Picture post!

On Saturday, my cousin Royce got married.  It’s still weird that he’s actually married!  It was a beautiful wedding, though.  Their colors were ivory, black, with red accents.  It was just really pretty!  I didn’t get pictures of the ceremony because the sun was setting behind them, and the pictures turned out too dark.  You’ll just have to enjoy what I’ve got, though. =.)

Allie, as the flower girl, walking down the aisle

Jessica walking down with her dad

Allie with the ring bearers, Seth and Ethan

This is Allie’s picture smile =.)

Brock, Wendy, Allie & Ava – such a pretty family! =.)

 

All of my pictures of Ava are blurry – she’s never still!

Royce & Jessica with our grandparents

The cake, which was delicious!

The wedding party

First dance as husband and wife – still can’t believe he’s actually married! =.)

I’m so happy for them! =.)

Tons of goings on!

Today, I spent my lunch at Kohl’s.  I needed a new bra.  Found one!  Yay!  Also got a new sports bra that I’m really excited about! =.)  And I also got a new dress.  It’s super cute, black, falls just above the knees.  It’s very flattering, and I can’t wait to wear it to the wedding this weekend.  I had another dress picked out, but this one will be much cooler, as the wedding is outside.  I’ll make sure to post pics of the hubby and me after this weekend! =.)

When I got back from my fun lunch hour, I had a meeting with the bossman (always intimidating).  I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it on here, but I work in a real estate office, and I do all of the processing of listings, contracts, and closings, as well as all accounts receivables and accounts payables.  But I work in real estate, so things are much slower than they were a year ago, especially in my area.  So, bossman asked if I wanted to “take one for the team.”  I said yes, because I understand the financial situation that we’re in.  So, I will now be splitting my week – 3 days in Durham, 2 days in Cary.  And I’ll get some type of bonus for helping out, probably in the form of a monthly gas card.

I’m actually really excited about this, because I’ve been bored out of my mind for a few months now.  There’s just no enough to do to keep me busy for a full day.  So…I’m excited to see what’s going to happen. =.)  Wish me luck! =.)

And I leave you with this gorgeous view, which is what I’m looking forward to come October/November:

And a little of this:

 

Can’t wait for a trip to Boone! =.)

 

“We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us…” 2 Corinthians 5:20

Typical…

The house we live in was built in 1988, so it’s about 21 years old.  We purchased the house from my parents, who had lived in the house for maybe 5 years.  When they moved in, they replaced the carpet (as it was the original, and was burnt orange shag carpet, and also the linoleum in one of the bathrooms.  In the kitchen/dining room/guest bathroom, there was brick linoleum.  Yep, you read that correctly – brick linoleum.

We’ve since then renovated the original house, and added a master suite and awesome back deck.  There is no more brick linoleum, thank goodness! =.)  We do, however, still have some of the appliances.  Our washing machine died on us last spring/summer, so we purchased the front loading washer/dryer.  Shortly before Thanksgiving 2008, our dishwasher quit pumping water.  So, on the day after Thanksgiving, I was one of the first shoppers at Best Buy getting a super deal on a new ‘silver’ dishwasher.  It’s awesome! =.)

What am I leading to, you ask?  Well, the only appliances left are the stove and the refrigerator.  When I walked in the house last night, I heard a weird noise coming from the fridge.  I open the refrigerator part, louder noise, but still not right.  I open the freezer part, and super loud semi-buzzing sound.  Not.good.  My parents had moved the fridge from their house when they moved in, so it was actually purchased circa 1989.  It’s 20 years old.  It’s lasted this long.

I think our fridge has died, as well.  My uncle says he thinks the bearing in the fan in the freezer has gone bad, so when the fan turns on to blow air into the freezer, it makes this really loud, really annoying sound.  Marc was supposed to call the repair man to see if it is even worth him trying to fix the thing, or if we’d be better off just buying a new one.

But I don’t really want to spend a grand on a new refrigerator.  That’s really no fun.

So, in addition to the wedding I’ll be attending this weekend, I might also be purchasing a new refrigerator.

How’s YOUR week going? =.)

3 Years...

Friday, August 14th, marked 3 years of our life with this gal:

Marc completely surprised me with this doll baby. It was Marc's birthday, and he was late getting home. I remember waiting for him to get there with his mom. And when he gets out, he has my precious Paisley with him. She was so tiny and awkward (at almost 2 months old), and just absolutely adorable. It was definitely love at first sight for me! And I'm pretty sure it was meant to be, because she had a Strawberry Shortcake bandana tied around her neck! =.) Honestly, I was not at all prepared for what a dog would do to my life. I was so stressed about it at first, because it wasn't something that we had discussed, but I can't imagine my life without her in it. She's like my little kid! She's now three years old, but she will always be my puppy!

Marc with Paisley on the day he brought her home

Paisley's life in Pictures:

I love my sweet girl! =.)

Random =.)

Does anyone else use Windows Live Writer to post blogs?  I sometimes just hate getting on blogger to post things.  It seems like such a pain, especially if I’m posting more than one picture.

So, I’m gonna try using Live Writer, and see if it’s more user friendly. =.)

