With a Thankful Heart

I suppose I’ll end my unplanned hiatus…I miss blogging.  I miss writing down my life – documenting our life.  And I find myself saying, “I should blog this.” Yet, I don’t.  I’m going to be honest and call it lazy.  Because I have been. :)

So, with Thanksgiving tomorrow, here’s what I’m thankful for, but “deep” and superficial. :)

• Marc – he makes life fun.  I’m blessed to be married to him. :)
• Family – which covers a LOT.  My Mama and Daddy are awesome – again, blessed with them.  They have their flaws (don’t we all), but they have loved me unconditionally all my life, and taught me that I could be and do anything I wanted to.  Then, they helped me do just that, sacrificing their wants and needs so my brother and I wouldn’t have to do without.
• Family Portraits. :) A friend at church took these for us, and we’re using them as Christmas gifts.  Who says you have to have kids to give pictures of yourself to family?!?  That’s blasphemy. :)
  I mean, who wouldn’t want a photo of us with our dogs?!? :) That’s our family. :) And then for my family, we got this one for the grandparents, our parents, aunts & uncles. :) My brother has a beautiful family!! :) Love those girls (and him and Wendy)!! :)

 

• I’m thankful for my favorite TV shows.  This fall, I’m loving: Hawaii 5-0, NCIS & NCIS:LA, and 2 Broke Girls makes me laugh.  Not a huge fan of Glee this fall – just not really loving the songs.
• My dogs – they make me happy.  They need a bath right now, but I love giving them belly rubs before bed.
• These two ladies – best friends for a long time. :)
• Friends that can get together for a baby shower, but have a blast just catching up. 
• My friends – all of them – they get me through the rough weeks, and good times.  They are there for everything and I’m so, so glad to have an abundance of good friends in my life.
• Events that I’ve been to this year – MotoCross Race in California, Carolina Panthers game in August, and one of my favorites – Def Leppard concert for my birthday with the help of Groupon and friends. :) A little rain didn’t stop us from singing Pour Some Sugar on me at the top of our lungs…it represented our undying love for trashy rock music! :)
• I’m thankful for a job, for a raise in January, and that God provides when we need Him most.
• Love my church and my church family.  Love that my education allows me to contribute to our church and God’s plan.
• I am thankful to God, for everything.  My life, while I’m sometimes disappointed that the direction it takes is not the one I had planned, it’s the life God has planned.  Thankful for that above all else. :)

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!! :)

May 2011

The month in review. :)

So proud of my best friend!! Tiffany graduated from UNC with her Masters!! :)  I’m so excited for her.

After the graduation ceremony, her husband threw her a great dinner.  This is after dinner, and I love them. :) They love each other SO.MUCH. And I love seeing them together.  They make me happy. :)

The kids in TinyTown at church sand some songs for us one Sunday morning.  Ava, my youngest niece, is the on on the right in the blue dress with a bow in her hair.  She was so funny, as always.  Love seeing kids sing to God! :)

We did landscaping around the front of the house.  This is the picture the day we did the planting.  Since then, we’ve added a dogwood tree to the right front, just beside the sidewalk, and spread more mulch to the left.  It only took us 3 years to add some “curb” appeal. :)

For my brother’s birthday, he decided that he wanted to race 4-wheelers, again.  Two weeks later, he raced again.  We went to see him, and rode with his wife and kids.  Ava passed out on the way.

This is Brock with some of the other guys who raced that night looking over the track.  Brock’s on the 4-wheeler.

And this is Brock during the practice.  I love watching him race.  He’s such a natural, and so good!  He won first place that night!! :)

We spent Memorial Day at the beach with friends.  It’s always a great, relaxing time.  The guys went fishing on Saturday, and came back with a lot of dolphin (mahi).  This is the biggest one they caught, >30 lbs.  It was GREAT fried up Sunday on the beach!! :)

And this is one with all of their fish.

The girls with the fish, and the big fisherman of the day! :)

Everyone game Marc a hard time because his shirt looks like the dolphin.  If you count him, he’s the biggest catch of the day! :)

Sunday of Memorial Weekend:

Sand bar at low tide…the guys pushed us off

Wild horses on Carrot Island.  Seriously, one of the most beautiful sights there is…

And that’s pretty much it for May.  Great month.

Now, I’m looking forward to the rest of June. :) Two of my nieces have birthdays, helping to host a baby shower for one of our life group couples, DEF LEPPARD concert (I.cannot.WAIT!!) with all the friends, my 28th birthday, which then leads to July and another weekend at the beach. :)

Hope you’re having a great month! :)

Life Gets Busy

Do you ever feel like that?  Feel like you’re too busy to just sit back and take a deep breath to enjoy life?  I’ve kind of been feeling that way for the past few months.  In a way, I’m glad to be busy.  And in a way, it makes me sad.  It makes me feel like life is passing too quickly.

