My attempt to be cool...

I have a confession to make: I am a blog stalker. I look at other people’s blogs all the time. They’re mostly of people that I know, which I suppose makes it better, but even I think there’s something wrong with reading about another person’s life without their knowledge. I guess if they didn’t want the world to read their blog then they would make it private. In that respect, I feel a little less like a creeper.

Some people are quite clever in the things that they write, making up fantastically funny lists or talking about something adorable that their kid did. We don’t have kids and I think people wouldn’t find it as amusing if I blogged about the cute things James does (he occasionally comes up with one liners that leave me in tears – those are rare, cause let’s face it, I’m the funny one. < see what I mean – I’m hilarious.)

I used to be the queen of making lists on all sorts of things. Now, the only list I make is a grocery list. And let me tell you, that has lost its novelty. When you realize that the dreams for your culinary creations far exceed your pocketbook, grocery lists go from being this:
- Roasted red pepper strips
- Artichoke hearts
- Ricotta cheese
- Hoisin sauce
- Quinoa

To this:
- Manwich
- Tomato soup
- Peanut butter
- Bread
- Spaghetti

Both of these are actual grocery lists.

It’s a sad state of affairs I tell you. But, I still have high hopes for being a culinary master someday. Well, maybe not high hopes; we’ll call them mediocre hopes. There are a million and a half other blogs out there that talk about cooking and I’m way jealous of their genius (if they are in fact the ones who come up with these magical recipes)

Where was going with this? Oh yes, blogs that are way cooler than mine.

So I figured in order to be as cool as the rest of the bloggers, I had to actually blog. I know I have cool potential within me somewhere. And I know I’ve mentioned it at least a dozen times before that I need to do better with blogging. This is my attempt. Think of it what you will.

In other news, James and I recently started going to the gym again. We found out that we could have been taking advantage of a FREE membership to the YMCA that I get through my work. Instead, we’ve been sitting around the house trying to figure out how to get in shape without going broke (gym memberships can be pricey and I have to admit, I’m a bit of a gym snob. It’s the YMCA or nothing. I’m not intimidated when I go in there because of the diverse group of people…) I found out this little nugget of info right after we ordered a treadmill. Whoops. Thankfully we were able to return it and have since jumped on the fitness bandwagon.

I’ve taken to going to exercise classes (and when I say “taken” I mean I went to one on Monday. I didn’t feel like going to the one last night. Tonight’s class remains to be seen…) When I re-entered the world of aerobics on Monday night, I swear I started sweating before the class even began. And it’s all because of one little piece of equipment: the step. I HATE the step and in return, the step hates me. Ask anyone who knows me well and they’re sure to tell you that I’m clumsy. I can’t help it – I was born that way. When I saw the step, I knew my doom would be met in a room full of strangers (with the exception of one co-worker in the back of the room. I prayed she couldn’t see me for fear of being mocked at work the next day…)

When the class began, I took it slow. I’m not horrifically out of shape, but it has been a while since I’ve worked up a real good sweat. That streak ended on Monday night. I felt like a goob as the old lady a row in front of me was attacking the step like a beast while I maintained a mantra in my head of “don’t trip, don’t trip, don’t trip.” Midway through the class, I told the step sayonara and just did the exercises without it. And yes, granny in front of me was still getting’ it like a champ.

Finally the class was done with the step and I could continue on with the group. We get down on the floor to do some crunches – something I wasn’t afraid of. I used to be able to handle crunches. Now, apparently I only know how to do crunches with my neck. Ya think that’s the right way to do it? Negative, ghost rider. I woke up Tuesday morning in a pretty good amount of pain (I almost said excruciating, but that would be a gross exaggeration, and I’m all about the truth people.) From my neck to my abs to my calves, I could feel every body part that was attacked. I thought a hot shower would loosen up the muscles a bit, but no such luck (I would hate to see our water bill if I stayed in the shower for as long as it’s probably necessary to work out my issues). Have you ever tried wrapping your hair in a towel with a stiff neck? It’s next to impossible. I walked around all day with a stiff neck (or something like it…) but thankfully today, I’m much better.

My abs are a different story. I can only guess that we did something like 150 crunches on Monday night. That’s not an exaggeration. Now I can’t even cough without inflicting pain on myself. Overall, getting back into a fitness routine has been a delight. Kind of like getting a root canal or going to your girl doctor for an annual visit.

Tonight’s adventure is cardio kickboxing. As long as there’s not a step, I should be ok. The plan is to pretend I’m a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle as I’m kicking and punching. That should get me through the hour long class (I’m such a wimp, I know.) Here’s to skinny jeans and more hijinks…

Rat-ta-tat-tat...

...I'm back! I took a brief hiatus from this blog to start a cooking blog. I discovered a blog called Our Best Bites that was fabulous with recipes that were practically fail proof. They also have a cook book so I thought that it would be easy to replicate their success. Wrong-o. When I got out there in the world of Pinterest, I discoverd more blogs about cooking than I could even fathom. Yeah, my puny little blog wasn't going to "take off" like I evisioned that it would especially considering my readership never got past 20 people a day (half of which I think was me or James)

I also took some time off from writing because we moved into a new home which has been really fun. It's kind of still surreal to me that we have this "huge" house that's all ours (I say "huge" cause when you go from a one bedroom to a four bedroom, that's pretty huge...) I've really enjoyed making it our home and the kitchen is undoubtedly my favorite part of the whole place. Plus, James got me a purple KitchenAid mixer for my birthday and I'm pretty much on cloud 9 whenever I cook. I still hate the dishes. That will probably never change. It's been a bit of an adjustment to be in a 2 story home since neither James nor I grew up in 2 story homes. I think because of that (and because we might be a little bit scared...) we don't generally go to another floor of the house without the other one. We've been so blessed this last year and have so much to be thankful for.

So we got the house. That was awesome. And then... I turned 30. Holy. Crap. Honestly, I've always thought that I'm younger than I am; like, when people ask how old I am, I would say 22, when I hadn't been 22 for years... I know they say that age is just a number but 30 is one of those numbers that makes me freak out a little bit. I'm not completely sure why - it could be because I have a hard enough time believing that James and I are homeowners, let alone that we're actually married (I guess I still think I'm single and 1 year away from getting the boot out a singles ward? Who knows...) 30 is one of those numbers for women that can cause a freak out. And it most definitely did for me. I had a perfectly fine birthday... well, I had a fine birthday party. The actual day of my birthday kinda sucked. I'm kind of a darling on my birthday - showered with lots of attention and love. But this year was the first year that I got no such attention. At work it was, "oh hey, it's your birthday. happy birthday." said with about as much enthusaism as it seems. No birthday lunch. No birthday cupcakes. No happy birthday song. All that coupled with turning the big 3-0 and I was a pouty little birthday girl. Don't get me wrong - like I said, James got me an awesome birthday gift, took me out to dinner the evening of my birthday and made a special effort to get me a giant birthday cookie and a birthday cake for my party the following weekend. But all the fanfare and hoopla that I was used to just wasn't there. And I'm sure you're thinking, "is she being for real? What is she, a 4 year old?" Which probably means that you don't know me very well because if you did then you would know how I absolutely love my birthday. What, was I not loved enough as a child and I need attention so badly that I pout when my birthday isn't perfect? Quite the opposite actually. I just happen to love my birthday because it's (generally) a fabulous day when you feel loved more than any other day. Why WOULDN'T someone want that? All you ba-humbuggers out there can kiss my grits if you think birthday's are just another day. Cause they're not.

And now I've ranted more about it all then I intended to.

I hope to get back on track with blogging. And list making. Ah yes, the GLORIOUS list making. Let it all begin (again)....

Mmm... cookbooks...

I have what might be considered an obsessive personality. If I find something that I like, I latch on to it pretty tightly and don’t let go for a while. Those of you who know me well are probably nodding your head in agreement as you think about the following things that I have found myself “obsessed” with over the years:

New Kids on the Block (from the ripe young age of 8 until they decided to be “tough”)
Backstreet Boys (to replace NKOTB, from 16 until about 20)
Cameron Ek (from about 14 until 22… if that one doesn’t make you burst out laughing, I don’t know what will)
Weddings (from 18 until… I’m still obsessed with weddings…)
Martha Stewart (see previous obsession)
Martha Stewart Wedding magazines (see previous obsession)
The color purple (the actual color, not the book or movie with Oprah; since I was at least 4 and it’s still my favorite)
Butch Walker (only in the last 4 years, but I’ve traveled to Atlanta to see him and I love him… like, a lot)
Paramore (again, only in the last 4 years and I’ve also traveled to Atlanta to see them and gone to a show in Charlotte by myself and skipped out on the John Mayer part)
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (if I could remember when I had my first one, then I would say it started then…)

Those are just a few of them that come to mind right away… I’m sure there are loads more. That’s just how I am.

