Renting & living

I want to buy a house.

I'm not discontent where I am. I actually really love the townhouse that we're currently renting. I love our brick patio. I love being right around the corner from the grocery store. I love walking and running through the neighborhood. But sometimes I really just want it to be ours. I want to fix the chandelier that's located in a very awkward place in the dining room because we keep bumping our heads on it (not to mention it's u-g-l-y). I want to paint all the walls. I want to add a screen door in the kitchen so we don't have to shut the big one every time we go in or out for fear that bugs will get inside (they always do anyway) and so that I can talk to Michael while he's grilling. I want to paint all the trim and molding bright white because some of it is white and some of it is off-white and it's really bothering me. I want to strip the wallpaper in the kitchen and paint the walls and add a pretty tiled backsplash.

I know these things cost money. And we probably wouldn't be able to do them all if we owned the place, because of some little things called budget and saving for the future. But it sure would be nice to have the option. To save a for a project and do it ourselves and be proud of our accomplishments.

I know that since we don't know where we'll be in the next few years, it's probably best to keep our options open until we have more solid jobs that we love and can count on staying in for more than a couple years. I don't know if this piece of the world is our forever place. We need to be a bit more sure about that first.

I also know that we are blessed for this to even be something that's an option in our future. I know some people can barely cover their bills or have a lot of debt and buying may not be an option for them ever. I know that the place we currently live in is comfortable and nice and bigger than we really need. We are blessed for certain.

Camping in a cloud

A Wedding in Maryland

We have had quite a few weddings to attend this year. This one was probably the most unique wedding I had been to, mainly because of the people involved. One of my good friends from college fell in love with a British boy, and they have dated transcontinentally for the past 3 years, to finally get married this past weekend. I was honored to be asked to do a reading in the wedding ceremony, so I got to participate in all of the weekend festivities. It was such a blast meeting all of the groom's British family members and friends! I think I pictured them being a bit stand-offish because everyone always says that Americans are so much nicer and friendlier than Europeans. But honestly, these people were some of the nicest people I've ever met. It was also a wonderful treat to hear them speak - loved their accents. They were so sweet and fun to get to know, and I'm so glad that my friend is so blessed to marry into such a wonderful family. She is moving to England after they sort through all of the legal red tape (which unfortunately may take a few months), and it is going to be weird not having her in the same country. As I've written about before, my college friends and I try to get together a couple times a year, and even though we are all spread out in different areas, we have been able to keep up that tradition for the past 3 years. It is going to be different not having Sarah be a part of those get togethers. But it is so nice knowing that she will be taken care of by her husband and his family. All I can say is I cannot wait to visit her in England!

July 4th at the beach

This past weekend was wonderful. Although we had to work on Friday, we made the best of it and took a day trip to the beach at Topsail Island with friends for the 4th of July. It only took a couple hours to get there and it was totally worth it! We brought coolers full of drinks and snacks, set up cornhole and our beach chairs, and parked it on the beach for a solid 5 hours. We had so much fun! After several days of rain, the weather was perfect - it was comfortable sitting on the beach but hot enough to still want to get in the water. A seafood restaurant on the sound called our names for dinner before getting on the road to drive home. We did not see fireworks as we were driving while they were happening, but going to the beach on the 4th of July is something I could get used to. It just felt right. Work on Friday went by really fast, and then it was the weekend again! We got to relax, go to dinner together, grill out at home, watch Indentity Theft at our friends' house, and get things done at home like laundry, vacuuming, and a fun project that I will share soon. While I didn't exactly have a long weekend, it sure felt like one. I'm just really glad it's summer and I wish this season lasted longer!

Instagram Snapshots :: Spring 2013

1. A weekend away in Asheville. Michael had a conference so I tagged along! We hiked, toured the Grove Park Inn where the conference was, spent time in downtown Asheville, and had the best pizza of my life.

2. New summer bedspread! Our room tends to get really hot in the summer, so I swapped out our down comforter for this lightweight quilt I found on online. Of course that meant I needed new sheets as well. I love the fresh, white look and it's nice to have something different after almost 3 years of using the darker blue duvet gifted to us for our wedding.

3. We love when college friends get married, because that means it's always a reunion! It was so fun to see some good friends who I hadn't seen in a while, especially the one who recently had a baby!

4. This is actually from when my sisters came to visit in February. So ridiculous.

5. One of our gorgeous spring days here in NC! I hate having to work during weather like this.

6. We went camping in Tennessee and even though the weather was terrible we had a blast. It was pouring on the second night, so we opted to stay in a hotel that night, but it was still a lot of fun! We treated ourselves to crepes in Asheville on our way home. Mmm!

