Happy 2013!

Guess we are still here... the world didn't end after all!

2012 recap

- Boston (with Clark and Amy)

- FINALLY got a dining room table (in February) and chairs (in August)

- Got a new (to me) car. I love my Prius!

- Charleston

- Getting sod

- Savannah and Tybee Island

- SWITZERLAND

- Myrtle Beach

- Finding new jobs and moving to Atlanta

- Getting ready to sell and selling our house 

- Caitlin graduates!

- And for good measure, a surprise blessing!

What does 2013 look like?

(Not really planning much past July)

-  Marion graduates

- I finish my Master's in May!

- Babymoon during Spring Break (no idea where yet)

- Memorial Day Weekend trip with J's family

- Anna gets married in June

- Tu's arrival in July! :)

12!

It's a little late, but better late than never... right?!

I realize I am headless. Believe me, you didn't want to see it.

12 weeks~

________________________________________________________________________

Tu is the size of a small lime (2 inches)

Weight: +1.5 lbs

Craving: Chicken Tenders (NOT nuggets)

Maternity Clothes: Not yet!

Sleep: Besides waking up at least once a night to go to the bathroom, great!

Aversions: Ground Meat

Gender prediction: I am thinking boy, J is thinking girl

Name(s): Picked and will be a secret until July!

Labor signs: No

Belly Button in or out: In

Wedding rings on or off: On 

Feeling: nauseated when I don't eat for a few hours, but overall much better since getting over my sickness! 

 

Oh, baby!

Click to make me larger!

Catch-up!

It has been a whirlwind past couple of weeks! Thankfully, we have had this weekend to do pretty much nothing!

Let's go back to Thanksgiving...

J got to come home to NC Tuesday night and work from home Wednesday.  He ended up leaving Atlanta at 7, so he didn't get home until after 1! Regardless, it was nice to have him home!  Wednesday was a half day for me, so we even got to go out to lunch.

Thursday, we had Thanksgiving with the Ralphs.  Plenty of food was spread around and we enjoyed playing with the kids outside.  We came home with plenty of leftovers, that is for sure!

Friday, we spent the entire day packing. We got pretty much everything packed (except for a few things we would need the following weekend to move). Thankfully, the liquor store has quality boxes.  We even had too many!

Saturday, we headed to the Ralphs for our going away party.  We had pizza and enjoyed visiting with our friends... bittersweet.  They were so thoughtful and got us gift cards to restaurants so during the move we wouldn't have to worry about cooking.  We have already used a couple!  Then, we headed to Winston-Salem for the Wake Forest and Vandy game.  It was much colder than it had been Thursday! The hot chocolate was pretty much a necessity. 

 

 

 

Freezing at the game

Vandy beat up on WF pretty bad, so we left early. And it was COLD! We got home in time to watch the Egg Bowl. That's all I will say.

Sunday, we headed to Atlanta.  It was a looong day with lots of accidents and traffic slowing us down.  Thankfully, we made it safely.  We unloaded our cars and I went to bed!

Monday was my first day on the job.  The week went well, but it was lots to soak in.  It is a lot different from my other job, but I know I will get the hang of it.  Co-teaching a class is so much different than working 1:1 helping a student with whatever he/she needs.  The teacher that I work with is GREAT and has been so helpful.  I am thankful I have great co-workers or I might go crazy!

Now for a side story about the apartment saga:

After calling and calling and calling, we finally heard we got the apartment that Tuesday.  I explained that we needed to move up our move in day because we would be in NC on our original move in day.  I was told it would be no problem.  I get an email saying that we will sign the lease early, but no mention of moving in early. I shoot a quick email to clarify things....

Thursday, John gets a call that we can't move in early.  We think it shouldn't be a problem, we will just go ahead and sign the lease and get the keys.  Um, when I show up, they are shocked to see me.  They say there is nothing they can do, if we aren't here Saturday (which they know we won't be), we will have to wait until Monday. Um, I don't think so! After a little meltdown and a chat with the manager, they agree to give us the keys tonight and let us move in tomorrow. Whew! Crisis averted....