Someone recently told me about a website called ourbestbites.com. It’s a blog by 2 young Mormon moms who share mostly recipes and a few crafty ideas. And while I’ve never tried ANY of the recipes, seeing the pictures on the website was enough to have me hooked. As I looked over the entire blog (which goes back to March 2008) I fell in love with what I saw. Again, I haven’t tried ANY of the recipes so I really don’t know if they know their butt from their elbow. The pictures looked good and the ingredients are simple so I was sold. Then I found out they have a book so I decided that I HAVE to have that book. I don’t care how much it costs (ok I do, but I’m trying to prove a point…) if it looks half as good as the website, it’s gotta be worth it! Next thing I know, I’m hitting up the Barnes and Noble website to see if I could find it at the local store. Of course they didn’t have it so I added it to my online shopping cart because that’s probably the only way I’d be able to get it.

Just when I was about to check out, I see that if I just spend $8.14 more, I can have free shipping. Well yeah! Gimme that too! So I think to myself, what other book could I possibly need right now? You could almost hear the sound of the light bulb dinging above my head as I realized, “MARTHA STEWART HAS A CUPCAKE BOOK THAT I HAVEN’T BOUGHT!” I kid you not, a feeling of euphoria swept over me as I became giddy with joy at the thought of another Martha Stewart cookbook. Anna bought me the Martha Stewart Baking Handbook and it is BEAUTIFUL. I’ve only tried one recipe out of it and it wasn’t that good, but I think that’s because the recipe was quadrupled and something was left out. I digress. So I ended up buying both books and yes, I got the free shipping too.

At this point I’m sure you’re thinking that I’m completely unhinged and I’m sure that my husband can attest to the truth in that, however, I know I’m not the only one that finds cookbooks (and a lot of other picture-type books) to be beautiful. It’s something about the subject matter in combination with the way the photos are taken that just makes books like that so eye-catching to me. I think it appeals to my domestic side as well as my artistic side. Combine those two and you’ve hit on my sucker side. I would have every Martha Stewart cookbook in her collection (like the one about cookies and another about pies and tarts) but the reality is that my eyes are probably bigger than my stomach and wallet (cause a lot of her recipes call for some unusual stuff that your average person just doesn’t keep in the pantry and I’m not looking to break the bank on trying something out), so I don’t usually buy them on a whim. But the next time I’m in a book store and I have $15 burning a hole in my pocket, I might have to pick up the Martha Stewart Cookies book (actually that “might” can just be considered a “will”) If you feel the need to show me how much you love me through gifts, I would gladly accept that as your token of affection – no need to wait for my birthday or a holiday.

The whole point of this is to rave about how newly obsessed I am with cookbooks. I guess I’ve rediscovered my fascination with them and I cannot wait till I get my new little lovelies to add to my collection. I’m Lauren Dillon and I’m a cookbook obsessed nerd.

10 AWESOME things that I appreciate right now

If you’ve ever heard of the book “1000 Awesome Things” then you will have an idea where I got this from… I’m sure everyone enjoys a few of these things too.

#1 – The one concert you’ve been dying to see comes to town
It doesn’t matter how much it costs or what day it is, when that one musical act finally comes to your town, you’ll do just about anything to be there. Sometimes the urgency can’t wait and you end up traveling further than you normally would just to see them, but when they’re right at your back door, how can you resist? AWESOME.

#2 – Friday’s at quitting time
It’s almost like the smell of the air changes as your heart practically races in anticipation of that quitting bell to ring. You imagine yourself leaving work with the enthusiasm of Fred Flintstone as he slides down the back of a brontosaurus. You can’t beat the feeling of leaving work for a glorious weekend ahead even if you have nothing planned. AWESOME.

#3 – The crack and pop of opening a can of Dr Pepper
What they say in the commercials is true. Who can really resist the amazingly smooth taste of 23 flavors that make up every delicious sip? Throw some cherry flavoring on top of that and you have the makings for a near cosmic explosion in your mouth. AWESOME.

#4 – The chime of receiving a text message
Everyone loves to be loved and in our day of modern technology where communication is practically as instant as thinking, you can feel the love with every “bing bong” of your cell phone. It doesn’t matter if the text is from your mom or your best friend, there’s still something about the instant connection that is made with every smiley face and LOL that’s sent. AWESOME.

#5 – Purchasing clothes on a big sale day without knowing it
Your arms are full of every article of clothing you could ever want in every color you’ve ever loved but you come to the dreaded part of having to put back that one shirt you thought you couldn’t live without. But wait! What’s this?! Every item in the store is at least 30% off?! Oh happy day!! No need to put any of it back – I’m getting it all! AWESOME.

#6 – Buying a new CD
I think they purposefully wrap CD’s in nearly presidential style security cellophane just to build up the anticipation of getting your new purchase into your CD player. Once you’ve conquered that 32 square inch piece of maximum security and somehow managed to break through the heavy duty adhesive sticker hermetically sealing the case shut, what you finally have in your hands is the ability to blast musical gold until you become deaf. AWESOME.

#7 – A good hair day
You’ve washed and conditioned. You’ve dried and straightened. You’ve brushed and fluffed. After much effort and care, you look in the mirror to find your hair perfectly parted without a stray hair to be found. AWESOME.

#8 – The perfect snuggle
Life can be rough, sometimes unbearable. But at the end of the day, when you crawl into bed barely able to keep your lids open long enough to make it to your pillow, you find the sweet spot, nuzzled up in the crook of a loved ones arms. *SIGH* It’s perfectly comfortable and a feeling like no other. AWESOME.

#9 – Duke beats Carolina
No matter who’s ranked higher or who has the better team on paper, you can always count on a battle of epic proportions between the two college basketball powerhouses. And though your heart races and your palms get sweaty, when those final seconds tick down and you know that Duke has conquered the beast, there’s no sweeter victory. AWESOME.

#10 – The smell of a Sharpie
The intoxicating smell dances it’s way to your nose as you gently inhale the fumes of the best marker/pen ever invented. It doesn’t matter if it’s purple or black, yellow or teal, you better believe that you’ll be a little happier when you’re done writing with it. AWESOME.

America's diner is always open...

The new job is currently underway! It’s only been 2 days, but so far, so good! I think I’m really going to like it here, at least for a little while. My supervisor is really chill and laid back and best of all – he listens to my suggestions instead of immediately shooting them down. Whether or not he uses the suggestion doesn’t really matter to me because at least he’s open to new ideas, which is something I really need in order to do well. The attendance policy is awesome – no penalties for being late. I can go to lunch when I want, for as long as I want. I can leave for the day when I want as long as I put in 40 hours a week. My desk looks out over a park with a fountain and my floor in general is really quiet. Basically, it’s the complete opposite of what I experienced at FIG. FIG was fun for a while, but right now it pales in comparison to how great Denny’s is. I’m excited to really get into my work because I’m not really doing much but observing and learning. Once I get to work on my own then I think it’s going to be awesome. The work we do is to get the restaurants the information they need to introduce new promotions and products (modules) as well as instruct them on what changes need to be made because of each module. The one little hiccup that I see is the lack of creativity used in a lot of the materials that are sent out. The information is valuable, but the presentation looks pretty elementary. Hopefully I’ll be able to use my graphic design skills and spice things up a bit or at the very least, get them to align things better (drives me NUTS)

Of course one of the drawbacks is not knowing anyone here. I miss the people that I worked with at FIG; after almost 6 years, I picked up a few friends. I hope the same will happen here, but with the size of the department right now, I’m not sure when that will happen. Plus, a lot of people that I work with are probably 40’s or older which is a big change from all the 20-somethings that I worked with before. That’s not to say that I can’t be friends with older people, but I think it’ll be a little more difficult to have the same relationships that I had before. At least I still have my sweet husband to come home to; he’s my best friend anyway, so as long as I have him then I’m doing pretty good :)

Adventures in moving...

