August 8, 2007

It's hot. I haven't seen NC this hot for this long in a while. Jamie's about to die. After day 7 of 90+ degrees, I'm about to die too. Everybody is walking around wilted and without energy, just like the poor flowers. Jamie waters ours every day because within just 24 they start looking puny.

Check out our photo album! Our upstairs bathroom and our bedroom are finally picture worthy. I found pictures to go in the bathroom and we finally bought matching bedside (Walmart, just $35 each!) tables for the bedroom. So the bedroom looks mostly finished now. I'd still like to find another picture or two to go in the corner over the chair on Jamie's side of the bed. I'm not a huge fan of plain undecorated walls.

Our bedroom colors right now are very...unique. The curtains are dark navy blue, perfect for blocking out the sun. The little runner rugs beside the bed are sky blue. The comforter on the bed is tan and the sheets are orange. One set of pillowcases (we have four pillows to sleep with) are deep dark red. The cushion in the yellow whicker chair is blue and the the throw pillow is orange. It's a strange color combo, but not all together unpleasant. Some of the furniture is black (the platform bed, the bedside tables, the trunk, and the tv stand) and some of the furniture is wood colored (the dresser and the bookcase).

Tomato update: Added more dirt to the pot and the plant sprung back to life! I now have more little yellow flowers and more little green knobs slowly growing towards red, juicy ripeness. Now, let's just hope the squirrels and chipmunks stay away from my tasties!

July 25, 2007

Last week we spent a lot of time on the road between here and Bethlehem, PA in a Pontiac Vibe (nice little vehicle). It was a working vacation of sorts, perhaps even a working honeymoon. I was sent to Bethlehem by my boss to straighten out the office up there after our assistant director retired. She knew that with my OCD tendencies, I'd have the office neat and orderly in no time. I even got to do one of my favorite things of all time -- buy new office supplies! Our assistant director didn't have much of anything in the way of basic office supplies.

I uploaded some pictures to our Flickr account -- the office after I finished organizing it and our time at the New Market Battlefield in the Shenandoah Valley. We stopped at a local zoo in near Natural Bridge, VA on the way to Bethlehem, but we left the camera in the car. Dumb us. The zoo was MUCH fun. We got to pet camels and goats and llamas, and we came up close and personal with giraffes! Sadly, we didn't buy any food for the animals. There were lots of different animals (kookaburas, zebras, big camels, baby camels, bears, tigers, mountain lions, exotic birds, alligators, little deer, monkeys, etc). Most of the animals were in big cages or big fenced areas so you could get up relatively close to see them. We can't wait to go to the NC zoo now!

We spent four days on the road (4 hours each on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday) and only one day (Wednesday) not traveling. We both agreed that it really wasn't worth all the driving to be somewhere for just one day. Since work was paying for it though, it was nice to be out and about together.

We got back home on Friday afternoon, and on Saturday afternoon my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows arrived! HOORAH! I read it all by mid-afternoon on Sunday. I won't spoil the ending but I was very sad by the deaths of several characters.

This weekend we're going to my mom's to see my family from Oklahoma. Jamie's not too thrilled about the 3 hours there and the 3 hours back riding in the car after all the riding we just did last week. But I'd be disinherited by my dear uncle Duck (his name's Don, but he called himself Don Duck when he was younger because people asked him if he was Donald Duck) who wants to size up my new husband. Hehe.

Tomato Update: My little tomato finally ripened and I ate it. It was very good. However, his brothers and sisters did not survive. Two of them suffered a broken branch and died on the vine. Another fell off prematurely (probably helped by a furry critter) and a third was being happily eaten by a chipmunk the day we left for Bethlehem. Now I just have a tomato plant....just leaves and stems, no tomatoes. Sigh!

June 27, 2007

It took us two more trips to Target to finally spend the rest of our gift card money. After the first trip we still had about $180 left to spend. On the first of two trips this past weekend we bought: an iron leafy wall sconce to go over the head of our bed, orange tea lights to go in the sconce's seven little candle holders, a frame for a really cool watercolor landscape I found to go in our bathroom, a flour sifter, a pair of tongs, a basting brush, and new handsoap pumps for the bathrooms. On the second trip, we bought two more frames for two more watercolor landscapes to go in the bathroom, a nifty soft sided cooler that will fit behind a car seat, a small duffle bag to use as a toiletry bag on trips, and stuff to make chocolate chip cookies.

