October Time

I wish that I could tell you that the beginning of fall and October came and all was right in our state. That it turned the most magical of colors, the crisp fall air fell into the town and every reason for moving north was now right in front of me.

Unfortunately, that is not the case it seems. Early October has brought rain, rain, and more rain. Along with a hurricane that seems to be barreling towards us and will hopefully cancel school. Ok, thats not anything to joke about, but this Florida girl is ready for a hurricane day.

On a good note, we WILL get some gorgeous fall weather once Matthew leaves his mark. Highs in the low seventies and lows in the low fifties sounds like great weather to me. Now if only Matthew would move on through and stop traveling so slow.

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The beginning of October has also brought on Rob working nights. Not my favorite schedule that he has had thus far. Due to the fact that I work days it isn’t all too conducive to us seeing each other or spending time together. In reality, we see each other for an hour a day, if I leave school right on time, and getting one whole day together (Saturday) for the past two weeks. While this isn’t the worst thing and could be 10,000 times worse, I do enjoy my husband something fierce and really love spending time with him. Needless to say I am not a fan of night shift.

While it does lead to many many cuddling sessions with my dear Lucy girl, which she is loving, she doesn’t talk back  when I want to have a conversation. 😉

It just isn’t the same as having my handsome man around

 

 

 

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A sickly, crippled cat had also decided to pop up towards the end of last month in which we are having to frequent the vet too many times for my liking.

Poor Ripley man had an ingrown claw that was badly infecting his foot which in turn led to him hobbling around the house like a three legged cat. Thankfully, he is healing and getting better after having surgery last week to remove the claw and drain the abscess on his paw. Even in all the pain that he must have been in he was acting normal and didn’t cry. A week later he is chasing bugs around the house and tearing around corners like nothing happened.

If I worry about my animals this much, I am sure I am not ready to worry about children too.

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The first of October did bring in some fun for us in which Rob was able to join in on.

The University of Central Florida, Rob’s alma mater, was on the road playing East Carolina University right down the street from us in their home stadium. It was our first college football game of the season, my second in my entire life, and we had so much fun.

While the day had no fall feel to it whatsoever with high 80 temperatures, direct sunlight that left us both looking like lobsters, and humidity that made us sweat in literally every place possible, we cheered on our knights in a sea of purple across the stadium.

In the section we sat we were 2 out of 3 UCF fans. We stood up, cheered on our team, and got stared down over and over again as our team took the win back home to Florida. What fun it was to spend a Saturday with my man and friends. Have I mentioned I love spending time with him?

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That is the beginning of our month so far. Not the most exciting of times up here in North Carolina but they have definitely been eventful. We are so looking forward to having fall weather begin to touch our little town so we can open up windows, wear cozy scarves and sweaters and love every minute of the season. Oh fall, please join us soon!

Until then, we will hold up through the rain coming our way. We will pray our hearts out for those hurt by this storm in Haiti and the Caribbean Islands and pray that it doesn’t do any further damage to our home state and up the east coast.

The Last of Summer

At the beginning of August, my beautiful sister Jeanna and her boyfriend Walter made the long drive north to come and visit our new town for an extended weekend.

We had a great time with them. Their first night in town we took them to Chef and the Farmer down the road so they were able to experience the deliciousness of it. I booked the reservations during our dinner the first time that we were there. I wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to visit again!

We ate, antique shopped, explored Greenville, took Lucy to the dog park, and explored the greenway along the river. We were lucky enough that Rob had that entire weekend off and was able to spend it with us.

On Sunday of that weekend we decided to jump in the car and explore the coast. We drove to Beaufort and spent a day on the water. Beaufort is a cute little seaside town. Fun fact, it is the town where A Walk to Remember movie was filmed.

We took a ferry out to Shackleford Banks, a 7 mile long island off the coast of Beaufort, NC. There is nothing on the island except for wild horses who have been there since I honestly don’t know when.