Finally moved in to the new place and it was more of an adventure than I thought it would be. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure it turned out better than a lot of people have experienced, but it still didn’t turn out as well as I would have liked. Allow me to explain… Saturday morning rolls around and we have the house all packed up and ready to go. We literally sat there and waited for them to show up because we were THAT prepared. The movers from All My Sons were supposed to be there between 8 and 9 am. I naively thought that they would be earlier rather than later. Wrong. They showed up at 8:45 and all James and I had to do was sit there and watch. I expressly pointed out to them the boxes that were most fragile, in addition to having written all over the boxes in big, black letters “FRAGILE.” I had a point to make. One box in particular was loaded with picture frames, candles and Willow Tree figurines and though those items are not particularly valuable, I still didn’t want any of it broken – obviously. The box was also really heavy and we debated on taking it with us in the car, but since they had the proper equipment, we assumed they would be able to handle it. After about 2 hours of loading up the truck, they tell us they’re going to go by their shop to pick up an extra mover to make things go quicker so we could stay in the estimated price range that was given to us. I’m thinking, “yes, please do, cause this is already costing a freaking fortune and you guys aren’t exactly hauling tail here…” James and I headed down to Boiling Springs to finish up the paper work for the new apartment and then waited some more on the movers to arrive. When they finally showed up with their new cohort in hand, I expected things to really pickup and they’d be outta there in no time. Wrong again. The first thing I heard when they arrived is that the one box that I pointed out to be the most fragile and most important WAS DROPPED. DOWN THE STAIRS. AND STUFF DEFINITELY BROKE. I was FURIOUS. When they brought the box to me, they said that it looked like only one thing was broken but upon further inspection there was far more than one thing broken… like several picture frames, busted up candles, a broken Willow Tree figurine, and broken candle sticks. After totaling up the damage, I figured they broke about $150 worth of stuff. I get to turn in a claim on the items once they send it to me in the mail, so we’ll see how much of that I actually get back.

So as things moved right along, I noticed that even though they’ve picked up another compadre, they’re not moving any faster. And oh, by the way, go ahead and pay up until 3:30 and if we don’t get done, then you don’t have to pay past that point. That seemed kinda fishy, but they brought another person with them to speed things up so I thought that would mean that they’d definitely be done by 3:30. Wrong. They took about 4 breaks in the span of 2 hours, which cut into the schedule more than you would think. In addition to their breaks, they couldn’t seem to carry as many boxes up the stairs as they took down the stairs, despite using the same equipment and – I MUST SAY THIS AGAIN – another mover. They falsely lead us to believe that unloading goes quicker than loading, but I beg to differ. When it was all said and done, they finished at 3:00 but when the head mover called in to say they were done, we were charged as though they finished at 3:15 because they charge by the quarter hour. How that even makes sense, I’m not sure… so it took 2 ½ men to move a 1 bedroom apartment 5 hours (not including travel time of 1 ½ hours.) That hardly seems reasonable to me. Granted they moved us from a 2^nd floor apartment to a 3^rd floor apartment, I still find it hard to believe that it would take professionals that long. I think they were just trying to milk it for all it was worth. From the beginning all we heard was “Oh wow, you got a lot of boxes” and “Man, that’s a big TV” or “There’s a washer and dryer too?!” I’m sorry, is this the first time that you’ve moved someone? Be glad that you don’t have to move a whole family with multiple beds and 3 times as many boxes! Thinking about it gets my blood boiling all over again… It was great to not have to move anything ourselves or have to put anyone else through the ordeal either. But when we pay good, hard earned money for a professionally done job, I expect a good job to be done. Imagine that.

Now that everything is done, I’m glad we did it, but I think next time we’ll hire movers to load up a U-Haul, drive the truck ourselves, and have them unload it. Hiring movers is not cheap. I have the week before I start my job at Denny’s to put the place together and so far, most of it’s done. I have a few more boxes to unpack and some more pictures to hang, but other than that, it’s practically home again.

On Monday I made my first grocery run to the Wal Mart down the street. It made me sad cause it’s not like the Wal Mart in Mooresville. For starters, the groceries are on the wrong side, which totally threw me off. I ran all across that store trying to find what I needed. Kinda frustrating, but at least there’s a Wal Mart close by. I’ve always said that no matter where I am, as long as I know where Wal Mart is, then I can feel like I’m home. I really like our apartment; it feels bigger even though it’s technically 36 square feet smaller than our last one. It’s short on drawer space in the kitchen, so I asked James for a big kitchen when we buy a house. And I never thought I would find a coat closet valuable until we didn’t have one. Thankfully, most of the space that we’re missing from out last place seems to be utilized in a pretty big storage closet outside on our deck. That thing is a DREAM. So much got to stay in boxes because I know we won’t need it anytime soon (if ever again) so when we move next time, it will be that much less to have to pack up.

I’m still getting acclimated to the area, even though I’m pretty familiar with it from the time I spent here while James and I dated. It’s nice to have him home when normal people get home, so I really look forward to establishing that sort of normalcy that most people experience. Hopefully that won’t change when I start work on Monday – fingers crossed that I’m not pulling super long hours where I become the one who comes home late. That would really suck.

That’s life for now. More to come when I start work on Monday, but until then, I’m loving sleeping in late and being a wifey. Gag, that was cheesy. I’ll refrain from that in the future.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Things have been trucking right along with our big move down to Spartanburg. After a lot of searching for an apartment, we finally got the one that we wanted. That's the good. They originally had 2 one bedroom apartments on the 2nd floor, when we went to snatch one up, they were already gone. So we kept looking and and even paid an application fee for another apartment. That's the bad. But like I said, after trying out many other apartment complexes, the one we wanted most of all called back and said they had a cancellation for a one bedroom...on the 3rd floor. That's the ugly.

It's not ideal for us to be on the 3rd floor, but the benefits of where we will be living outweigh the pain of living on the 3rd floor. I'm familiar with the area where the apartment is located, I feel safe and we're paying less rent than we are now in Huntersville. Unfortunately, since no one in my family is in any condition to move us from the 2nd floor to the 3rd floor, we decided to use movers to make it easier. I didn't want to burden volunteers beyond helping us move, so even if my family couldn't help, I still didn't want to imposition friends and people from church by moving into a 3rd floor apartment an hour and a half away. Movers aren't cheap, but hopefully it will be well worth it. I'm thinking it will....

Tomorrow is my last day at FIG. At first, I was really nervous about leaving since I've been there for so long. But now, I'm getting kind of excited to leave and go start a new adventure somewhere else. I'm going to miss the people that I work with a lot, but I know I'll meet new people at Denny's and find my niche again. I'm pretty blessed to be able to fit in wherever I go. That's not to sound conceited, but I generally don't find it hard to get along with most people. And if I find that they're a tough nut to crack, that makes me work even harder to get them on my side. It'll be a good transition and I'm excited to be at home with James in the evening like normal people do.

We began the arduous process of packing up the apartment on Saturday. We literally have about 40 boxes of stuff already not to mention our furniture. I don't know how we've ever fit so much stuff into 828 sq ft of space. The apartment reeks of boxes written on with Sharpie (a smell I generally love...) and you can barely see from one room to the next because of boxes stacked taller than me. I'm anxious to get all of it packed up and moved out so I can clean the place (who would've ever thought that I would WANT to clean...) and we can get on with unpacking everything. I don't know how people move all the time like they do; what an exhausting process it must always be.

That's it for now. Time to finish up work at FIG then get on with the rest of moving. Fingers crossed that someone snatches up our apartment in Huntersville so we get out of there as cheaply as possible!!

Moving to the country, gonna eat me a lot of peaches...

I know it's time to blog when James asks me if I'm going to blog any time soon... Occasionally I will blog about nothing in particular, but I would rather take the time to write when I have something good to share, like right now...