After we spent 1.5 hours there, we leave (it's after hours).  When we are pulling out, I realize we did not pay. Ugh! I plan to swing by Friday to pay before Nan and David arrive.  Well, they call John and say that we have to pay and that they changed the locks on the door, so the keys they gave us won't work! Um, I know we have to pay- I can't believe they changed the locks.  So after work, I go to pay and get the new keys.  I end up standing outside for 30 minutes while they are in a 'meeting.' (But I can see them walking around inside.)  I got to pay and am told that I have to have a cashiers check! WHAT!? I was not told this! We were allowed to use a credit card/debit card for our application fee, but was told we had to have a cashiers check. I was FURIOUS!  The closest branch of our bank was 30 minutes away (and there is one by my school, which I could have gone to had I known).  I rush over and get a cashiers check and rush back. Turns out, the amount I was told wasn't even the right amount!  Thankfully, they decide to take what I have and allow me to pay the rest later.  It is after 5 at this point.  I still have to walk the apartment to check for any damage.  Nan and David are there and waiting.  When we are finally able to get everything settled with the apartment, J is almost there, so we decide to wait for him.

Back to scheduled programming:

We left Atlanta at a little after 6.  Traffic is horrible and there is a bad wreck, so we decide to break for supper.  Back on the road, the traffic is much smoother... until part of 85 is CLOSED. Take a detour and Nan's car needs oil. It's 1:30 in the morning. Luckily, we find some and head on our way.  It was sometime after 3 that we made it to the house. Exhausted.  

Saturday, I get up and Nan and I go get breakfast.  The boys head to pick up the truck. And the check engine light is on. Awesome.  We take our chances since we were told it was just serviced. (Spoiler: J hit a bump and the light went off.)  We begin packing the truck at 10:45 or so.  About 30 minutes later, the Ralphs show up to help us. We couldn't have done it without them.  Even the kids wanted to help!  The Spencers came with pizza for lunch as we finished packing the truck.  We pull out around 3. (We spent a lot of time talking and not packing....)

We stopped for some Steak N Shake on the way to Anderson, where we spent the night.  A good night's sleep does the body good.  We left Sunday a little after 8 and made it to our apartment a little after 10.  And the unloading began.  Chris arrived and we took a break for lunch before we finished unloading the truck.  Once it was unloaded, the boys took the truck back and J showed them where he worked while us girls worked on unpacking the kitchen.  We grilled out steaks for supper and went to bed early, but not before putting up a tree!

Monday, AT&T came and installed our TV and internet.  When we went to bake our potatoes Sunday, we realized the apartment didn't come with a microwave, so N and I went in search of one.  Success! I love microwaves! N left Tuesday morning, and Caitlin came Tuesday night.  She was staying with us for her interview a couple of hours from here.  She stopped back by for supper on her way back to KY. Hopefully, she will know about the job soon.

The rest of the week we have just been getting into our new routine. J's commute has actually been shorter here than it was in NC, while mine is about the same. I only have 9 workdays until Christmas break. Yay!

And here is our other tree we put up (Snowbabies):

 

Now, back to the 25 days of Christmas on ABC Family...

The Hunt Continues

We continued our search and found a decent place.  The lady in the front office was even from Mississippi.. and went to State! We couldn't see the actual apartment we would get, but we did see the floor plan.  It wasn't the best layout, but we liked it enough to fill out an application.  We decided to call and tell them whether or not to process it.

We then went to another place... and well, it was the clear winner.  The kitchen is HUGE! And y'all know how much kitchen stuff we have.  And it has a gas stove, which I am pumped about.  We will be on the ground floor, woot!  So we filled out all the paperwork and they would call us and tell us when we were approved. *Spoiler alert* After me calling numerous times and leaving several voicemails, J calls once and gets a person- and we are approved. Move in date- Dec. 2!