So what’s been going on in my life for the past few months?  Not much of anything that’s life changing, but a few things that are going to make my life a little more enjoyable. :)

Towards the end of 2010, I had grown to pretty much hate my job.  I disliked my boss and the way she treated me…it was frustrating, and there wasn’t anything that I could really do about it.  I didn’t have any other job prospects, so I just had to stick it out.  But I was really unhappy.

In the past month, that’s all changed. I have a new boss coming in next week.  As in April 4th, and I couldn’t be more excited.  Our office is moving, which is a bit of an annoyance, because it will mean a longer commute, but the move means a better chance of a profit for the business, so I’m ready to see how all of the changes are going to change my work environment. :)

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On a really happy note, Marc & I celebrated 5 years of marriage on Friday, March 25th! :) Happy Anniversary to us!! :)

We spent the weekend before in the mountains of North Carolina, and had a great time relaxing and sightseeing with our friends, Chad and Katie. :) These are just some snapshots of our weekend near Boone.  The weather was perfect, and it was such a nice mini-vacation! :) I’m so glad we took the time to get away.

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Last week, I went to my first Carolina Hurricanes hockey game.  It was so much fun! :) I look forward to going back soon!! Cutest thing – during the first break between periods, they let the little hockey players come out…so cute! :)

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And yesterday, we celebrated the birthday of a couple’s little boy, Lukas.  And I’m really selfish, but my favorite part of this was getting to spend time with my nephew, Brayden! :) He’s so cute and chunky!!  And I absolutely love how Marc is with all of our nieces and nephew.  He’s so good with kids! :) Isn’t this picture just precious?? He’s going to make a great dad…I can’t wait for that time in our lives! :)

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Other things I’ve done in the past two months?  I’ve been to Anaheim, California for a convention for work.  While there, I was lucky enough to visit San Diego for a Supercross race (dirt bike motorcycles), Disneyland, which was so much fun, lots of time with friends, lots of time at work.  Nothing out of this world exciting, but just life as I know it. :)

I hope each of you have been doing well! :) I’ve missed you all!! :)

Finally, a break!

July was such a busy month!

Remember all this from my last post?

• Beaufort for July 4th weekend
• Softball games
• Chaperone for Youth at their Summer Camp
• Eclipse with my girls (and the husband)
• Weekend at the lake
• Softball games
• Weekend at the lake
• Softball games
• Sewing on a very important birthday gift =.)

Well, softball is finally finished!  I had so much fun playing this year!  I think it might have helped that we won a few more games than in years past? I don’t know. But I had a great time getting together with friends every week! =.)

August should be much more relaxed, but our days, weeks, weekends always seem to fill up fast. I have a ton of birthdays to celebrate this month!  I can’t wait to celebrate with Tiffany and Kelli for their birthdays! =.)

Our circle of friends is growing, and I love that! =.)

Here are a few more pictures of the past month…I love my life! =.)

KarleighAva, Allie & Elixir (Lixir), Mama’s new puppy AceLixir with her big sister, Roxy Paisley, Lixir, & Ace

It’s crazy how fast that little puppy is growing!  My Mama hasn’t even had her a whole month, but she’s getting taller and gaining some weight.  And she just loves on Ace!  I love watching them all play together! =.)

This weekend will consist of LOTS of cleaning!  My house has taken the brunt of my busy schedule.  I keep putting off a true cleaning!

Unless, that is, Marc guilts me into going to the lake tomorrow. =.) Hah! =.)

Alright…an hour of work left…I can do it! =.)

Have a great weekend, y’all! =.)

Ready for the Weekend!

For a couple of reasons!

1. It’s the weekend.  Two full days without having to work.  And it’s summer, so that just makes it even better! =.)

2. It’s my birthday (on Sunday)!  I will be celebrating this weekend, and I can’t wait! =.)

3. I have a new toy to play with! =.) My boss bought me a Barnes & Noble nook.  I’ve only had a day to play with it, but I’m already in love!! =.) Yay! =.)

4. Spending time with the family – celebrating my birthday this weekend, and I love it.  My family makes me happy!

5. Next weekend is a 3-day weekend!  I’m ecstatic to take a little mini-vacay down to Beaufort for the weekend.  Sun, fun, and friends, with another birthday celebration for me! =.) Doesn’t get much better!! =.)

Yay!  I hope that your weekend is as wonderful as I’m sure mine will be! =.)