I know I’ve been MIA, but Marc finally went through both of the cards on my camera and put all of our pictures on the computer at home, so I don’t have any good pics to upload and share with y’all.  I have a really cute post that I wanted to do last Friday about Paisley, but I only had 2 pictures, and I wanted some from when she was little.  All of those pics are on the computer at home, and I just didn’t take the time to post this weekend.

I was quite crafty this weekend, though!  I finally finished a purse that I had started ages ago (like November 2008).  Really…it was forever ago.  And I spent some time at Mama’s on Sunday cutting out an apron pattern for a Christmas present.  Yes, I’m already planning Christmas presents.  Things just get to crazy after Thanksgiving to do anything crafty – everything after that point just gets purchased, not made.  (So, Tiffany, I’d love to make you that purse, so we need to go one Saturday so you can pick out some fabric!)

****Also, please pray for my friend Kelli.  Her grandmother passed away on Sunday.  The funeral is today at 11:00 am.  I love you, Kelli!  ****

“May the God of peace…equip you with everything good for doing his will…”  Hebrews 13:20-21

Happy Birthday, Tiffany!! =.)

So, I’m super slack and didn’t even post this yesterday, but here goes:

Happy Birthday, Tiffany!

I hope your birthday was perfect!  I had a great time at the Durham Bulls game!  Love you!

Confession...

**Disclaimer: this is really personal for me. I've been struggling with this for a few months, now. The whole point of this blog is to talk about my life, and this is a huge part of my life. So, here goes...

I found God's salvation when I was 12 years old. God's grace saved me, and I became a follower of Christ. Over the years, I've tried to live my life in a Godly fashion to be pleasing to Him.

Now, let's talk about my personal relationship with Jesus, because that's really what it's all about. You know about the footprints poem, right? If not, go read it - it's a good one. Anyways...I have another analogy, one that is how I see myself, that is similar. You see, I feel that Jesus is always walking in a straight path, a path that I know very well. When I'm at my best, my path is right beside his or identical to his. When I'm at my worst, my path has veered off, and is nowhere near Jesus' path. {P.S. It sounds better in my head, before I tried to put this to paper.}

Where am I right now? I think maybe I'm in the middle. I'm not walking with Jesus the way that I know I need, but nor am I doing anything to make my path allign with Jesus'. Does that make any sense? The worst part of it all is that I know that I need to make some changes, and I want to be closer in my relationship with God, but I'm not doing anything to fix this. And I don't want y'all to think that I'm doing anything really awful, but I'm still sinning, and a sin is a sin - no excuses.

So, my reason for this post? It will be accountability for me, because I've written it, and I know people (at least a few!) have read it. I will make my life better because I will make right my personal relationship with God.

And I'll leave you with some words from Max Lucado, because I read them, and they just spoke to me. It's from his new book Fearless that comes out sometime this year.

"When you place your faith in Christ, Christ places his Spirit before, behind, and within you. Not a strange spirit, but the same Spirit: the parakletos. Everything Jesus did for his followers, his Spirit does for you. Jesus taught; the Spirit teaches. Jesus healed; the Spirit heals. Jesus comforted; his Spirit comforts. As Jesus sends you into new seasons, he sends his counselor to go with you."

"Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." Psalm 23:6

Totally Team Jacob

I finished reading the Twilight saga a few weeks ago, and I'm still totally Team Jacob. And Tiffany and Kelli are all for Team Edward.

So, as I was online today keeping myself busy as work is definitely not, I was looking for the trailer for New Moon. And then, I found this:

You can check out the full article here

Isn't this awesome!?!? I know - I'm a dork! But I love it!

And I definitely sent it to my besties! =.) Love y'all! =.)

Fun weekend ahead...

...if I can just make it through the rest of this week!

I'm super excited about my weekend! It's filled with fun, but I have a feeling that I'll be taking a long nap on Sunday afternoon to catch my breath! =.)

On Friday, I'll be enjoying an evening with my two best friends to celebrate Kelli's birthday. We're going to see Julie & Julia after work, then indulging in some of the wonderful sweets around the movie theater. Either Cold Stone or Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. Best of all, though, is that I get to spend time with Tiffany and Kelli! =.) I just love those girls! =.)

I'll be waking up early to head to the lake Saturday morning to enjoy the beach music festival at Hyco Lake. Since we're gonna be at the marina all day, so we won't be taking the pups up. Paisley is gonna be really disappointed! It's only a day trip, though, so it'll be okay. Maybe we can take her to Brock's pond swimming on Sunday.

Then, on Sunday, I'm working the projectors at church, so I've gotta be there early to help set up and such. I really like being there for both services, because I can focus and get more out of the message. And I get to see people that I don't see every week because we're at different services.

And I can't leave without some photos, but they're just of the boys riding last night on the 'new and improved' (read bigger and slightly more dangerous) track at Brock's house.

Marc

Chad and Rob
Katie & I decided it looks like a fog scene out of Twilight. It's really just dust, though.

Chad jumping 'over' Katie

**It was getting dark, and the flash on my camera started auto-focusing on the dust between me and the jump instead of on the jumper. Sorry for that.**

Sorry for such an uneventful post, but such is my life at the moment! =.)

"I know, O Lord, that a man's life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps." Jeremiah 10:23

Happy Birthday, Kelli!!

Happy 26th Birthday, Kelli!

I hope your day is great, and you enjoy your day off! =.) Love you! =.)