Since when?

Did people start celebrating divorce?

It is very hard to see but this car has 'Just Divorced!' with married between the words and crossed out, on the back windshield. I saw it at school and tried to get closer so I could take a better picture, but didn't have the nerve. I thought it was very sad. :-(

Mike and his girlfriend (hopefully our someday sister-in-law), Ashley, made this awesome picture for my birthday. I had mentioned, ok I asked her, to make one for us when she had time. I had always seen pictures like this that say 'Love', 'Faith', 'Family', etc. and love them. The only problem is that they are pretty pricey. I remembered that Ashley is an amazing photographer (among her many other talents) so I asked her to make us one with our last name. It turned out fantastic! She also printed out the pictures in black and white so we could switch them out if we wanted to. She may custom make and sell them on Fairview Place (which is her online store). You can also check out her blog Stick Baby and the Snail to see some of her amazing work .

We are extremely lucky to have her and her talent in our family!

Lemon Cupcakes

For my birthday this year I had asked for a cupcake frosting kit. Not only did I get a frosting kit, I got a bunch of stuff to make and transport fancy cupcakes.

I was super excited to make my first batch of cupcakes and luckily we celebrated our birthdays this weekend. I asked Ashley, Mike's girlfriend, what his favorite cake and frosting flavors were and she said lemon and cream cheese frosting. Funny thing is that I would have never thought to make lemon cupcakes, but I was up for the challenge. I did some research for recipes and found this recipe http://www.carrottopmom.com/?p=764 . I think they turned out pretty delicious. The frosting was super sweet though so I may have to play with that a little. They sure did look fancy though, didn't they? LOL

Blessed another year

Ok, I need to brag about my honey for a moment. Since I have been dating Randy, I have kept my recipes that I have printed, cut out of magazines, or had pulled off food labels in a big ziploc bag. This was kind of a pain when I actually needed to find some of my favorite recipes in the ziploc bag. This drove Randy (Mr. Organized) nuts anytime I pulled that bag out (which was pretty often). So for my birthday this year, he bought the binder (above), took clear sheets and put the recipes in each sheet, labeled the dividers, and printed out a cute cover. Luckily Eve was in town to help him because it turned out to be a couple hours of work. Isn't he extremely thoughtful? I absolutely love it and it has already made finding recipes MUCH easier.

Eve came into town for Labor Day weekend to visit and spend my birthday with us. We had an amazing time relaxing, drinking wine, catching up on girl talk, going to The Revolt for dinner, going to Virginia Beach to visit the family, and relaxing some more. What an amazing birthday to be able to have my very best friend come visit me. I truly hope that we live in the same state one day. I really miss her, but know that I am so blessed to have a friend like her.

Randy also made my birthday very special. He spoiled me with lots of gifts including the book above. Also, for dinner, Randy had dropped off champagne and an ice cream cake at the restaurant earlier for us to celebrate my birthday. Again, super blessed!

Whose patio is it?

I think she likes the patio too :-)

When I go out to water the plants or to sit outside, she HAS to come out with me.

Too cute!

Lesson Learned

A couple weeks ago Randy came home to another table (project) that I found by the dumpster of our apartment complex. I knew that with a little bit of love and some red mahogany stain that we had leftover from the dresser, this table would be perfect for our patio. What I didn't know was how much work it would be. We spent about a week sanding with our new sander, our battery operated dremel (which would only work for about 5 minutes and would then have to charge for 3 hours), a borrowed plug in dremel, sweat, tears, and a little blood. After a week and a half of our patio being covered with an incomplete table and a lot of sand dust, I decided to finish the darn thing. I said forget the stain and went and bought 2 cans of spray paint. Randy says that it is a little bright, but is so relieved to have it done. I think it fits our colorful patio perfectly! :-)

So the lessons learned are..... never pick up furniture with a lot of detail and plan to stain it. Also, don't put in more work than it is worth. We now know why the table was by the dumpster. Ha Ha

The Revolt is Coming!