We had a busy morning, so we headed to explore Marietta.  It has a cute downtown and we ended up eating at The Marietta Diner.  It was not really what you think of as a diner, but it was good! We then headed back to Midtown for the afternoon.

Sunday, we went to church in East Cobb.  It was fine, probably a little too progressive for us though.  We then went the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area.  J had been by this area called Sope Creek, so we decided we would picnic there with the leftovers from the diner.  I somehow managed to forget my tennis shoes in NC, but we decided to do a little hike anyway. The leaves were too pretty not to!

Old Paper Mill

We enjoyed a lazy Sunday.. well, I did. J worked.  And Monday, I drove back to NC. This would be our last stretch of being apart!

Hunting

Been too busy to update lately, although pretty much everyone who reads this knows what's going on anyway! So this is mainly for Sophie. :)

John is really liking his new job, although we have not been loving the long distance. Thankfully that is coming to a close in 5 short hours when J gets home (to NC). :)

Let's back it up a couple of weeks.  I had Veteran's Day off, so I took the Friday before off.  I headed to ATL Thursday after work. Man that drive is no fun! (I have done it three times now since J started!)  Friday morning, I had employee processing and I got my fingers printed and everything! They also made my badge.  The badge will even unlock the school doors! How cool is that?! Hope they don't expect me there after hours too much though.

For supper, we ordered take out from The Vortex.  Mine was pretty good, but J's was SOOO good. It lived up the the hype I read on Yelp.

Saturday, we set out to find an apartment.  3 bedrooms apparently go pretty quickly, but thankfully we found one!  It was a beautiful day to be outside though.

 

 The apartment we chose (not the one pictured above) is only 2 square feet smaller than our house! So hopefully we will have room for everything.

To be continued when I can keep my eyes open... :)

 

Views, Paint, and New Jobs

Things have just been crazy around here! However, things are falling into place.  It is amazing how God answers prayers! Sometimes it can take a while, but He knows what he is doing!

I have repainted the guest bathroom.  Bye bye red-orange, hello Builder's Boring Khaki.

J moved to ATL this past weekend.  Since we are renting a furnished condo, he just took clothes.  I went and got him groceries and got the lay of the land.   On Monday, I got a call from a school district that I applied to.  They wanted me to come in for an interview, and since I was in town, they wanted to schedule it for while I was in town.  I was so not expecting that! I didn't have any interview clothes or anything.  That just meant shopping!

Buckhead Skyline from Lenox Mall

Beautiful Drive!

The condo we are renting is tiny.  But the views from the parking garage is pretty nice!

     I had the interview Wednesday and it went really well.  Then I came back to NC.  It was weird going back to work since I felt like I had been on vacation.  Today, the principal and the supervisor called me and told me they picked me for the job! They had interviewed someone else, but they picked me!!! I had to wait on the official call from HR though.  HR must have been having a party, but it took me calling the supervisor and her calling HR to get the call.  I then turned in my resignation. I am now going to try to talk my current director into releasing me from my 30 day notice early... we'll see.  The latest day I will start will be Dec. 3! Crazy! God is good. All the time!

Here's to our next adventure in GA!        

More Recent Update

Again, I apologize for the sideways pics....

Ken's Corn Maze. We went the night we found out about J's new job. It was pretty hard. You were supposed to find stations throughout.... I don't think we even found half!

J with 10 day old baby Archer. He is so cute!! (well both of them are)

Ken's Corn Maze

Love gas prices in SC compared to NC!

Some Crazy Catch-up

Soooo much has been going on I haven't had time to update. On top of that, we have just been trying to keep our news on the down low until J put in his two weeks.  He did on Friday, so now it's okay that the whole world knows..... We are moving to Atlanta!

Almost 3 years ago, J interviewed for a job at Nielsen as an Analyst for Coke. He was told he needed more experience, so we ended up in NC. Well, this past July, the job opened and J casually applied. We thought nothing would come of it.  He just wanted to keep his name in the pool. Well to our surprise the hiring manager last time remembered him and wanted to interview him! After a phone screening, a phone interview, and a day of 4 1:1 interviews, he completed the process. Late last Friday (5th) he was offered the job. 