Big changes are coming our way in the next few weeks. I'm scared and nervous, excited and hopeful, anxious and worried, happy and confident all at the same time; simply put, I'm a kaleidoscope of emotions. Just ask James, I'm sure he'll quickly tell you how nuts I am! Despite all the contradictory feelings that I'm racked with, I know that they're all for the good. James and I have been praying for a while about making the move down to the Spartanburg, South Carolina area. Right now, he commutes at least an hour and 15 minutes each way to work in Gaffney, getting up at 4:30 in the morning and sometimes not home until 10:00 at night. I have a fairly quick commute to my job in Cornelius where I've worked for the last 6 years. It's been pretty easy on me, but not so much on James. We both end up going to bed every night around 8:30 or 9:00, and both get up at 4:30, even though I get to lay in the bed and fall back asleep until 7:00. It's been taxing on us both, but more so on James than me. Really I just want him home at a normal time and not be exhausted at the end of the day because of all the driving in addition to waking up early and working.

Our lease is up at the end of July for our apartment in Huntersville and having cleared out quite a bit of our debt in a short amount of time, we began considering buying a house in the Spartanburg area. We probably would have bought the first one that we looked at, but because of advice given to me by my parents, we decided to pull the reigns back a bit on the house hunt and focus on getting me a job down there first. I often search the postings on CareerBuilder.com and though most of them are geared towards graphic design, I found one that was less design driven and more about communications for Denny's corporate headquarters in Spartanburg. I'm a firm believer that you never know what you can get until you ask, so I applied for the job with no real thought put into it other than the fact that it sounded interesting and it was in the right place. Shortly thereafter, I received an email from Denny's HR that said that though my background looked interesting, my resume wasn't attached to the application. In all the time I've been searching for a job, rarely did I receive any sort of response, let alone one that asked for more information, so I quickly obliged. I was asked to do a phone interview with HR and then another phone interview with the director of the department. Both went really well and I was hopeful that things would continue to progress, because even though the position isn't related to graphic design, the details of the job are similar to my current responsibilities. After some waiting, I was asked to come in for an in-person interview and then given a writing assignment a week later. Then there was more waiting. I'm used to seeing a much quicker hiring process at FIG, so to see the entire process take almost two months was beyond nerve wracking.

Finally, after a lot of waiting, I was offered the job with the salary I wanted and the benefits of my current job. It was truly an answer to our prayers. This past Tuesday I put in my two week notice with FIG where I've been for the last 6 years. There have been many, many times where I have come home from work frustrated and ready to quit due to a variety of reasons. And even though finding a new job has been a long time coming, I still feel a twinge of sadness because I will be leaving a group of people who I have grown to know and love. Likewise, the response I have been given to my resignation has been mutually sad. It makes a girl feel good when you hear, "Oh man! Who's going to do my stuff for me now?!" which translates to: "who's going to take good care of my agents?" It'll be a bittersweet exit and I can already foresee lots of tears will be flowing that day. Even though my time there hasn't been without a lot of turmoil and anxiety, there is a deep level of comfort that I feel because of how long I've worked there. I'm as familiar with my job as anyone could be and I understand how to take care of the responsibilities that I have been given. But, despite my comfort, I know that I can't - nor do I want to - stay forever. There's only so much growth that you can experience there and I think I've reached the highest level that I'll ever be able to obtain.

We'll be pulling up stakes and heading down south in a couple of weeks to move into our apartment down in Boiling Springs. I dread the thought of packing this place up, moving it out and then unpacking it all. Add to that the pressure of starting a new job and I'm pretty sure I'll need a straight jacket in a matter of weeks. I'm scared to leave the only home that I've ever really known. Spartanburg is James' home and he gave it up to come up here for me. Now I return the favor so that we can be where our family has the opportunity to grow, both in our careers and in our home. The cost of living in South Carolina is so much less than North Carolina... from the cost of gas and groceries to the cost of rent and homes, nearly everything is less. Because of that, we'll be able to put away more money for a home while I get acclimated to the area and find a good place for us to really settle down.

I'm excited for the opportunity and I certainly could never make the move on my own. I'm glad I'll have James there with me for the times when I get homesick. Thankfully, we're not going to be that far away from home - just an hour and half at the most, which was a piece of cake when James and I were dating and would make the trip every weekend to see each other. Please keep us in your prayers as we make this transition in our lives, because I know for me it won't be the easiest. Anyone who knows me knows that I much prefer the familiarity of home to that of an adventure out in the unknown. But we really feel that this is answer to our prayers and are so thankful for a Heavenly Father who has blessed us how and when we needed it. Change is good, but it just takes me a little longer than most people to adjust to it :)

Thanks...

I’m thankful for…

my husband
my family
my friends
my faith
my job
my health
a warm home
photographs
music
love
chap stick
lotion
blankets
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
purple
good food
kind words
loving hugs
thoughtful gifts
holiday cheer
forgiveness
nail polish
eye liner
support
a warm bed
a soft pillow
cookbooks
flowers
snow
falling leaves
sunshine
Sharpie pens
frozen fruit

Most of all, I’m thankful that I have so much to be thankful for…

O Christmas Tree...

One of the small joys of being a newlywed that I have come across is the holiday season. I’ve always loved the holidays – ANY holiday, so I’ve practically been salivating at the opportunity to decorate for them. For Halloween, I was going to carve pumpkins and harassed James about when it would be suitable for me to buy a pumpkin. When I finally did, I didn’t even bother carving them. I just set the two little guys outside our door and… that’s it. But at least that way they’d still be able to stick around through Thanksgiving so the decorations carried over. That’s all the decorating amounted to for Halloween and Thanksgiving…

But Christmas is a bit of a different story. It was almost like a light bulb went off when I realized, “Oh my gosh, we get to have our own Christmas tree this year!” Then my mind went into overdrive, trying to figure out a budget for whole thing, planning on what the scheme would be, blah, blah, blah… I honestly think I started looking for a Christmas tree sometime in October, maybe even September. Anyway, as I tried to remain cool, I asked James when we could make the big purchase (cause you know it’s not just the tree that you have to buy… it’s the ornaments, the tree topper, the tree skirt, the ribbon… add it all up and it’s not the cheapest thing in the world) He told me we could get it this past weekend and I practically counted down the days. I even pre-shopped for it all one day during lunch. The next day I bought all the ornaments and this past Saturday we bought the tree: a 7.5’ pre-lit sienna pine. It looked kinda puny until I added all our sparkly balls and snowflakes then it turned out to be quite a pretty tree. I strongly resisted the urge to buy purple ornaments even though James wouldn’t have carried what color ornaments I bought. But, I operate under the idea that it’s not my Christmas tree, it’s OUR Christmas tree. And even though he couldn’t care less what the ornaments look like, I still didn’t want to make it a girly tree. We also bought a couple of stockings that James picked out that are hanging from the door chest in the living room (no fireplace to hang them on...) A strand of lights around a column in the apartment and I feel adequately decorated for Christmas. It just makes the apartment feel homier, like it’s really our place with our stuff. That’s all I really want is to have a place to come home to where I feel like I’m home, not just living somewhere until a lease is up. Now that I think about, we could probably use some nice big pillows on the floor and some soft blankets to curl up with… maybe a nice area rug to add extra coziness… I think I already know where my birthday and Christmas money is going…

Oh, and by the way, zesty pot roast is pretty good. It tastes like regular pot roast, but with a little bit more of a taco flavor. Nothing out of the ordinary, but definitely worth a shot again.

Cooking with Lauren, part 3

Days 2 and 3 of my cooking adventure turned out half and half... I didn't make James a believer out of Chicken Pot Pie because the Chicken Cobbler wasn't that great. His words were, "It's edible by my standards" which isn't what I ever want to hear again. I'll skip the part where I share that recipe; I'm sure there's a better one out there that's just as low in calories and has a lot more flavor. It was just too bland, and that's coming from someone who doesn't mind bland food.

On to Wednesday night when I tried out my first meatloaf... this one was a success and a recipe that I would recommend to anyone. It didn't taste like regular meatloaf; it was Italian market style (whatever that means) so it had more Italian flavor (parsley, sun-dried tomatoes, Italian seasoning) I guess what makes it a low calorie meal is the fact that you use ground turkey rather than ground beef. With a side of mashed potatoes (admittedly, from a pouch but they're only 80 calories a serving) it was really filling and delicious. I will definitely make this one again, but probably just on a Sunday afternoon when I have a little more time to make it. It takes an hour to bake so this isn't really the best for an weekday evening (at least not for us, since we generally eat around 6:30 and go to bed by 8:30)

I'll post the recipe later as it is one that's worth sharing. Sunday's endeavor is zesty pot roast which I think will probably be the best of all that I'm testing. As usual... I'll keep you posted!