We also spent our Linens n' Things gift card (just got another one on Saturday) : big round spatula for using in the new electric skillet, a nifty pizza cutter, a cooling rack for baked stuff, a 7" Santok knife by Farberware, and an orange pillow to go in the wicker chair in our room.

We spent the Walmart gift card mostly on groceries, but also bought some new shirts for Jamie, a new shirt for me, and a new cedar birdfeeder that will hopefully last longer against the squirrels than the plastic one we had. The squirrels completely chewed through most of the old plastic feeder. We got $50 Walmart card this weekend. There's not really much else we want (that we can actually buy cheaply at Walmart), so we'll probably put it towards groceries too.

The new crockpot and electric skillet have already been put to the test. Both work fabulously. I used the skillet to brown up 6 pounds of hamburger at once and then we made chili (using some of that hamburger) in the crockpot. YAY!

We also splurged and bought Jamie a new espresso machine from Starbucks. His old Krups machine died in route to NC for the second time (he had shipped it back to WA the day before he was supposed to fly back in January, so we had to ship it back to NC when we flew out to WA a few weeks later). He's had to go since January without a machine, and making several trips to Starbucks for a $4 mocha every week is kinda expensive especially since I usually get something too and the bill is closer to $8 or $10.

By luck, I got some free tickets to the zoo. We've been wanting to go for a long time and now we have no excuse not to go. I hope we can go this weekend, but the weather forecast isn't looking very promising for an outdoor activity. We'll make a decision Saturday morning. Luckily the zoo is only about an hour away!

June 17, 2007

June 17, 2007

Last Sunday we celebrated our wedding reception with the folks back in my hometown. My mom, the ladies of her church, and my grandparents threw us a nice little party. We had about 40 guests, and even my friend Shelly came!

We had cake, peanuts, veggies and dip, crackers and a cheeseball, cheese cubes, M&Ms, little pickles and olives, mini ham and cheese sandwiches, sausage balls, mints, and punch.

And, we got a ton of STUFF! We got:

Lots of kitchen stuff -- gadgets, spoons, baking pans, dish towels, casserole dishes, drinking glasses, tupperware, tablecloth, placemats, roasting pan, trash can, dish detergent, cleaning cloths, colander, cutting board, apron

Two lamps and shades

Two matching vases

An answering machine

$160 in cash

$65 in Walmart Cards

$380 in Target Cards

Plus we got a few checks before and after the party, and a few other gift cards beforehand too. Plus Mom framed a picture of us on our wedding day at the courthouse, a copy of our reception invitation, and a photo of us in our nice party clothes. We're going to hang those in our bedroom.

The party and hanging out with my folks was great, except that I had pulled something in my lower back on Friday afternoon before the party on Sunday and was in a LOT of pain all weekend. The backache took all week to finally ease off. Today isn't so bad.

Yesterday we braved the rain and thunderstorms to spend our $50 Belk's gift card and some of our Target money. Our "booty" from yesterday included:

A crystal egg tray, a 4 cup slanted measuring cup, a big spoon and slotted spoon, a whisk, and a manual can opener from Belks; and 2 pillows, a 300ct sheet set in orange, 2 250ct pillowcases in red, a silicone baking mat, a 40" fan, a 4qt crock pot, a 16" electric skillet, and a fire safe box from Target.

And we STILL have money to burn at Target. I think we've got all the kitchen stuff we have room for at the moment, so we might spend the rest of the gift cards on clothes for Jamie.

I hope to have pictures soon. Mom's going to burn them to a CD if Mema's computer will be nice and let them. We took "wedding" photos in Mema's yard on Saturday. Luckily, we took them before my back had me crying in pain.

Oohh, for the record, we went to IHOP for our one month anniversary and partook in delicious (though horribly bad for us) country fried steak. Jamie got the steak and eggs plate with pancakes and hasbrowns, and I got the regular dinner plate with a salad, mashed potatoes and onion rings. Mmmm so good!

June 4, 2007

Today is our one month anniversary! Not sure what the appropriate gift for a one month anniversary is. Since the traditional gift for a one year anniversary is paper, the gift for one month must be a smooch or a e-card.