I apologize for the sideways-ness of the pictures... They are from my phone and Blogger won't let me flip them. 

So on Sept 20, we hit the road for ATL. We stayed in Buckhead so it would be an easy drive to Coke and close to shopping for me.  I shopped and did some homework during J's nearly 4 hour interview. We explored parts of the city to see where we might want to live. We also had some really good BBQ. The following Saturday, we spent with our friends in Anderson, SC. It was great catching up and visiting their church. And now we will only be 2 hours away!  

Here are some pics from our first ATL trip.

Community Q BBQ (we went again yesterday. I can see us there frequently.)

Better get used to this!

 

We thought this was genius... no room for 'Prayer Requests' on your box? 'Prary Quests' will do.

 

Getting into ATL at night

 

 

Our go-to pit stop :)

 

 

Microsoft trying to be Apple. I was there on the day the iPhone 5 was released, so Apple was packed. Microsoft, so no much....

 

Fall is almost here!

It has been a beautiful week here in North Carolina.  Windows open, running outside (yes, we have been running!), nip in the air, and of course football.... our favorite time of year!

This will probably be our last big harvest from the garden.  There are still a few peppers and tomatoes growing, but they probably won't be ready at one time.  I have loved having fresh tomatoes for sandwiches and salads.  And the peppers made some good fajitas this week!

We have been trying to get back into the swing of running.  We want to run a 5K soon. Maybe October or November? We have been running at the gym, but the weather has been so nice lately that we have taken it to the streets! Ha. J downloaded an app so we how know far and how fast we are going.  We also discovered a cool neighborhood not too far from ours.  Bigger lots; older houses. Too bad none were for sale when we were house shopping!

With fall in the air, it was time to decorate... and make pie. Pumpkin, of course!

I have been getting back in the swing of things at work.  I haven't really had a normal week yet, but I am sure one is coming soon. I know it won't be next week though.  My classes are going well.  They haven't been hard, just work intensive.  Lots of articles to read, long forum posts, etc.  I will be glad when I am done in May! Although I probably won't know what to do with my free time.

A new restaurant opened in downtown Fuquay this week.  It is a small pizza chain from New York.  There is one in downtown Apex, too.  We decided to check it out, knowing it was their opening weekend.  We expected it to be crazy (it was) and the service to be so-so. We did have to wait a while, but it was good. We each got rolls (like a stromboli), and we shared garlic knots.  We are hoping it makes it so we can eat there occasionally.


Until next time, GO BULLDOGS!

Chicken and Waffles

Richard and his brother, Brian, came to Raleigh for the long weekend.  We enjoyed eating and hanging out watching some Mississippi State football.  The boys also played a round of golf.  Sad to report- there were no hole in ones. :(  We made it to the farmers' market and bought some pumpkin butter... oh yeah! We went to Beasley's downtown for lunch. The boys had chicken and waffles, and I had, well, a waffle. :)

We are so glad it is football season! That also means pumpkins and colorful leaves. :) Our favorite time of year. We are hoping it will be a great year to be a bulldog. Hail State!

Lately...

We enjoyed a quick, but relaxing trip to Myrtle Beach.  We found a deal on Groupon, so off we went. We stayed at a resort, which had pools, lazy rivers, a putt putt course, and of course, the beach!

We ate at one really great place and several okay places. Since my parents are heading that way soon, I will quickly detail them. :)

Damon's- the food was okay. There was not a big selection of seafood, which is one reason we went to the beach.
The Beach House- The porch was nice to sit on, but that was about it. The shrimp wasn't very fresh tasting and the service was poor.  The fries were good though!

 

Noizy Oyster- SO worth the wait! They are big Ravens fans, and there happened to be a pre-season game on, so it took a while to get seated. Crab cake= amazing. Steamed shrimp=amazing. If we are ever in Myrtle again, we will go back!