The island was beautiful. Peaceful, quiet and we had the perfect weather for a beach day.

Shackleford Banks  is also known for the best shelling on the east coast.

When it was time for Jeanna and Walt to head home, Rob encouraged me to jump in the car with them and head home to Florida for a visit before school started.Unfortunately, after Rob had the weekend off when Jeanna was in town he didn’t have another day off for 19 days. I jumped at the opportunity, I said goodbye to my little family and headed south.

My cousin had a baby the weekend prior in Jacksonville, so we made a pit stop on the drive to say hello and meet the precious baby girl, Holly.

We arrived home that night and I had five beautifully relaxing days spent in South Florida. I was able to spend copious amounts of time with mom and dad, friends, family members, and everyone in between. It was such a fun few days that made me miss the familiarity and comfort of Florida even more.

Beach days, brunch, and time with loved ones. It was a beautiful few days that I made so many memories in. I did not want to go back home to North Carolina, but I really missed my little family who wasn’t with me.

Once back in North Carolina, I only had a few days left of my summer. I ran around getting paper work in for my new job, and soaking in lazy time with my animals.

 

The start of work came with teachers working a two day week. It was a nice ease into the start of the school year with having a weekend come so quickly. I accepted a position outside of the classroom this year which is a completely different experience than what I am used to. The major benefit of this position is that IT IS STRESS FREE. I am loving the freedom from bringing work home with me and always having something hanging over my head. It has been an adjustment that so far I am loving.

After the first full week of teacher planning we had more visitors come.

Our best friends flew in from Miami and made the weekend so much fun. It was Elysia’s birthday the night that they arrived so we celebrated with a yummy dinner, Carvel cake (it is a tradition to buy each other Carvel cakes for EVERY celebration we have in life), and a party hat.

We had so much fun with Jack and Elysia. We played disc golf for the first time one afternoon and ventured out for yummy dinner and drinks on Friday night.

The next day, Rob finally had a day off, so we drove to the beach to enjoy the day soaking in the sunshine and surfing on the coast with our brother in law, Jeremy, and our niece and nephew.

 

It was a beautiful weekend that ended out August. So many memories were made,  Jack and Elysia’s visit was way to short for my liking but we are so thankful for the time we had with them.

August went by in a flash. But we made it count and made so many memories that I love to look back on.

 

 

Recap of July

I am back! I am determined to venture down memory lane and post about our summer vacation memories before they are too far away and gone. Documenting my life is really why I use this blog and I hope those of you who DO read, get a bit of joy of following our adventures.

July came in full force with Rob starting his 12-13 hour work days. He comes home every night exhausted from the day but manages to spend a few hours with me before he crashes hard into bed each night. While I know he would love to eat dinner and go straight to bed, I am so very thankful for and cherish the couple of hours I do get with him every night and the effort he puts forth to be present.

After Rob’s first weekend of work, he had his first day off three days later on July 4th. We celebrated indoors as much as possible because the temperatures of over 100 degrees were pretty unbearable.

But we did venture out to grab a cup of shaved ice deliciousness in town to cool down a bit.

One thing that God has graciously blessed us with in this new town of ours is built in friends. When Rob came to interview here last year, Rob’s sister Caroline put him in contact with her coworker who lives in Greenville. She and her husband graciously opened up their home to Rob to stay with them. Now that we are living here, we have been blessed with their friendship. They are pretty great people and we have loved getting to know them. The best part is they live about three blocks away from us and attend a church that we have begun to attend with them. Double date nights have become a regular occurrence and we are enjoying every minute of them.

The night of the 4th we went to dinner with our new friends and ventured to the Fourth of July festival in Uptown  for the firework show. I was very impressed with their fireworks and it made our July 4th complete.

We celebrated our third wedding anniversary on July 6th a couple of days later.

