. So thanks, Grannie, for the mirror. It lives on in blue glory!

First Day of Summer

We have been super busy lately!

In the house we have:

Installed the ceiling fan in our room. This took us a lot longer than planned! Since we don't have a ladder, we stood on a stool on the bed. We are still a little too short to put the canopy on, but we are hoping to try again when we aren't tired of trying!It is controlled by a remote, and the first one didn't work. Thankfully since we ordered 2 fans, we used the remote from the other one and it worked. Now we have to take the other one back, then we can put the other one up in the living room.

Painted the entryway (don't forget you can click a picture to see it better... I need to work on the opaqueness of the blog!)

before

after

I am hoping to get some pictures put up this week so it doesn't look so bare.

Painted the dining room

before

after

I am in LOVE with the color of the dining room! I can't wait to get everything else painted.

In other news...

J had a birthday! We celebrated Friday night with steak, baked potatoes, and cake (yellow with chocolate icing.) Saturday, J got up early and played golf with some friends, then we made ice cream with his new ice cream maker. It was delish!!! I think homemade ice cream might become a staple in our house!

Happy Birthday, J!

I have been busy working on my online class. In fact, this morning I have been working on a project that is due tomorrow (don't worry, it's almost complete.) I have 3 more forum discussions and 1 more project until I am finished with my first grad school class. My next one starts July 3, I believe. I am so glad I didn't take two at once. I would have been so overwhelmed especially at the end of the school year. I don't even want to think about taking two classes and working in the fall.

Today is my first day of summer, and I have a list of things I need to get done. Not all today though. Since we are having people visit us soon, we would like to get the house a little more put together. Caitlin and Brian will be here next week, so I need to get busy! I also need to get a library card here in our new town because I have been driving back to Lillington to get books. (I still need to take one back!)

My check engine light came on yesterday, so I need to take it to the shop... thankfully, it didn't come on during the school year!

We have had a few spiders (google wolf spiders to see what we have been dealing with- I can't look at them!) We had the bug man come and so far, we have seen fewer spiders. Hopefully we won't see any anymore!

Our neighborhood is coming along. There are 6 houses under construction right now. 2 are almost complete and are sold. 4 more were just started. None of them are next to us yet, and I hope it stays that way for a while! At least until school starts back. I want to be able to sleep in!

That is all I can think of for now... hopefully I can blog more regularly during the summer.