Ultimate California Pizza- Good selection, pizza was pretty good

River City Cafe- average burger and fries... plenty of other options, so we'd skip it in the future.

It did rain some, but overall it was a great trip. I didn't think about going back to work at all! We did to the putt putt course at our resort. What a joke! I can't believe we would have had to pay for another round. There are tons around that would have been way more fun.

I started back to work Monday. At first, I was wondering what I was going to do for 5 workdays. Now I am wondering where the time went!! I still have so much to do, and I have 2 days of workshops next week. It has been an adjustment waking up early everyday. Coffee is my BFF.

In other random news, I finally made homemade lasagna! I actually made it 3 weeks ago during my freezer cooking session. We cooked it tonight.  It was so good! I can't believe I have never made it before. I made spinach lasagna this time, but I will probably make something a little different next time.

Other than that, there isn't much going on around here. Our life is basically work/gym/sleep repeat with church thrown in some. :) And grad school work. So basically, don't expect an exciting update until.... June?! Ha, just kidding... hopefully.

Lazy Weekend

Now that I have figured out how to blog from my phone, I hope to blog more often...

 

We stocked up on groceries and other essentials. I can't believe school starts back Thursday. And works starts Monday.

We watched a little PGA action.

 

And I watched a little Harry Potter.

 

I also watched a little Gilmore Girls. Perfect Lazy Weekend.

Wordless Wednesday

.... .... .... .... ....

Working hard..

So while I have spent the past week in Stars Hollow (watching Gilmore Girls) and Hogwarts (rereading Harry Potter), before all that I had been doing lots of work. Thankfully, Marion was still here and helped me out! :)

We can finally sit at our dining room table that we bought in February! Of course, we have only eaten at it once, but at least we can. With just the two of us, we usually eat at the smaller table in the kitchen. So now we can have company over and all sit together! I spent hours searching craigslist and thrift shops to get the chairs. Then hours sanding and priming. Marion helped me paint and distress them, which I am sure you guessed, took hours. We then bought fabric and reupholstered them ourselves. Including the chairs, we spent just a little over $200 for 6 chairs! Not bad for custom chairs. We still plan on getting two more eventually, but I am not up for all the work right now! We have almost everything we need to paint and cover those, so besides the cost of the chairs, it shouldn't cost too much.

I have also talked about, but I don't think I have put a picture up of the Roman shade I made for the kitchen.  I lined it after I made it, so it is still a little stiff, but it does block out the light well! We usually only open it halfway since the view of the neighbors' living room isn't that interesting.

We also enjoyed a Durham Bulls game this week. We bought a Living Social deal in April and time was running out for us to use it. We went with some of our friends, and the weather was perfect! I can't believe we weren't sweating to death in August. The game was boring, but the food and company was good. Which is the only reason I even wanted to go to the game. The Bulls won 1-0. And of course, J bought a shirt afterwards. I guess that means we will have to go again!

In a couple of weeks, we are heading to Myrtle Beach for the weekend. I can't believe school starts back in just over 2 weeks! I'm not ready!

Swiss You Were Here (Part 9)

I can't believe this is our last Switzerland post! Our trip was so much fun! Makes me wish I was there right now (that and the heat index here is already 100 just a little after 10!)

We woke up early Saturday morning to head to the airport. We had to catch the train from Luzern to the airport at 7:15. We made it with time to spare! Breakfast wasn't being served yet at the hotel, so we just snacked on what we had. The train ride was just over an hour. It wasn't very scenic, but I still enjoyed looking out the window. J tried to sleep some, but wasn't successful. We arrived at the airport and after a slow start printing our boarding passes, we were off through security. It sure is different than here! Shoes on? OK! Big bottles of liquid? OK! Only metal detectors to pass through.. score! 