Cooking with Lauren, part 2

The week of all new recipes has begun! Last night I tried out the Barbecue Chicken and Onion Pizza. It wasn’t too bad but it definitely could have been better. The recipe calls for ½ cup of barbecue sauce and an additional 2 teaspoons of barbecue seasoning which kind of makes the barbecue flavor too overwhelming. The chicken, onions and turkey bacon don’t even taste like they should because everything is overtaken by barbecue. The recipe also calls for two packages of refrigerated pizza dough which I thought would be too much for the two of us, so I just used one. This time I had a little helper in the kitchen that helped me put the pizza together and while James was a fantastic assistant, I think it’s probably best that dinner is ready most evenings when he comes home :)

Next time around IF I make this again, I’ll probably layer it like you would a regular pizza so that you can actually taste each ingredient rather than think “was that chicken or bacon I just ate?” Definitely less barbecue sauce, leave out the extra seasoning altogether and no fat free shredded cheese. Once the pizza was done, the cheese hardened like a rock on top of the pizza, kind of keeping it together, but also making it a little more difficult to eat. No need to mix all the ingredients together like the recipe suggests. Make it like a regular pizza and I’m sure it’ll be pretty awesome. You can’t really go wrong with chicken, barbecue sauce and bacon!

Tonight’s endeavor is Chicken Cobbler which is essentially a chicken pot pie, minus the bottom crust. James isn’t a fan of chicken pot pie, but I hope to make a believer out of him when this one’s done. So far, I haven’t disappointed him with my “culinary skills” but I’m also really lucky that he’s not in the least bit picky so if he turns he nose up at something, I must have REALLY botched it.

Here’s the recipe for Barbecue Chicken and Onion Pizza. With the modifications that I suggested above, I think it could be really awesome!

1 large onion, sliced
2 plum tomatoes, sliced
4 slices of turkey bacon, diced
2 garlic cloves, pressed
½ cup smoky barbecue sauce
2 teaspoons barbecue seasoning mix
2 cups diced cooked chicken
2 packages (10 ounces each) refrigerated pizza crust
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese
1 tablespoon parsley

Preheat oven to 425. Slice onions and tomatoes and dice bacon.

Heat skillet over medium heat until hot. Lightly spray skillet with nonstick cooking spray and add onion, bacon and pressed garlic. Cook and stir until onion is tender and lightly browned. Stir in barbecue sauce and seasoning; remove from heat. Stir in chicken; set aside.

Unroll both packages of pizza dough and arrange side by side, shaping into a circle. Roll dough to edge of baking sheet, pressing seams to seal.

Spread chicken mixture over dough to within ½ inch of edge. Arrange tomatoes evenly over top of pizza; sprinkle with cheese. Bake 18-22 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Remove from oven and let stand for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with parsley, cut and enjoy!

Cooking with Lauren...

My new fascination: Finding delicious recipes that are healthy too.

My most recent discovery: My Pampered Chef cookbook, “It’s Good For You” that is full of low calorie and yummy meals.

I bought the book a while ago when I hosted a Pampered Chef party, but when you live at home and mom does all the cooking, there’s really no need to bust out the cookbook. Since I’m a domestic goddess in training, I’m putting my culinary skills to the test and sticking to my plan of James and I not getting fat in our first year of marriage (or any year following, for that matter…) This past week I tried out Chicken Stroganoff and Sausage and Peppers Penne, both of which I thought were pretty tasty. Next week’s menu will consist of Barbeque Chicken Pizza, Italian Meatloaf, Chicken Cobbler and Zesty Pot Roast. Each meal is less than 350 calories per serving with 6-8 servings per meal. I thought that was pretty phenomenal and the taste doesn’t suffer because of using low fat or fat free ingredients.

If you know me, you know that I’ve had a pretty long journey to be thinner, something I’ve struggled with my whole life. Since I lost about 80 pounds almost 4 years ago, I’ve tried my best to maintain (pretty successfully, I might add…) my weight. I still indulge in chocolate (I’m human, I’m not super woman…) and have the occasional french fry or cookie, but for the most part I try to stick to the way of eating that I learned to initially take off the weight. I think now it’s become a learned behavior, so I hope I can maintain my weight and even lose some more in the future.

So far, we’ve done pretty well in eating healthy. I buy wheat tortillas for my infamous chicken enchiladas, wheat pasta for any pasta dishes, turkey burgers, turkey hot dogs, baked chips, etc. I’m still weary of making any fish, so I admittedly use frozen beer battered fish for fish tacos as well as jalapeno cheddar cheese dip for the sauce which probably doesn’t make for the healthiest dish… but man they’re good! That’s one of our indulgences about every other week and I’m just proud of myself for concocting the whole meal myself!

I’m also quite enamored with my slow cooker… whoever thought of throwing meat and vegetables in a pot and letting it cook all day was a friggin’ genius. If I could find a cookbook with healthy slow cooker recipes… gah, forget about it - I wouldn’t use anything else. James thinks I’m nuts for using the slow cooker when it’s just the two of us, but those lunch leftovers are better than peanut butter and jelly sandwiches any day.

The journey continues to be an awesome cook so I’ll keep you updated on how it goes and share some of my favorite recipes along the way…

Recipe for Skinny Chicken Stroganoff

INGREDIENTS
4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
6 ounces egg-noodles
3/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup flour
1 can chicken broth
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
8 ounces sliced mushroom
1 cup chopped onion
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken cut into 1/4 inch strips
1 clove garlic, pressed
2 tablespoons snipped parsley

DIRECTIONS
1. Cook and Crumble bacon. Set aside
2. Cook noodles according to package directions. Drain. Whisk together sour cream and flour until blended. Gradually whisk in chicken broth until mixture is smooth. Stir in salt and pepper. Set aside
3. Heat skillet over high heat. Add chicken; cook and stir 5 minutes or until no longer pink. Remove from skillet. Keep warm.
4. Reduce heat to medium. Add mushrooms, onion and garlic. Cook and stir 3 minutes. Return chicken and bacon to skillet. Stir in sour cream mixture: bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Stir in parsley; serve over noodles.

Love Nest

We've been in our apartment about a month and a half now and I've diligently worked to get it together... boxes unpacked, shower gifts unwrapped and put away, art on the wall, pictures in frames... for a while now I've wanted nothing more than to have a place to call my own (obviously with James now...) Finally, we have the place unpacked, put away and as together as it's going to be. So, I wanted to share the fruits of our labor. Our dining room table and couches were graciously donated to us from my grandmother and aunt, so feel free to come recline at our casa anytime. In the interest of saving money and recycling, I painted several canvases to fill wall space; they're nothing spectacular, but they're better than bare walls. Instead of spending money on the letters out of found objects pictures, I made my own to spell DILLON across the ledge separating the living room and dining room. But I think my favorite piece of art out of it all is the one James thinks is the ugliest... I bought a plate collage wall plaque that matches our living room furniture really well and it includes colors from the kitchen too so I thought it was perfect. James thinks it's just ugly. He has his little music nook with his guitar hanging on the wall, so I think he's probably ok with anything I put up. I tried really hard to make this place feel like a home because for so long my home was Mom and Dad's house so I'm a bit like a fish out of water being in a place that's completely our own. With the exception of our excessively noisy upstairs neighbors (I think they're practicing for the running of the bulls with actual bulls...) I love our place. Click on the picture below to see the details of our sweet little pad!

Glory days

It's hard to believe that more than 10 years ago I graduated from high school. It seems like high school was a million years ago and funny enough, I don't miss it one bit. People often speak fondly of their high school days like those were their "glory days." Not that it's a bad thing, but it kind of makes me laugh to see all the people who still hang out with the same people that they did in high school. With the exception of Anna, who I worked with for 4 years, I don't see or speak to ANYONE that I went to high school with. Part of me is bothered by that, but then I see the people who are still hanging out with the same people they've known since elementary school and I'm glad that I've left that part of life sort of frozen in time. That doesn't mean that it wasn't a great time of life, but I'd like to think that right now is when I'm living my glory days. Parts of life suck, like paying bills but life is so much better now than it was then... no homework, no studying, no tests, no wondering if the boy you like likes you too... Not to mention the fact that there really wasn't anything spectacular about my high school - we sucked at football and basketball, we were an unimpressive size so there's really nothing to revel in.