I’m back! =.)

I had a great weekend!  I stayed pretty busy, but it was slow-paced, so I got to relax.  I really enjoyed my weekend, but I missed Marc!  He was at the beach fishing, so we didn’t get to spend a lot of time together.  That’s the only downside to the weekend.

I did, however, get to spend some time with my Daddy, so I loved that! =.)

Friday, I took a half day at work so that I could go and see Allie graduate from pre-school!  She was so cute in her cap and gown!  However, I forgot my camera in my car, and I was driving Marc’s truck.  I’ll have to get some of the pics I took with Wendy’s camera, though.  Precious! =.)

Friday night, I went with the fam to see the Durham Bulls play at home.  We had a terrace to ourselves, and it was great! =.) So much fun!

Allie & her friend, Mackenzie Ava with my DaddyAva with my Mama Allie hugging the mascot, Wool E. BullDo you see all of Allie’s silly bandz? She loves ‘em, but she wouldn’t share!  She gave me one at lunch, but took it back at the ball game.  I like them, though…might be going to get a bag for myself!! =.) Haha!

We stayed ‘til the very end of the ball game, but then it started raining.  I mean, hard.  Durham was experiencing some major flash flooding, and I was driving right through it…by myself.  Remember, Marc wasn’t with me, and I met the rest of the family at the game straight from work.

As I was driving along, being super careful and going super slow because it was raining in sheets across the road, it started hailing.  I was just praying I’d make it home.

Then it happened.  A limb/branch/tree – whatever you want to call it – fell from the sky and landed on my car.  Directly in front of my face, to be exact.  It hit between the hood and the windshield – right on top of the plastic piece that houses the windshield wiper.  You know, the windshield wiper that now doesn’t work because a tree hit it! And there’s a big ole hole in the plastic. And my windshield is all cracked.

It scared.me.silly!  No fun – AT ALL!  I called my parents to pick me up from a gas station.  I rode home with my Mama while Daddy drove my car home – probably 20 miles or so – in the down pour.  With no driver side windshield wiper. My nerves were shot.  And – don’t forget the flash flooding.  There were places with 6+ inches of water standing in the middle of the road.  So when you drove through the water, going 20-30 mph, it would fly up on your windshield so you can’t see what’s right in front of you.

Here’s my poor car… Luckily – the most expensive thing to replace will be my windshield.  That’s getting fixed tomorrow.  And Marc’s already fixed my windshield wiper.  Now…just waiting on the plastic piece.

So, so thankful for where the tree limb hit.  If it had hit any further up into my windshield, it would have shattered, and it would have caused a LOT more damage (from the rain). And, God kept me safe!  My Explorers (I’m on my 3rd one…I know!) have kept me safe each and every time! =.)

On Saturday, I spent the day with my Mama and grandma! =.) Marc and I are a part of our friends’ wedding June 12th, and my Mama’s making my dress.  I tried to find the pattern online, but it’s not on the website.  Anyways…it’s so, so pretty! I can’t wait to rock it at the wedding.  And it has pockets!!  Marc doesn’t get why I love the pockets.  Boys take for granted the fact that ALL of their clothes ALWAYS have pockets.  Girls…not the case.

Mama finished the dress yesterday, and it fits great!  Now, I just have to figure out how to do my hair to show off the bow detail on the back! =.) So pretty!

And I got to spend the day with 2 of my absolute favorite people.  It was great.  I love spending days with them. =.)

Sunday, I went to church, then came home and worked on my resume and a few other things around the house.  Softball season starts tonight (if we don’t get rained out), and I really wanted to get in some batting practice, so my dad said he’d go with me to the batting cage.  I swung at about 80 balls, and I have sore muscles, now!  I had a great time with him, though. Then, we went to dinner with my Mama at La Cocina…my favorite Mexican restaurant.  Love it!  It was so good! =.)

And while I was being lazy for most of the day, Marc was busy catching LOTS of these: He brought a ton home.  We grilled some last night for dinner – yummy! =.)

Monday, I so enjoyed sleeping in!  It was great!  I lounged around and was going to wait for Marc to get home so we could go shoot my new gun.  I wanted to get comfortable with it.  Well, he left and about an hour and a half into his drive, he had to go BACK to Beaufort.  So, his 3.5 hour drive ended up taking him 6 hours.  He was pretty tired when he go home.  Since I knew he wasn’t going to be home as early as expected, I went shooting with my Daddy.  It felt like an early Father’s Day because I got to spend so much time with him this weekend.  It was absolutely wonderful.

And that is how I spent my weekend.  I hope yours was fantastic, as well! =.)