Rob worked all day, but he came home ready to go to dinner and we enjoyed our delicious meal at Startlight Cafe in Uptown Greenville . It was our first experience at Starlight and we enjoyed every bite of our delicious meal.  It was a great time spent together talking about the past three years and the whirlwind that they were.

While they had a delicious looking dessert menu, we decided to take the classy route instead. 

That’s right. We swung through the Krispy Kreme drive through on our way home and got HOT FRESH donuts. We have lived without that hot sign for too long and unfortunately KK is way too close to our house now.

Every year for our anniversary Rob and I follow the Traditional Anniversary Gift List . The first year was paper and Rob and I ended up getting each other the same exact thing, a map for our wall to track all of the places that we visit. Last year I don’t remember what we actually got each other that was cotton, but this year was leather. I bought Rob a leather case for his new IPAD, and he gifted me with a new leather bag that I love. He treats me well.

The day after our anniversary was a pretty great day for me. I had my first interview for a teaching position that morning. I was rusty, nervous, and scared out of my mind since I hadn’t actually interviewed in four+ years. But it went well and I left sweaty and feeling good about how I did.

That night, more adventures were to come with my flying to California for a girls weekend getaway with Jen, my brothers girlfriend.

It was Jen’s birthday weekend and Tommy had to be in Minnesota for a bachelor party. We decided to have our own bachelorette party. We enjoyed our weekend together celebrating and venturing around Los Angeles and venturing up to Santa Barbara for a night.

While in Santa Barbara we did a wine tasting tour all around the city and I officially became a Wine-O.  We had so much fun together that weekend away. I also made sure to send Rob a map of how close he could have been to the beach in Santa Barbara if he had chosen that residency instead of where we are now. Six minutes!

Santa Barbara was one of the most beautiful places that I have seen. It is a cute little (expensive) town with a beautiful coast line and beaches. Yes, I would have loved to make that city my home. But we enjoyed our visit and our explorations around town.

California is gorgeous. We stopped on our way back down to L.A in Malibu to take pictures and wow!  Driving the PCH definitely made me envy of Californians, mainly Jen and Tommy.

We attempted a paint night my last night in town. Which, let me tell you was extremely stressful. I am not a painter, I need paint by numbers. But we did it. While Jen proudly hung up her painting in her guest bathroom, mine is sitting inside of our entry way closet.

It was a great weekend away. I missed Rob and my fur-babies but it was so good to spend time with Jen and build our friendship.

The rest of July was quiet and relaxing. Rob got his first paycheck. Which was definitely a momentous occasion since he has not received one for our entire marriage.

Beach days, celebrating accepting a teaching position, babysitting my nephew, finding our favorite Spanish restaurant and ice creamery rounded out the month of July.

 

It was a great month full of new adventures and spending time with people that I love.

 

Summer Time

My summer has been . . . a whirlwind to say the least. In some ways it feels like it just started a week or two ago. And in other ways I feel as though I have been on summer break for forever.

I mean I left to Europe for 2.5 weeks over a month and a half ago. It feels so long ago!

This summer has been a dream and everything I wanted and needed. I spent so many great days with my momma and friend in Europe. I exprienced new things and made dreams come true.

I also was able to spend time with friends and my handsome man since I have been home. I have had weekly beach days with close friends who time seems to run out for when the school year is up and running. But most of all I get to spend more unexpected time with this cutie right here ❤

Rob has been on surgery rotations for the past two months. One in Orlando while I was in Europe, hence why I took the invitation to go to Europe, and one in Miami when I arrived back home. His hours are crazy during surgery and I only get to see him a few hours per night before he crashes on the couch. Can’t blame the poor guy. Yes, this will be the rest of my life. He is going into surgery, I know. Doesn’t mean that I like the hours!

He was supposed to be up in ATL this month doing another surgery rotation but that didn’t quite work out as we had hoped. So now he is doing a required geriatrics rotation right down the street and his hours are conducive to us spending more time together 🙂

We have been taking advantage and going to the pool when he gets off of work, having dinner together every night, and going out and about running errands together. It is so fun!