October 30th is when my 10 year high school reunion has been planned and somewhat unfortunately, I won't be going because James and I have long planned to go to the Carrie Underwood concert for his birthday. My eternally nosy side is dying to go just to see what everyone else has been up to, but I'd rather do it in a "fly on the wall" kinda way where I don't have to actually engage in conversation with these people, but rather get the low down from afar. But truthfully, most of the people I graduated with I kinda couldn't careless about what they're doing now. I guess it's just one of those things that people so look forward to that not going almost seems un-American. Thankfully, I don't feel like my patriotism is connected to my high school days, so I can still hold my head high. Looking back on that part of life is fun but I think I'll just keep on enjoying my current glory days and leave those other times frozen where I left them...

Wedding weekend...

The wedding of the century has passed and we made it to the other side alive! All the planning, all the stress, all the anticipation of one of the best days of our life was totally worth it. It was quite possibly the best weekend I've ever experienced. Yes, better than Butch Walker weekend, if you can imagine that. The extravaganza started on Thursday with James and I going down to Gaffney to apply for our marriage license then spending the rest of the day with my mother-in-law and getting the church ready for the reception on Saturday. To cap off the day, both of our families got together for dinner at Hickory Tavern to meet before we became eternally connected. Friday, James and I went back to Gaffney to pick up our marriage license and to be honest, I thought he flew the coop on me! He ran inside to pick up the license and I waited in the car. After about 20 minutes I became a little bit worried because it didn't take us that long to fill out paper work, so why was it taking so long to just pick up the thing? But alas, the speediness of our government and its workers was the culprit of the slow down and we were on the road again to Columbia. Traditionally, the bride and groom shouldn't see each other on the wedding day until they meet at the altar, but I guess James and I aren't very traditional. It was actually pretty nice to get to spend the day together just me and him before all the hoopla began. To make it even better, there wasn't a hint of nerves for either one of us. Once we arrived to the temple, things went pretty quickly and we were done with the whole ceremony before we knew it. After some family pictures we were outta there and on our way to the hotel in Charlotte. The details of our stay aren't any of your business, but use your imagination :)

The reception was everything that I could have hoped for and more. The room was lovely – almost downright gorgeous and I’m so thankful to my family and friends who worked their butts off to make sure it was practically perfect. The reception flew by but every moment of it was just how I would have wanted it to be. One of the only hitches amongst all the details of the weekend was that the color icing on my beautiful wedding cake was – of all colors – MAUVE. Thankfully, I have a sweet man who talked me down and helped me realize that while it wasn’t even close to the color that we had intended for it to be, if that was the only part of the wedding to go wrong, then we were doing REALLY good. Plus, in a dimly lit room, you could hardly tell. We couldn’t have had a more perfect weekend and it was so nice to be able to spend it with our closest family and friends.

Now we get to move on to the best part of it all – normal life, where I get to be domestic and James gets to be handy. We get to create our own home and fill it with our own things. And while it doesn’t feel quite like home just yet, I think once we hang a few more pictures, unpack the rest of our boxes and really get settled into daily life (it’s only been 5 days… it doesn’t happen THAT quickly…) then it’ll be nice to have a place to call our own.

Thank you to everyone who made our whole weekend so special. In no particular order, thanks to: my mom and dad for vigilantly working to get those Christmas lights to work and for all the funds that were forked out to make sure I had everything I wanted – within reason, my sister Jennifer for understanding what I wanted and being so willing to execute it, my best friend Amber for being my photographer, personal dresser and florist as well as being at my beck and call throughout the reception to make sure we stayed on schedule, Jennifer S. for being a fantastic co-florist and sounding board at work, my mother-in-law Clarice for her help in putting up fabric and ribbon “seamlessly,” Melanie and Madison for de-thorning 250 white roses, and all the various other people who I may or may not have seen helping at some point during the whole she-bang. Lastly I want to thank my sweet new husband James who tried to help me stay sane during all the planning and actual wedding and reception - I couldn’t ask for anything more.

Disaster in the kitchen...

We finally got moved into our apartment this past weekend and we were really lucky to have more than enough people who showed up to help. Now it’s onto the chore of unpacking boxes while I also finish up wedding plans. The thought of taking on the task is enough to drive me mad but I’m making it through, day by day. I admittedly had a meltdown last week which freaked James out because that’s not how he’s used to seeing me. I assured him that I wouldn’t always been like that it was just bad news on top of bad news that compounded with the stress of moving and getting married that sent me into a tailspin. I’m better now though and looking forward to surviving the next few days with my head on a little straighter :)

I don’t care what anyone says, I think a man benefits from being married more than a woman. Sure, there are its perks for the women (like the fact that he’ll be the buffer between me and the bedroom door should anyone break into our apartment, thereby ensuring that I won’t be attacked first…) and there is the protection and security that you get from having a man in the house to take care of things. But the man gets to come home to a lovely abode, to the aroma of a delightfully prepared meal and simply unwind at his leisure. I’m not complaining about the balance of home life between a man and a woman. In fact, I firmly believe that each has their role in the home – the man provides and protects, the woman cares and nurtures. But it was on days like yesterday that I almost felt “overwhelmed” in holding up my end of things. After getting off work at 5:30 yesterday, I eagerly drove home to “prepare my man a meal.” Gag me, right? I guess I felt like I had something to prove in the kitchen and was shooting for the stars when I conjured up my “gourmet meal” for when James got home from work. I picked up a few more things at the store on my way in just to ensure that dinner was “extra special.” I was anxious to show off my culinary skills in the kitchen which James has never really experienced before (we eat at Subway and Chic-Fil-A more than I’m in the kitchen) So I get home, start cooking some chicken, mash up some avocados for guacamole and wait for the frozen chicken to cook. The boiling water starts bubbling over, but that’s no big deal – that just means that the heat will evaporate the water. Then juices from the chicken begin to form a foam that then begins to bubble over and again I think, no big deal except for the fact that it’s starting to stink a little bit. But I go on about my business getting everything else ready until I notice that the boiling over is starting to cause smoke in the kitchen. Fine – I’ll turn on the obnoxious fan over the stove. That doesn’t really help so the smoke lingers on into the other rooms of the apartment and before I know it, the fire alarm is going off not only beeping annoyingly loud but also TALKING to me, saying “there’s a fire” “beep” “there’s a fire” “beep” and on and on and on… So I open the front door and try to scoot the smoke out, but it’s not going anywhere. I get the brilliant idea to fan the smoke away from the detector so I take some papers and work vigorously to redirect the smoke. Still not working and I realize at this point it’s because I’m trying to direct it away from the carbon monoxide detector not the fire alarm. I search around the room for the annoyance and remember that – DUH – the fire alarm is on the ceiling. I try fanning the smoke away again, but it STILL doesn’t stop. Ah, but there’s a button in the middle of the fire alarm that I begin jumping up to furiously to stop the screeching alarm and silence that stupid voice that’s falsely telling me that there’s a fire. Finally, after about 5 leaps up to our 8 foot ceiling, I shut the thing up. Hallelujah…

But the fun doesn’t end there…

Now that I’ve brought silence back to the apartment (who knows what the new neighbors must be thinking…) I get back into the kitchen to finish my gourmet meal. The chicken is done and I begin to shred it so that I can finish the chicken enchiladas. Throw some white American cheese and low fat sour cream in a wheat tortilla shell with the chicken and you nearly have a completed chicken enchilada. The only thing missing is the sauce. That’s in a can. That requires a can opener to open it. And through the many gifts that we’ve received, we have yet to acquire a can opener. How in the world do you open a can without a can opener? So, I get a screw driver and start pounding at the lid. But this can of enchilada sauce appears to be hand crafted by Kevlar therefore making it virtually impenetrable. Wonderful. Thankfully, James has a can opener somewhere in the wilderness of boxes that litter the apartment, I just have to wait until he gets home to find said can opener and finish this “delightful” meal.