7. Trying to get fit for summer! This has been an ongoing process since January, but with the recent weather and the purchase of new running shoes it has been much easier to want to get outside and be active!

8. Some snapshots from our vacation to Palmetto Bluff in South Carolina. That place was heaven, I tell you! Read the recap here.

9. I took the plunge and threw my first surprise party ever for Michael's 27th. He may or may not have had a few clues, but overall the party was a huge success and we had so much fun with our friends who came to celebrate with us!

10. This is the best roasted veggie combo I've made, I think ever. Broccoli, cauliflower, and cherry tomatoes! It also helped that I used regular olive oil instead of extra virgin. See why in this post by Chris Loves Julia.

11. We had a family wedding to go to in Charlotte last weekend, so my whole family got to go out on my in-laws' boat on Lake Norman for the afternoon on Sunday. It was a perfect day. I am so sore from wakeboarding, but I am really amazed that I could still do it!

12. We sorted through all of my late grandpa's old pocket knives with my dad's family. He had quite the collection and it was neat to see all the different places he had collected them from.

13. Spending time with my mom and sisters cooking a Memorial Day feast was exactly how I wanted to end my 3-day weekend. So much fun to be with them & all of my dad's family!

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Wedding weekend!

I have known Blythe since we were 10. We met on the summer swim team and our friendship took off from there. We used to go play at each other's house all the time, but probably most of my younger memories are with her at the pool. Blythe's dad was in the military, so she moved away to Pennsylvania for our middle school years, but then she thankfully moved back for our junior year of high school! We picked right back up where we left off. From there we had homecoming dances, high school football games, weekend hang outs, prom, birthday celebrations, weekend visits to each other's colleges, and of course many, many sleepovers! We even worked at a driving range together during our summer and winter breaks (which conveniently was where she met her now husband!).

Blythe was in my wedding two and a half years ago, and this past weekend I had the honor to be in hers. Their fairy tale wedding was at a gorgeous church in Georgetown and the reception was at the Omni Shoreham (where Frank Sinatra has sang and where they host the inaugural balls, NO BIG DEAL). The whole weekend was fantastic and I'm so happy for her and Joe! Sadly she is now halfway across the country with her husband in their new home, but I know there will be visits soon, I just know it! Congrats Blythe & Joe! I love you, friend!

Photos by Katelyn James Photography

Restfully busy

This weekend was a busy one! Friday night we visited with family in town (and got to love on our adorable niece and nephews). Saturday morning we got up early and made the trek up to Charlottesville with friends for some apple picking! We were nervous about the potential hurricane weather, but it ended up being fantastic. We drove 3 hours up there for just one day, but it was amazing and I'm so glad we did! We picked apples, sipped on cider slushies and wolfed down apple cider donuts, toured the downtown and drove through the pretty campus of UVA. We ended the day with a satisfying dinner at a local brewery before heading home.

It was a wonderful and full weekend, but busy.  I only had a few short hours to myself, that were divided between Sunday afternoon and late Sunday evening. While I could have spent that time indulging myself in my latest read, because "I deserved it," I decided to tend to mundane chores around the house. And it was surprisingly... fulfilling. After cleaning up the disaster of my bedroom, running a few loads of laundry, cleaning the kitchen, making coffee for the morning, and packing Monday's lunch, I didn't feel exhausted. I instead felt so satisfied and even rested and ready for the week. All I was wishing for was some time to relax, but that wasn't what I needed. I'm glad my subconscious knew better. I went to sleep last night feeling exhausted from a good weekend, but relaxed and prepared for the week ahead!

And that's very important, because we've got apple pie to bake.

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How was your weekend??

Lately

So lately I've been weaning myself off the internet a little bit. I love to blog, but sometimes it's nice to just sit back and enjoy life and not feel like I have to turn it into a blogpost. Don't worry - I've kept up with all of your blogs! I couldn't give that up. But I've just recently been having the desire to simply spend time with people instead of spending those couple hours conjuring up a new post for the next day. And it's been so nice.

Some things I've been up to lately?

freshening up my home for spring

family time over Easter weekend

exercising outside

rooftop restaurants & home cooked meals with friends

casual date nights with the hubs, involving Mexican food and How I Met Your Mother

filing our taxes

(not fun, but it had to be done. actually this was mostly Michael,

but I did add in all FIVE of my forms from the various jobs I had in 2011!)

using a Groupon to get my nails did.

I tried the gel polish for the first time - it's been 3 days and has yet to chip!

pretty awesome

What have you been up to lately?