On Friday, Rob had an unexpected day off. I jumped up and down when he got the text on Thursday night that his lecture had been canceled and he didn’t have to go in at all. That called for fun in the sun and lots of sleeping in! 🙂

Friday morning, after we slept in, we decided to go get breakfast at a spot that many people have talked about. I know it isn’t new, but we hadn’t had the chance to go yet so we jumped on it and scurried ourselves East towards the beach for a delicious breakfast at Brooklyn Water Bagel Co.

To say it was good is an understatement. I had a simple bagel and cream cheese and a deliciously huge iced coffee. Guys, they make their own coffee ice cubes so your coffee doesn’t get watered down, what?!  Rob got a stuffed bagel sandwich full of protein: sausage, eggs, bacon, and ham with cheese melted over it. SO GOOD! We were full when we left that place!

On our way to another super fun adventure we passed a place called Tiger Tail Lake. We saw people with sail boats, canoes, kayaks, and paddle boards all over the lake. Our initial plan was to head the beach but after we saw this, we decided to stop there and see what it was all about.

Rob loves to paddle board and has been wanting me to try it for a few years now. We haven’t ever really had the chance to with it being affordable, and Lord knows the first time I am going to do it will not be in the ocean with waves.

We inquired about paddle boarding and decided to spend our day their instead of the beach. Guys, paddle boarding (on a lake) is so much fun! Seriously, I LOVED it. I kept telling Rob that I now want to own a paddle board so that I can do it every day. So fun!

We had an adventurous and tiring time. My. Abs. Are. Sore. We didn’t fall much either except when Rob decided to play a game of “lets switch boards” and I went tumbling into the water and lost my sunglasses. Oh well, it was still fun and definitely something to laugh about. It was a very fun-filled and sunny day spent with my love. Bonus that it was Friday instead of a Saturday so we were able to spend two more days together without work in the way! Woohoo! 🙂

One more week of summer left, you can bet that I will be soaking it up!

A Happy Little Weekend

This blog post was scheduled to go up on July 27th, and never posted. . .ahh technology! 😉

This weekend was busy and fun-filled. While my husband had to work all weekend (boo) I kept busy with friends and family. I went shopping with one of my girls friends and her adorable little two year old. . .

(That’s her showing me her “muscles”)

I met my parents and grandmother at Dave & Busters for a laughable time playing games with them. And my man was even able to make it for some extra fun after a long shift at the hospital.

I told him he looks like an oxymoron here. . . in scrubs, shooting people 🙂

I love the fact that I live close to my family. It makes a Sunday that would be spent alone on my couch so much better when I can go to church and lunch with my mother, spend some time with my grandmother, and just sit around their house instead of my own. While Rob again had a 12+ hour shift at the hospital I was able to enjoy my day. Even if I was missing him. . . It makes me sad to think that next year when Rob begins his residency we will most likely be elsewhere. Then who’s house will I bum around on a Sunday afternoon? On Saturday when I went out shopping with my friend and her little girl, who calls me Ju-Ju (Love It), one of the sweetest moments happened. K wanted my phone while we were riding in the car so she could see “Mr. Rob”. I handed her my phone and she saw my background screen which is a picture of my grandfather. (Prefacing this saying, K is the most verbal 2 year old I have ever met)

K: “Ju-Ju, who’s that?” Me: ” That’s my Grandpa” K: “Oh your grandpa! Ju-Ju, what’s grandpa’s name?” Me: “His name is Poppy” K: (Talking to his picture on the phone) “Hi Poppy! How are you?” “Good?, I good too.” “What are you doing, Poppy?” “Oh! You’re with your friends? I in the car with mommy and Ju-Ju”

Then she proceeded to have a full on conversation in the car with him. It was completely ADORABLE and melted my heart. As we sat there in the car listening to this little two year old’s imaginary conversation with my Poppy, my eyes welled up with tears. Her mom leaned over and said, I think Poppy is trying to talk to you through her. And maybe she’s right. Maybe through the innocence of a little girl (who if you knew my Poppy it wouldn’t be a surprise that he used a little child) my Poppy was saying a little hello to me and letting me know he’s with his friends doing so very very well. Let me just say that when I retold the story to Rob later that day tears started streaming down my face. This picture was taken one year ago yesterday. . . I miss him . . .