With a sigh of relief, the meal is done and my first foray into truly being domestic was a bit of a debacle. However, after all is said and done, the meal itself was pretty darn good (ask James, he’ll verify) And believe it or not, nothing was actually burnt in the preparation of the meal - only my ego (I told James that for whatever reason, I was so embarrassed that happened to me. I’m supposed to be like Martha Stewart and here I am acting more like a third grader cut loose in mom’s kitchen…) I only hope this is the last time I have a story like this to share but I’m afraid that this is only the beginning of my “prowess” in the kitchen…

Moving day...

I guess life can get pretty consumed by unimportant stuff when you're planning a wedding. We've been so blessed with all the wonderful things that friends and family have given thus far. I really couldn't ask for anymore but I have to admit something... I am completely obsessed with checking our registry. For whatever reason, I have to check it on a daily basis, mostly to see if we got one of two sets of kitchen gadgets that we registered for, but also to be reminded of all the great things we have too. I'm so excited to move into our apartment in a week and even more excited to have a place to come home that is completely our own. I know it's not going to be some "miracle of life" type deal where I realize everyday how great it is to have our own set of dishes... our own set of towels... our own couches... but man, for a while, I think it's going to be pretty awesome. For 28 years, I've lived with my parents and kept to one room that's all my own. But now I finally get to branch out into other rooms of the house. Hallelujah for that... What's even better is that I'm not just talking about moving out like I may have done in the past. This time it's actually going to happen. Honestly, I've always known that when I finally do move out my house and in with someone else that it was going to be a permanent roommate, i.e. - my husband. Looks like I was right yet again :)

The big moving day is July 24th so if you find yourself with nothing to do on that Saturday morning, feel free to come over and help us move. It'll be awesome :)

Something clever as the title...

It's been too long and I've missed all your smiling faces. It's time for another list.
1. Wedding planning used to be a dream of mine. Now I find that I'm more excited to get to the marriage part of things rather than the wedding. With that being said...
2. I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with Jimmy D.
3. We're going to have cute kids because he was a cute kid. I, on the other hand, was not so lucky. I've been assured that I've grown into a beautiful woman, so there's hope I guess.
4. Our trip out to Oklahoma was a reaffirmation of how much I love North and South Carolina. It may very well kill me if I have to live anywhere else.
5. I can't remember the last time I watched television. It used to be what I scheduled my life around and now I couldn't even begin to tell you what I do with my time instead.
6. I practice writing my new last name to see if I'll be able to do it naturally when the time comes. So far, I can't.
7. My new fake hair is awesome. Thank you, Jessica Simpson. I don't care what anyone says, I think you're brilliant.
8. I think I used to love going to the beach because it meant going on vacation. Now the thought of being sandy and dirty grosses me out. I'd rather just hang out at the swimming pool.
9. I don't get the hype about soccer or the World Cup.
10. I saw Butch Walker for the 3rd time and despite being completely exhausted from a non-stop weekend, it was perfect.
11. I'm trying to be a sweeter person. I'm not sure that it's working, but gosh I'm trying.
12. Rest easy, peanut butter and chocolate are still perfect together.
13. Our apartment is going to be awesome.
14. If there's a disease where you're constantly cold, I'm pretty sure I have it.
15. I can't wait to eat a hot dog on the 4th of July. They always taste better that day.
16. My new obsession is about to be couponing and I'm bound and determined to be really good at it.
17. I usually don't miss people, but I find myself missing my grandpa and dog a lot lately.
18. Don't buy an Infiniti at Lake Norman Infiniti. It was not the luxury experience that it should be. However our G37 is an awesome car it just wasn't sold to us by awesome people.
19. I might learn how to garden which makes me feel really old.
20. I suck at blogging.

Going to the chapel...

Life gets kinda busy when you're planning a new life and a wedding... If you told me 6 months ago that planning a wedding would be this stressful, I would have laughed in your face. I'm not laughing right now. Honestly it hasn't been that bad, but it definitely hasn't been what I ever thought it would be.

For about the last 7 years or so, I've gone about life with stars in my eyes thinking that weddings were surely the greatest things ever imagined. And while I will wholeheartedly agree that marriage is probably the greatest thing ever (or I should say, will be the greatest thing ever...) weddings are a completely different story. There is unimaginable stress that I never thought that I would feel. See, I used to think that a wedding was - in theory - the greatest day of your life. Who wouldn't want to be surrounded by all their family, friends and loved ones, receiving attention, praise and gifts? It's like your birthday on crack. I love my birthday, so why wouldn't a wedding be equally - if not more so - fantastic? But I hang my head low and shake it slowly as I admit that weddings aren't the barrel of monkey's they're made out to be on TV and the movies. First, they're expensive - really, really expensive. Like the kind of expensive that even a big spender like me can hardly conceive of spending more than $5000 for what's supposed to be one of the greatest days of your life. Do you know how many practical things you could buy for $5000? Do you know how many bills can be paid with $5000? Blows my mind... Then there's the whole decision making process. I used to think that I was pretty good at making decisions. I see something, I like it, I buy it. But with wedding planning there are so many choices that your judgment gets clouded and your confidence in your decision making begins to wane... Does it really matter what your engagement ring looks like? Is it vitally important that you have garlic mashed potatoes instead of roasted red potatoes at your reception? Will the earth refuse to spin if that long lost relative that you haven't seen since your grandfather's funeral isn't invited to the festivities? It's enough to drive me insane. I'm going to take this opportunity to admit to one tiny little thing that I've been doing to help me maintain sanity... I've roped my ever so sweet finance into the decision making process to lighten my load. He couldn't care less if we have white tablecloths or orange tablecloths but having him help me make the choice confirms to me that a good decision is being made. A large part of involving him does include the fact that this isn't just my wedding, but just the tiniest little part helps take some of that burden off of me too.

I'm anxious for the day to come and anxious for it to be over... but I guess what's most important to remember amidst all the chaos of the "big day" is that the end result of an eternity with my best friend is worth the stress of it all. And honestly, I can't wait.

Infiniti and Beyond...

I think probably everyone has a dream purchase that they say, "If I win the lottery, then I'm going to buy ________" But how many people ever really get to realize that dream? I'm guessing not many.

But sometimes fortune smiles on people and their dreams are within reach... and within reason.

Saturday, James and I went out to do some preliminary car shopping. We didn't completely have the intention of buying a car, but we wanted to evaluate our options and test the waters on some choices. We had in our mind that we would check out a nice, practical Honda Accord - a good, reliable car that still had visual appeal. However, on our way to the Honda dealership, we thought it'd be fun to stop by the Infiniti dealership just to see what they had available. For most people our age, an Infiniti is not even an option but looking never hurts and I guess sometimes we all like to torture ourselves with the things that we know we can't really have.

As we enter the dealership, we're greeted by two gentlemen who ask us the standard questions: "what are you here for?", "how much would you like to spend?", etc. We really just wanted to see what they had more than actually getting the full details for purchasing, but they always hook you when they ask if you'd like to test drive. Again, a completely harmless thing to do - after all, test driving is NOT purchasing. Mathias was our assigned salesman who told us about a brand new 2010 Infiniti G37 sedan that was just traded in by it's previous owner after only being off the lot for a week. The car only had about 175 miles on it, was fully loaded and best of all, BLACK. Would we really be able to afford this car? Not likely, but we wanted to have a little fun so we took the bait and got in the car for a test drive. Mathias took us to a test driving stretch of road and asked us if we were ready to feel the power of our new car (a little presumptuous on his part, but that's his job...) He floored the car, going 0-60 in about 5 seconds. I kinda thought we were going to die. Then we switched drivers and I was in the driver's seat and Mathias suggested that I try the same thing. While I love to go fast, there is NO WAY I was going to hurtle an unfamiliar car down a narrow road and expect the passengers and driver to all make it out alive.

