Monday, May 21, 2012

One Year Anniversary

Can you believe it?!  It's been a whole year since we said "I do."  I think everyone says this, but I'm going to say it too:  it does not seem like it's been a year!  Time flies by so fast.  It really feels like it was only a few months ago that I was worrying over cupcakes, and chairs, and hairdos, and tablecloths, and flowers, and, and, and... I could go on and on.  So many decisions and so much effort and stress go into making a wedding happen, and then it's over, and before you know it you're thawing out the top of your wedding cake and saying "Happy Anniversary" to the person you've been sleeping next to for the past 365 nights!  Which just goes to show that it's not about all the hoopla of the wedding ceremony.  So many times on our wedding day I heard, "No matter what happens, you'll still say I do." Now, all you other brides know, at the time I was thinking that everything better turn out right and we'll say I do.  :)  But in hindsight, those words were so true, because that's really the only important factor of the day.

Remember these moments?






Happy Anniversary to us!
More to come of how we celebrated!

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Dining Out


Just trying out some local restaurants - delicious sushi @ Stix. 

Settling

I know you all are just dying to know how our move went. ;)
If you've ever moved before, you know that just the process in general is a bit stressful.  Ours seemed to be off to a rocky start, and I was beginning to get down about it.  As you know, the actual move had a bump in the road with the flat tire, which set us a little behind schedule.  We had to rush to make it to the apartment's office before closing to get the key to be able to unload our stuff and move in, then Wes and I were racing the clock to make it to the warehouse on time to pick up our mattress so we would have a place to sleep!  Thankfully we made both deadlines, but since we had had to rush my whole scheme of labeling and organizing our boxes was out the window, so everything was everywhere, and it took a little while to get our belongings in the right places. The morning after moving in, we woke up to a very sick Maggie (our Jack Russell terrier).  I won't go into the gruesome details here, but it was serious enough for us to rush to the nearest vet for treatment where it was determined that she had pancreatitis.  She spent a couple of days at the vet until she was re-hydrated and could keep down food.  When we came back to the apartment after the first vet visit, Gene had determined that our "new-to-us" washing machine was missing parts, so no laundry for several days.  Then, to top things off, I picked up a screw in one of my tires on my car, which couldn't be patched.  Since replacements for all my tires were in my near future anyway, we decided to go ahead and replace them all since we found out Toyota was offering a buy 3 get the 4th free deal.  Then at the end of the day, the service man called us back to inform me that the deal was only for Toyota vehicles, so we would have to purchase all 4 tires.  Also, neither of our phones can pick up cell phone service at our apartment for some reason.  We figured in Birmingham of all places, service would be prevalent, but apparently we live in the one spot where it's not.  We were missing phone calls from our parents, the vet, various delivery people,.... not good.

Boo, hoo, hoo, right?  In hindsight, these things are not such a big deal, but when they were piled on top of current stress, it seemed like nothing was working out for us.  BUT, things turned around and started looking up!  Maggie got to come home and her symptoms ceased; she started acting more like herself, so we knew she was feeling better.
We had parts ordered for our washing machine, and they arrived quickly.  I've never been so happy for my day to look like this:
(after already washing two loads)
And Saturday morning I woke up to two messages on my phone:  1) Toyota service man telling me that he was misinformed and that he could honor the tire deal on my Hyundai. 2) My car was ready for pickup with 4 new tires!
And, thanks to Jesse's extremely tech-savvy brother, Matt, we can now connect our phones to our WiFi while at our apartment and talk all day long if we choose! 

I think God just wanted to remind me that I am not the one in control, but He is.  And I'm so glad, because obviously I can't keep it all together by myself! :)

And while all of this was wrapping up, we had our first visitors!
Matt, Heidi, and her sister Kayla
Kayla also lives in Birmingham, so they have two good reasons to visit!  We had a great time with them!  I got away from the moving madness and had some good girl time shopping, while Matt helped Jesse pick up and move in our new living room furniture! (More photos of our place are coming soon!)

All visitors are welcome, especially through the summer.  (I won't make any promises of being a good hostess once school starts!)  So, come and see us; we would love to have you!

Monday, May 14, 2012

Introducing an AU Alum

Hello again, world!
Sorry for the delay in posting, but moving turned out to be a little more hectic than I anticipated.
Let's rewind a little bit and celebrate the fact that my wonderful husband is officially an Auburn graduate!  He finished his degree in Chemical Engineering earlier this month, and we are SO proud of him! He is so glad to be finished, but now the real world awaits!

In front of Ross Hall - Chemical Engineering building.

(Thanks to Matt for the awesome graduation photos!)

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Moving Day


It's here! The day has arrived for us to pack up and move to Birmingham! We spent most of the weekend boxing things up then loading them this morning. Thankfully we have wonderful parents who are willing to help! We've loaded all of our vehicles to their gills and started our journey. Unfortunately I'm posting this from the side of I-65. I'm the leader car and one of the trucks in our entourage had a blow out, and I left them a bit behind. Thankfully all are unharmed but now I'm waiting for a call to head onward. Hopefully all goes smoothly from here! We'll keep you all posted!

Monday, May 7, 2012

My Last Day


This morning I did not get up to go to work, which feels a little odd.  This past Friday was my last day of work at Whatley Eye Care!  It was bittersweet leaving, even though we've known it was coming since the beginning. We had some great times together, most of which probably can't be repeated due to patient confidentiality.  Thankfully it was filled with lots of laughter, because if you don't laugh at the public (and yourself sometimes), insanity could set in.
Through the few years that I worked there, many changes took place.  The office grew- literally expanding to twice it's size with the addition of a new doctor.  New equipment was added (hallelujah!). Families grew as new babies were born.  (I think one of the things I'll miss the most is hearing about the kids' accomplishments... from potty training to graduating pre-school to highschool girlfriend drama! Even though I'm not yet a mother, it's fun to hear of them learning and watching them grow up!)  
I learned so much along the way while working there.  I started in the frame room helping patients select a pair of glasses and wound up learning a little of everything.  And getting to know the workings of an office and what great people you need to have on staff to keep things running smoothly is priceless knowledge for my future!
I will miss my little work family so much!  Our goodbye on Friday didn't feel very final,.. more so like a 'see ya later'.  And since I plan to keep in touch, it really is like a 'see ya later', just later than a usual 'see ya later' later. :)
Thanks to Dr. Whatley, Dr. Rhyne, Heather, Dana, Joy, and Lance for giving me such a great work experience (and some life lessons along the way)!

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Done

Guess whose last day of school it is today?!!!!

Jesse is taking his final two finals today and then he is done, done, done!
Wooooohooooo!