If that wasn’t enough of emotions to be running around this weekend, today is the day that my big brother leaves Miami and moves to Los Angeles, California. While I am so very excited for this next start for him I am sad that all of my family members will no longer be close. My parents, brother, sister, grandparents and I have lived within 30 minutes of each other for the past year. (More than that for everyone other than my sister) Every birthday, holiday, and family dinner we have we are all together. It will be weird to not have Tommy around anymore but I know he is excited for this new venture. I am so proud of you big bro. Enjoy the LA life!

My Bridal Shower

A couple of weeks ago being a bride became real.

My sister, Jeanna, threw me the greatest bridal shower a girl could ask for. It was beautiful, fun, personal, and delicious! She held it at my parents church, the church that I grew up in, and invited all of the women that have shared a part of my life with me. It was perfect.

Up until my bridal shower day, the idea of me being a bride and getting married was just a fun thought. I have been planning my wedding and doing bride related tasks for months. But when I showed up to that shower and had people showering ME with love and gifts is when it really hit. I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that it was all done for me.

I have been to countless bridal showers and played numerous bridal shower games.                                            But when it was for me, it  felt completely real and finally sunk in.

I loved getting to share and celebrate my wedding and marriage with the women that I love.

I loved the delicious finger foods that my sister hand-picked recipes for and had various people make.

I loved the old time-y, classy decorations she picked out that made it personal and beautiful.

I loved the games that were personalized for Rob and I and that made the day completely special. My favorite being a “How well do you know the bride and groom?” game where the guests answered questions all about me, or us. Then to reveal the answers, Jeanna had recorded video of Rob answering the same questions about me and then about him. She put it together on a DVD and it was a complete surprise to me. I loved it! It was so special and heartfelt, I will treasure it for years. We did a pretty great job on the game to boot! 8 years of dating will help you get to know someone, I suppose.

🙂

I loved the details and the secret note she sent out to all of the guests requesting that they bring their favorite movie to help jump-start our movie collection. This was one thing that was especially personal due to Rob and I both sharing a love for movies! (Rob opened all of these since he couldn’t be there at the shower, I am sure it was his favorite thing that we received)

I loved every gift that we received. Most being from our registry and some being personalized and made from the guests. I loved opening each one of them and feeling the love from the women surrounding me.

I even received my Kitchen Aid mixer! A dream kitchen item of mine for years. I am pretty sure I screamed when I opened it from my Mother & and Nana-in-law 🙂

I loved my shower, have I mentioned that yet?

I loved getting to see my college roommate Suzy, who drove 2 hours just to be there for me. I loved catching up with her, spending time with her, and watching her show her Rob & Julia knowledge off.

We all laughed, we all shared memories, we talked of the future, and spoke of the wedding details throughout the entire party.

It was completely perfect.

Thank you, Jeanna, for the most perfect bridal shower I could dream of. You don’t know how much you mean to me and how special you made my day. I love you so much, little sis!

35 days to go!

My Tuesday Nights

May I please press the pause button?

I honestly and truly can say “where has this month gone?!” As always time keeps keepin’ on and I am doing my best to keep up with it, with no luck it seems. My mind can’t wrap around the fact that June starts on Saturday.

It’s been a busy month for me starting with my birthday, moving on to Rob’s birthday, my bridal shower, an amazing Memorial Day weekend, and trying to wrap up the school year. I seem to be on the go 24/7 doing this and that, going here and there, which only makes the time go faster.