Weekend with my girls

Yesterday I tearfully drove home from an amazing weekend with my bestest college friends. It's kind of funny that the most central place for all of us to meet is the home of our glory days: Blacksburg, VA. I was excited to see them, but spending time with them was way more fun than I anticipated. We stayed in a cabin at Mountain Lake (where they filmed the movie Dirty Dancing) and it rained most of the weekend, but that didn't matter. We talked about everything under the sun, and under the moon, too. We laughed, drank wine, hiked a mountain, ate great food, talked about our recent life discoveries, and laughed some more. It was so refreshing to spend time with those girls, and I am so thankful for each and every one of them. I dearly cherish the moments when we can all be together - our time is so much more precious now than it was in college. I'm already looking forward to our next trip! Here are a few snippets of the weekend.

breakfast in our cabin

dinner at Boudreaux's on Main Street

one of the great things about Blacksburg - cheap gas and cheap drinks

Gillie's Special - my most favorite brunch in the world!

My birthday

Well I never shared with you what happened over my birthday weekend. To sum up, it was a blast! 23 was a great one, but I think 24 is a strong contestant for #1 birthday. Here are some photos from the weekend that involved:

road trip to the beach with friends

sunny skies and high 60s

funfetti cake and margaritas

guys and girls cars (you know, for the good talk)

the first and probably only snowfall of the season

waking up on my day off to breakfast in bed

a birthday shopping spree, complete with a pedicure

gifted tickets to see Wicked in May!

(No that is not a HotPocket, for all of you who thought it was! It was a homemade omelette :)

One year since

Going on a run around a suburban neighborhood at 10 o'clock on a Wednesday evening is actually very quiet and peaceful. Doing the same in a college town is a whole different story. I probably haven't even gone on a run at that time of day since college. It got me thinking, reminiscing the years at my alma mater. It has been over a year since graduation, and so much has changed! As I pondered and jogged (probably succeeding more at the former than at the latter), I concluded that a single word can sum up my college experience: Adventure. I think that was the most exciting thing about graduating high school, and knowing that I was leaving for a place I had never been before. It was the thrill of the possibilities: the friends to be made, the places to visit, the silly adventures that students find themselves getting into on a weekly basis. The options were endless; our time unlimited. And it all got to take place within the buffer between us and the real world, where our parents were still paying the bills while we got to call the shots.

As graduation came and went, I felt like my adventurous days were over. Now, looking back and really seeing the full picture, I see that college is defined by adventure not because it equals it, but because it marks the start of it. It is the first time in our lives where we get to (or have to) decide what we are going to do with our time, what we are going to invest in, and what paths we are going to follow or create. I realize now that this was only preparation for what real life is like. We are doing the same things, only on a bigger scale and a bigger map. I feel like all of my close friends are scattered across the country, across the world, doing what they love or searching for it. It makes me sad, and at the same time excited. I miss my friends very much. There is something about about the bond that forms with people who surround you once you've left your parents and your childhood home. We had such a community, and the fact that it was founded in Christ made it that much stronger. Going our separate ways after college did not sever our bond, but the bond was still stretched, and sometimes it hurts. Even still, I am so excited to see who everyone is going to become, and what they are going to accomplish. So much has happened in the past year, as we are figuring out where we should go and what we should do. Much has been learned about life already, yet there are so many more lessons!

I have probably brought upon way too much nostalgia for one night. But as you are looking back to your college days (or your defining years of becoming an adult), say a prayer for those who you love and miss. I wouldn't be the same without the influence of my fellow Hokies. Please know that I miss you and think of you often.

 

2011 beginnings.

So it's finally 2011! I shouldn't say finally... 2010 actually flew by. Really. It's fun and weird to sit back and reflect on the past year and all that's changed in my life in just ONE YEAR. A year ago I was bumming on the couch for my month-long Christmas break during college. I started up classes again in January, where I juggled school, a part-time job, wedding planning, and hanging with friends in our last year together, then graduated in May (yay!). Moved home for about a month. Got married in July (BIGGER YAY!). Honeymooned in Punta Cana... moved to North Carolina... had to get used to my husband working 2nd shift (4pm to 1am - absolutely awful for a newlywed in a new town with no friends yet)... then got used to him working day shift... found an AMAZING church and got involved in a great small group... finally got a job as a teller at a bank... discovered I hated my job in the midst of getting used to a 40 hour work week... where now I only slightly dislike my job as a teller. I also spent my first holiday season as a married woman, which was a whirlwind in itself. I'd say it's been the year of "firsts." Many things in my life have turned completely upside down and I would say most have been for the better. If not, they have taught me, and I can say I am thankful for that. It really has been a great year, and I'm looking forward to the next!

We got to bring in the New Year with our good friends Catelyn & Bryan :) Fun times!

side note: as they also got married in July of 2010, they pointed out that now we have to tell people we got married last year. crazy!