After taking it out on the highway, we tell Mathias that while it's a great car, we were really interested in a coupe. The only coupe on the lot was a 2003 that had over 60,000 miles - not quite what we had in mind, so we passed. Then we started the debate on whether or not we should really see if the G37 was a feasible purchase for us because the clincher in the whole deal was the car is still considered to be brand new, the week long stint with the previous owner qualified it as a used car which meant that the price would be knocked down quite a bit. Maybe this wouldn't be so far-fetched... We had a monthly payment amount in mind that we wanted to keep it around and if it didn't meet our expectation, then it was fun but not for us. Mathias gives us a "I'll think about it" price quote and a "I'll take it home today" quote. Of course the first set was outrageous and completely out of our price range. But he knew that it would be so the second set was a bit more realistic, but still not what we were hoping for. So the dickering began. We really wanted the car but we also didn't want to give up our first born to be able to afford our dream car. With a little bit more haggling, we were able to get them down to the monthly payment that we were hoping to make but I still wasn't completely convinced that we should do it... We took one more look at the car, I look at James and say, "are you sure?" He's sure. I know I want it. So... we're now the proud owners of a black 2010 Infiniti G37.

By this time, you might be thinking that we're completely crazy. And there's an excellent chance that we are. But there's probably no other time in our life that we'll be able to get our dream car (yes, it was a dream that we both shared and vowed that if we ever won the lottery, we'd both get one...) so why not take advantage of the opportunity that seemed to be meant for us?

Mr Bojangles

On Saturday, December 5th my friend Bo Johnson passed away. I've never had the pleasure of knowing someone quite like Bo. From the first day of meeting him, he was my friend. I had to slowly win him over to become one of his favorites at work (a honor that I shared with Anna) but eventually we formed a mutual admiration for each other. The best thing about Bo was that he always treated everyone like a friend. I love him and his family dearly and was able to take care of their house and dogs while he was away last summer recovering from his double lung transplant. He fought long and hard to beat lung cancer but his spirit couldn't keep his failing body going. Our relationship was based on teasing - whether it was about my Mormon ways or our Duke/Carolina rivalry. There was hardly a time when our exchanges were serious. Not to mention the many times he saved my butt from getting fired for one thing or another. He was a great man who's spirit lives on in his sweet little girl Addi. He and his wife Christi will forever be my heroes because of the grace and courage that they showed while battling lung cancer the last 3 and a half years. I've shed many tears over this loss, but I'm comforted in knowing that a man of his caliber couldn't be anywhere else but with our Heavenly Father.

Raindrops on roses

It's been a while...here are some of my new favorite things:

1. sushi - yes, it was overrated and now it's not... whatever.
2. macbook pro - that's my sweet new laptop
3. vitamin water 10/sobe life water - the pomegranate flavor in either is killer
4. pandora - cause its all the music i love and then some...
5. dove body scrub
6. my nose ring - have you seen it? its so hot...
7. converse all stars - my new navy ones are so bad a...
8. waffle house grits and raisin toast
9. postsecret books and postsecret.com
10. skinny jeans - cause i never thought i could pull them off before and now i love them...

Here it is...

Call me a narcissist, but I think it's hot...

Not quite a tattoo...

So here's the story... I talk a lot about doing things that I probably will never do such as... getting a tattoo, finding a new job, and perhaps even moving out of my parents house. While I really would like to do all of the above, the pieces never have fallen into place for any of those things to happen just yet. I've figured out that I'm the type of person who has to decide what I want and then just do it. So I decided that I wanted to get my nose pierced. I mulled the idea over in my head for a little bit and finally decided that it was a non-permanent solution to my tattoo fascination. I'm realistic enough to know that any real desire I have to get a tattoo is just a phase and I don't want to be stuck with something that I'll regret having when I'm 47. Piercing my nose however, can be taken out at anytime necessary so why not just go for it?

Before I settled upon the idea of getting my nose pierced, I tried to gauge my ears myself, but that didn't work. They would have to be professionally done so we headed to one of Mooresville's finest tattoo and piercing shops to have them take care of it instead. Somewhere between trying to gauge my ears and getting to the tattoo shop, I decided that I didn't want to do the gauge thing, I wanted to pierce my nose. I thought about piercing my cartilage again but decided against it. Decision made - let's do this. I chose a small rhinestone stud as my jewelry, went back to the room where they do the piercing, line up the spot on my nose and let them pierce me with a needle comparable to the size of what they use to give blood. IT HURT LIKE A MOTHER, but once it was done it looked so good that any amount of pain I had to go through was completely worth it. Cringe if you will at the thought of nose piercings, but it was HOT and it looked good.

But now comes the backlash... what are my mom and dad going to say about it? Are they going to be ok with it at my quite corporate job? We get home that afternoon, sitting on the couch talking with my mom and she says "what's that?" I dodged the question, focusing on other things but she wasn't deterred. So I gave in, showed her that it was a real piercing and braced myself for the fall out. At first, she was shocked - in fact, I think she was in total disbelief that her sweet little angel would do such a thing. But then once that wore off, I'm pretty sure she decided that she liked it even though she wasn't completely willing to admit it. Somehow I managed to avoid my dad enough for him to never even notice despite having a face to face conversation with him. Some guys really aren't observant... Now judgement really came on Monday morning when I had to face the powers that be at work. I thought I would be able to make it through the day without any repercussions but unfortunately, that wasn't the case... I got called into the Human Resource office where our director said to me, "tell me that's a stick on..." My silence in return was enough of a confirmation that it was a little bit more permanent than that... Apparently it's office policy that you can't have any piercings other than ears that are visible - a minor detail that I failed to see when I read the employee handbook. I was advised that if I didn't remove the piercing right away that I would have to go home. A little thing like a piercing is no reason to lose a job in this economy, so I quickly obliged. Since the policy states that the piercing can't be visible, it was suggested that I get a clear ring to put in while I'm at work, which would satisfy both sides. However, I didn't anticipate how quickly the hole would close up after taking out the ring, so when I went to the tattoo shop later that evening, they said they wouldn't be able to re-pierce me with a clear ring... and in reality I shouldn't put in a clear ring until I had the piercing for several days. CRAP.

I'm not one to be easily deterred when I want something and I was PISSED that I had to take the thing out to begin with so my next option is to wait until Thanksgiving when I have several days off from work. I can get it re-pierced, wear the stud for the 5 days that I have off and then when I go back to work the following Monday, replace the stud with a clear post that should hopefully keep me in the clear until the piercing heals and I can get away with not wearing any jewelry while I'm at work. I wish I had pictures to put up because it really did look good, but when I get it done again in about a month, I'll definitely show it off then. Everyone that saw it was surprised at how much they liked it - I have to say that it surprised me too how well I pulled it off.

So I bet you never thought you'd see the day when you read a post about me getting my nose pierced, huh?

What I know

• My parents will never let me down and will always be the 2 people I can count on.
• Everyone gets a second chance, even if they might not deserve it. If that second chance doesn't work out, then there aren't anymore chances.
• It is impossible for me to not fight an injustice.
• There is no better feeling in the world than knowing that you've changed someone's life for the better.
• There is no worse feeling in the world than knowing that your efforts weren't enough.
• You should only forgo sleep for one thing: fun.
• I am wrong just as often as I am right.
• Singing at the top of my lungs is a sure remedy to a bad day.
• "Things will get better in time" isn't always true.
• When I find something that makes me happy, I try to not let it go, whether its a person or a thing.

Did you know...?

• I was born in Bluefield, West Virginia. I'm pretty sure I was an accident - my dad says I wasn't, my mom says I was.
• I was almost named Laryn, as in the root of laryngitis...imagine me being speechless...
• I scored the first perfect score on the end of grade test in Kindergarten.
• I have the uncanny ability to mimic the sound of a baby crying.
• I used to lose sleep at night thinking about the end of the world - when I was a kid.
• I gave my first primary talk when I was 3 without the help of any adults.
• I've always wanted to be the kid who chased after the lose tennis balls at Wimbeldon.
• I enjoy giving blood.
• I have intentionally evaded the law, but still got caught.
• I have an addictive personality.
• I've changed the color of my hair in some form or fashion since 7th grade.
• I now own my car, paid it off a year early and paid for every bit of it on my own.
• I only applied to 2 colleges. I didn't get into my first choice of BYU so the decision was easily made when I got into UNCC.
• There are 5 specific days in my life that I would consider to be the best days of my life.
• I'm generally not afraid to try new things.
• I can play the flute, clarinet and piano.
• I am the tallest woman in my family... immediate and extended.
• I've never smoked a cigarette, drank alcohol or done any illegal drug.
• I really don't like to say I love you and will only say it when I mean it. I can probably count on one hand the people who I've said it to - and meant it.
• I tend to break more rules than I follow.