My favorite time spent weekly have been my Tuesday nights. 

I have this beautiful and wonderful friend, Allyce. She and I met our sophomore year of college when we both joined a small group through the college ministry at FGCU.

 

 

 

My other dear friend Corinth (in the middle) was our small group leader. It was the start of having fun at college for me. Joining this small group was the best thing that I did. It turned my entire college experience around. Corinth and Allyce became great friends of mine and our relationship’s have lasted to today.

Allyce is a die-hard miami-an through and through. She moved back over to the East coast after college while I stayed in Fort Myers for a few years after. When I moved back this year and Rob moved down to Miami, we were so excited to be close to each other again. Although, it did take us a few good months before we found time to hang out again.

 

 

 

Since April she has invited me into her home with loving arms each Tuesday night to have a “girls night” dinner with her and her girlfriends.

 

 

 

We all gather at her bungalow every Tuesday night for a home cooked healthy meal made by one of us. It’s a great time with delicious food, amazing company,  a ton of laughs, and lots of wine. These girls have already become good friends of mine in the few short times we have been together. They are hilarious, loving, fun, and Godly women that I can’t get enough of. A dream come true for me.

Rob was invited to join me a couple of weeks ago when we decided on having a co-ed Tuesday night dinner. I had been talking about him since the beginning and they were all dying to meet him. He joined in as one of the bunch and everyone loved him, as usual.

 

Every week I look forward to my Tuesday nights. It truly is the highlight of my week. It causes a major lack of sleep due to the amount that we can all talk and have a good time late into the night, but it’s completely worth it. We eat good food, talk about life, and get to know each other more and more. What girl wouldn’t want that?

 

Moving back to the East coast wasn’t an easy transition for me. It’s been great to have Rob around all of the time and seeing my family each day, but it was completely different then living on my own. I didn’t have another outlet or regular friends I would talk to as I did in Ft. Myers. But God knew exactly what I needed. He knows my heart and what I was longing for and presented that right in my lap.

I am beyond grateful for the love these woman have poured into my life these past couple of months. Tuesday nights are a haven for me that I have desperately been needing. A community of friends who truly love and care for you as if you have known them for forever. Where else does that come from but from Him?

 

 

I know I say this a lot here, but I am richly blessed. My life has been overflowing lately. God is presenting himself in ways that I haven’t recognized or haven’t presented themselves before. I am amazed at the wonders he does and how much loves us.

 

Life is good my friends, life is great. I have great friends, great family, an amazing fiance, a fun job, and new friends for life.

Tuesday nights will never be the same. . .

Before I sign out I would like to give a big  HAPPY, HAPPY birthday to my dear friend Corinth.                   How blessed I am to know you and to share life with you.

36 days and counting. . .

A Quarter of a Century Old

It all started 25 years ago. . .

25 Years?!

Where has that time gone?

I am old.

I remember thinking when I was a teenager how OLD being 25 was!

And now here I am. . .

. . . Yesterday, I turned 25 years old.

While it was not the greatest of birthdays. It sure made it in the books for being memorable.

You see, I have been sick since Saturday.

And each day since, I have felt my immune system slowly deteriorate little by little.

But I couldn’t take off work.

No, I had to go to work on Monday for my observation and then again on Tuesday due to it being field trip day.

Woo-hoo field trip day to the children’s art museum and I felt like my head was going to burst open at any second due to the pressure building up. And my sinuses were only keeping rhythm with the massive headache I had pounding throughout the day.

Needless to say I collapsed when I got home that afternoon. I didn’t move for the rest of the day, while Dr. Rob took care of me ordering  pizza for dinner and bringing home a special surprise of S’mores Ben & Jerry’s to kick off my birthday celebration.

He knows my favorite! 

I knew I had to take the next day off or I would never get better.

I laid in bed the majority of my birthday sleeping off and on and coughing every moment that I was awake.

But my man took care of me and made me feel oh-so-special!