We're trying to figure out what to do for dinner. Since it is a sorta special day, I don't think leftovers will do the evening justice.

Our wedding reception is this weekend at my mom's church. All of the church ladies are super-excited and very eager to help out in anyway. I'm so glad other people are handling all the preparations. I love event planning, but it is very nice to just sit back and let others do the work. Hey, what can I say? I'm a tad lazy. (Ok, more than a tad!) I'll post pictures ASAP.

I watched some episodes of Bridezillas this weekend. Jamie and I wonder if any of those couples are actually still married to each other. With the way some of those brides acted, it's a wonder they had any friends left after the ceremony. I definitely was NOT a bridezilla. My only demands for the reception were: must have cake, punch, peanuts, mints, and a veggie tray. Of course there will be more than that, but that was the bare minimum I wanted. Luckily, one of mom's church ladies has offered to make one of my all-time favorite munchies -- little ham and cheese sandwiches. YUM!

Jamie is having a bit of trouble getting used to the weather in NC. About the time he gets used to the hot and humid, the weather turns chilly. We had about an inch of much needed rain yesterday. It rained all day long. A nice slow and steady rain. Sadly, it wasn't enough to put much of a dent in the drought. At least it was a little help though. Flowers always do better with a bit of rain. The tomato is bigger, but it's still the only one. Hopefully more will come soon!

May 29, 2007

Man is it hot. For the past few days we've had 80+ degree temperatures with little breeze and absolutely no rain.

Over Memorial Day weekend we contributed to the $139.8 million that Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End took in. It was a really good movie. Pirate movies are really good in the theater what with all the action and swashbuckling and Arrrrr! Very few people stayed all the way through the credits to see the easter egg scene at the end. I wondered if they'd seen the ending scenes in the previous two movies. Eh. Their loss.

We also scoped out a nearby park. It was blazingly hot but a nice walk since it seemed to be one of the few places around here that's actually pretty level. Halfway back to the car I realized I was supposed to be at a rehearsal (honestly, who schedules a rehearsal for a holiday afternoon?!). But luckily, I remembered it just in time and we ended up being at rehearsal 30 minutes before I needed to be on stage. The rehearsal is the Academy's choir concert this Friday. I'm playing in a quartet, which is accompanying the singers for Vivaldi's Beatus Vir. I have no idea what Beatus Vir means, but the piece is pretty easy and very Vivaldi-sque. I like Vivaldi. He's very Baroque, and the earlier the music is (history-wise) the more I like it!

Above is a photo of our very little baby tomato. Isn't it cute! I can't wait for it to grow up all big and strong. And, JUICY! I think I'll have it on a BELT...or maybe a BELT with cheese. (That's bacon, egg, lettuce, and tomato!). Nummy!

May 15, 2007

We celebrated our one week anniversary on Friday with a trip to our favorite Mexican restaurant, which happens to be only about 100 yards away. Unfortunately we didn't walk to dinner because the sky was very rumbly and we didn't want to get rained on....even though it never did rain. Then we headed to Costco to cash-in our gift membership (Thanks Nana J!).

We enjoyed our first weekend together as a married couple, and didn't do much besides play video games, watch the race at Darlington, watch movies, and just be lazy. It was perfect! We're hoping to be lazy again this weekend.

I told Jamie the other day that no matter what we're doing, even if he is on the computer and I'm in the living room watching tv or playing a video game, I'm never bored with him around. One of my favorite things to do is to watch him play games either on one of the game consoles or on the computer. My absolute favorite game to watch (and one of my favorites to play) is Age of Empires 3. Soooo fun!

We officially have two chipmunks. Soon after we'd moved in, we saw a chunky little chipmunk. Then just a few days ago we noticed the chipmunk looked tiny. We finally saw both of them out at the same time this afternoon. They're so cute!!! I've discovered a new past time---laying on the floor by the back door and watching the birds, squirrels (we usually have 3), and the chipmunks. So much fun!

I'm going to start archiving old posts on the front page of our website to our blog. I'll keep the three most recent posts on this page, and the rest will go to the blog. You can click on the link to the left to get to our blog. I may occasionally still post to my Yahoo 360 blog, but most of my random writings will be here.