We still had some Swiss francs we needed to spend, so we picked up some chocolate to share when we got home. We made our way to our terminal...and it was blocked off. We didn't know we had to go back through customs to leave, and the line was so long they had blocked it off for a few minutes. Thankfully, the customs officers were pretty quick and we got through... only to have to catch a train to our terminal. Oops! We didn't really plan for all this. We finally got there, quickly got some breakfast and ran to our gate (at the other end, naturally). They were just starting to board. Whew! And it turns out that since we didn't check luggage, we had to go through an extra security screening. No biggie. We found our seats and were off! 

The plane ride home was LONG! Thankfully, the movies we pretty good, and I had books on the ipad. Lunch was surprisingly good, too. The snack was interesting... we had a 5 cheese calzone. Sounds pretty good, right? Until you read that one of the cheeses was cream cheese! I don't think that counts... Anyway, we made it to NYC and had plenty of time to relax and get some food (hello, Wendy's!). Our plane to RDU was tiny, so we had to walk outside in the heat. Then we were delayed for some reason... and man it gets hot on the plane with no cool air! I think the chocolates made it okay though... so did we! So glad to be back home.

A few things we noticed or found interesting:

- There was hardly any wildlife. Sure we saw cows, sheep goats... but where were the mountain goats and mountain lions? All we saw were slugs, a snail, a squirrel, and 2 mice- the entire trip! It really surprised us considering how much we were outside. 

- Switzerland is SO clean. The trains were insanely clean. The streets had no litter. I wish people here would take pride in their surroundings like the Swiss do!

- The trains are a dream to navigate. They are all punctual, and the schedule is made to where you can easily make your connection. Only have 3-5 min for a connection. No problem, seriously. Your train is probably waiting on you, but it will leave on time. 

- The water in the lakes is incredibly blue. It is something about the minerals the water acquires as it comes down the mountains.

- The area was a lot more touristy than we thought. And most of the tourists were much older than us. Probably because they can afford it! Switzerland is expensive! There were hoards of tourists at all the big attractions (Jungfraujoch, popular trails, etc)

- There are fountains everywhere in Switzerland. It is natural water that they pipe in through a spout. You can drink it, too. We used these to refill our water bottles when we were hiking. The best part- it was ICE cold!

- Random: A family from Illinois sat right behind us on the way to Zurich. We saw then on the train to Interlaken, and a couple of times in Wengen. AND they sat two rows behind us on the plane home. Crazy. It's a small world for sure.

And that's the rest of the story...

 

Swiss You Were Here (Part 8)

Our last full day in Swizterland... where had the time gone?! We were sad our trip was almost over, but also ready to be home! We had breakfast at our hotel, which was not your standard American continental breakfast. There were lunch meats, baguettes, a couple of cereals, and a few other things I can't remember. It wasn't bad, it was just not what we were used to! 

After breakfast, we walked to the dock and hopped on a boat for Vitznau. We cruised along Lake Luzern on our way to Mount Rigi. The scenery, unsurprisingly, was beautiful. It was hazy, so the pictures didn't turn out great. Oh well! We'll always remember how pretty it really was. 

Maroon Friday in Switzerland!

We arrived in Vitznau and hopped on the train to Mount Rigi. After a 30 minute train ride, we arrived at the top. And it was WINDY! We roamed around the top some, took a few pictures, then began our hike to Rigi Kaltbald.

We hiked down to Rigi Kaltbald, but it wasn't a really pretty hike. We did see some cows though!

After getting to Rigi Kaltbald, we took the cable car down to Weggis. We found our way to the dock and got some ice cream while waiting on the boat back to Luzern. It was no Sunny Skies, but it sure hit the spot. The boat ride on the way back was hot and sunny! We were wishing we had brought our swim suits so we could just jump in the lake! We got back to Luzern and were starving. We did have snacks during our hike (and the ice cream), but since it was late afternoon now, it was time to get some real food. And guess what we managed to find?! Fried shrimp and fries! This was the best meal we had the whole trip. Ha! We went to Migros and bought some chocolate, then stopped by their restaurant. We saw the fried shrimp and that was it! We wandered around town for a while after our (really late) lunch, then headed back to the hotel to pack up and rest for a looooong travel day.

to be continued....