He sang me “Happy Birthday” at midnight.

He made me breakfast the next morning.

When he came home from class, he walked in singing  “Happy Birthday” while candles burned in the mini cupcakes that he had bought to share.

He showered me with attention and love, assuring me that even though I was “old” he still loved me and always loved “older women” ha-ha.

He asked if I was up for a birthday dinner. But assured me that it was perfectly alright if I wasn’t and he would cook me dinner at home.

But I had enough of being lazy. So I did my best to make myself presentable with bags under my eyes and we headed out for a “surprise” dinner.

Oh how I love surprises!

I think he has finally caught on to my love for surprises. Although, he has always claimed he is bad at them.

He started first with a surprise bowling birthday party for my 20th birthday. How can that be bad!?

This surprise was just as great. We drove to Coral Gables – Miami, across town. We talked and I felt like death. My head was pounding, my sinuses were aching, my stomach was not feeling settled and he asked repeatedly if I wanted to go back home. But we forged ahead. We passed a restaurant that my friend had told me about and when I said

“Look! That was the restaurant I told you about a couple of weeks ago“

He responded with “That’s where I am taking you!”

. . . and all of a sudden all of my aches and pains went away and I leapt out of the car (At a stop light mind you) to put our name in.

I received a fellow May 1st birthday hug from the woman who was in line ahead of me putting her name in at the restaurant and I was seated within minutes. As I waited for my handsome fiance to join me from parking the car my excitement of being there only grew and my appreciation and love for him intensified.

He came in and we enjoyed the most wonderful birthday dinner that I have ever had.

Swine.

You should try it.

I HIGHLY recommend it!

You will not be disappointed.

We enjoyed every minute of the experience, every bite of food that we put into our mouths.

With every bite we exclaimed “How in the world is this so good?!“

“What is this stuff?!“

If you like southern comfort food. You will LOVE Swine

Just to give you an inkling at the type of food they have that we immensely enjoyed. . .

Burnt-Ends medallions with fried cheesy grits cooked in barbecue sauce

as well as

“Chicken & Waffles” which in their terms consists of pork bacon  (or pure fat – yum!) coated and cooked like fried chicken along with cheesy  waffle triangles, drizzled with honey hot sauce and maple syrup. Alongside spiced watermelon chunks drizzled with honey hot sauce. (licking my lips)

We also enjoyed some amazing mac & cheese on the side.

Want to go now? Mmmhmmm

He made it special. No doubt about that.

We went back home after dinner with full tummies and happy hearts. I thanked him up and down for a wonderful day.

When we arrived home, Rob’s roommates wanted to hear all about dinner, than asked about our dessert decisions. When we replied we hadn’t had any they exclaimed

“Good! Because we bought you cake!”

My heart almost burst!

I felt so loved!

We finished my birthday off sharing that amazing ice cream cake and a movie to which I fell asleep to and received resounding “Happy Birthday’s!” after I woke up.

It was a great birthday. In which I felt like crap. But the man of my dreams was by my side and made it a day that I felt completely loved and special. He is quite amazing!

I woke up to two friends singing “Happy Birthday” on my answering machine, received NUMEROUS phone calls and birthday texts from my family and friends, a special birthday song from Rob’s Nana, and most of Rob’s immediate family calling me all together to sing “Happy Birthday” to end out the day.

And today, as I came home from work my family had decorated the living room  with a Happy Birthday banner, balloons and another ice cream cake to end out the day.

It was a great birthday. I am so blessed. I feel truly loved.

Thank God for all of the adventures and blessings that he has showered on me in these 25 years.

My 25th year is going to be my best yet, I can feel it.

I cannot wait to see what is in store for my next 25.

Halfway to 50!

Another Race in the Books

I bet you are completely shocked.

No surprise here, really I know.

A couple of weeks ago I headed down to Miami bright and early with an (almost) all new gang to participate in another color run!

It was the most nonchalant run I have ever been to. It felt thrown together and un-organized but we didn’t care. We still had a blast!

The crew this time included:

One my great friends – Corinth, my sister – Jeanna, her very best friend – Lauren, and my cousin – Tara.

It’s amazing how much fun a can be, no matter who you are with.

We arrived completely white and made sure to color it up before the race started. As well as continue to throw color on people throughout the race that looked too white. They thanked us, we know it.

Nobody was in the mood to “run” so we run/walked instead. Taking it completely easy, laughing it up, and acting completely silly through the color stations. I am pretty sure we had the best time out of anyone there.

Color Run Fun = Check!

Love these women. I am pretty sure you can’t NOT have fun when you are throwing things at each other.

The best part of the day was when we walked into a restaurant nowhere near the race for lunch. Man did we get the stink eye from EVERYONE. It was quite comical to hear the comments from people around us.

“You ladies feeling alright today?”

“So what exactly happened to you?”

We enjoyed ourselves. That is what matters. I can’t get enough of being with friends, having a great time, and laughing constantly. What better way to start a weekend?

I’ll be back soon with another race post. You won’t have to wait too long, don’t worry!

Back to Spring Break

Alright, so it’s been a month, Crazy!

I wrote a whole post while I was on my way home from Colorado in March and when I went to post it after I landed, it was gone. After that leisurely sit down time I haven’t had a moment to update this thing and recap the rest of my trip to Colorado.

Let’s see if I remember how it went. . .

After a very snowy and overcast first day, we woke to Sunday being bright, blue, and beautiful!

It was, however, still FREEZING!

We drove about 2 1/2 hours north to Estes Park, Colorado to spend a couple of days getting wedding details into place and finally checking out my venues in real life.

I was a little obsessed with acting like a complete tourist and taking pictures at every turn on the drive up. Every corner showed a new breathtaking sight that I had to capture. But let me tell you, the pictures do not do it justice. The snow-capped mountains and quaint little towns were simply, beautiful.

When we arrived I was able to go to the steakhouse where we will be having our reception and get a taste testing of the menu we chose.

It was adorable. Just as the pictures online showed and I fell in love with it all over again. The wedding coordinator couldn’t believe I chose it from pictures online and hadn’t ever seen it in person before when booking it as our reception site. Well when you are however many states away, you do what you can and trust that God will pull it all into place.

Driving through Estes Park, every view takes your breath away. It is a small quaint town in a valley of the Rocky Mountains. Where ever you look you see mountains and tell everyone to look at the view. We would all  stop a couple of times a day to have everyone see what we were seeing in that moment. It never got old.

We ate in the down town area getting recommendations from the locals for the best pizza in town. It was even colder up in Estes so we ran to and from our car and restaurant to stay warm.

Carla’s sister, Beth and Niece, Kelly traveled with us for a mini stay away from home.

The next morning we ventured out in search of the lodges we are staying at this summer, a bakery, and a florist. We had a very successful, and fun, day!

This is Shadow, the cat that lives in the lobby of the lodge we will be staying at. She is a sweetheart and let me you she lives up to her name.

We even saw real live Elk! We were pretty excited about it.

The Stanley Hotel, where The Shining was filmed. You can go take ghost tours there, haha.

We stayed in Estes for two nights. Soaking in the town and taking it easy. We booked my florist, bakery, and got to see all of the places that had only been real to me by the internet before then. It was pretty funny to be driving through the town and seeing the names of the bazillion places I had come across online. It was all real! And it was more amazing than I could have imagined.

We headed back south after a couple of days. Kelly and Carla dropped me off at the airport on their way back down to Colorado Springs and I enjoyed the rest of my busy spring break at home.

I am so thankful to Carla for taking me out there. For making it all real to me and helping me to feel more comfortable about planning it all from a distance. It makes me so much more excited for my wedding day to be here. As of today, we only have 70 days to go!

Whew is time flying!