Our friends Tim and Lisa are opening a restaurant this month. I have been helping them with some of the details and we are very much looking forward to their grand opening! See link for an article written about the restaurant in The Daily Press: http://www.dailypress.com/news/york-county/dp-tsq-ypq-new-restaurant-0811-20110811,0,4167824.story . Their website is incorrect in the article though, it is www.therevolt.co . You can also find them on Facebook!

We have an artist in the family

So when we spoke of decorating the apartment, Randy requested that we decorate in a Southwestern theme. He wanted me to feel closer to home (very sweet :-)). When my mother-n-law, Deb, found out about our theme, she painted us these paintings. She has recently learned how to paint with water colors. Unfortunately, these pictures DO NOT do these paintings justice. Isn't she amazing!?! I think she found another one of her talents, #1 being her cooking. Yum!

I absolutely LOVE the sky in both.

What a Find!

Found this super cute, hand painted, tin watering can at the

thrift store down the street for only $2. I fell in love with it and had to have it!

Jaclyn and I found these at a thrift shop as well.

The complete set was only $5.80

From Free to Fabulous!

One of our good friends Troy found this dresser sitting on the street in his neighborhood, asked if we would like it, and delivered it. As you can see, it was pretty rough. It had plenty of bugs living in it, lots of stains, and plenty of wear. The actual wood was in pretty good shape so we decided to re-stain it. This was a first for both of us, but knew we could do it. Since it did have so many stains we decided to use a red mahogany which I think turned out beautiful.

Couple of things that we learned on this project:

Someone else's trash can be our spare room dresser :-)

Don't use the wipe on polyurethane, use the spray (much easier and doesn't wipe OFF the stain)

Randy enjoys sanding and I enjoy staining

Sanding is a mess and a pain in the butt!

We love the color Red Mahogany

I can walk to the hardware/paint store and Precious is allowed to go with

We are excited to find more furniture on Craig's List that we can fix up!

First Project

When Jaclyn was here visiting, we went to about 6 thrift stores looking for treasures to decorate our apartment. In the very first thrift store we visited, which is walking distance from our new apartment, we found this beautiful cross. It was only $3 and I could not put it down. The paint was chipping and it did need a little love, but nothing a little sandpaper and paint couldn't take care of. I painted it a brown, hammered, rust color. I think it turned out amazing and it is the first decoration (and only so far) that we have put up!

Next on the project list, re-staining an old dresser that we got for free. :-)

Good Night

Had another relaxing day at the house. Then we started packing and cleaning up so we can leave early in the morning. Our plan is to wake up early tomorrow morning in order to watch the sunrise and then we will head back home. It is bittersweet because I am sad to leave girls week in such a beautiful beach town, but excited to get home to set up our new apartment!

We had an amazing day at the beach yesterday. We went down to Nags Head for a little shopping and a movie. We saw Bridesmaids which was pretty funny. When we got out of the movie, my good friends Tim and Lisa had called to tell me that they were on their way down to Duck for the weekend. They invited us to dinner at a really nice restaurant and we had a great time. It was great to introduce Rachael to them and I think she had a good time as well.

Good Morning!

Rachael woke me up this morning to watch the sunrise at 5:15am. Boy was it worth it! So beautiful that words nor pictures do it justice. The sun was even pink (one of my favorite colors). Afterwards, I made her circle K toast and now I am going back to bed.

First Day at the Beach

So I am down in the Outer Banks for girls week with my good friend Rachael. I came down yesterday just in time for her baby shower (which was beautiful). Unfortunately all the girls had to leave yesterday, but Rachael's mom is staying until tomorrow and I get to stay until Saturday.

Today was a great start for the rest of the week! I was able to sleep in which was nice considering that we had an extremely busy weekend. When I woke up, Rachael had made us blueberry, strawberry, banana, and nutella crepes that were amazing. After breakfast we went down to the beach for a couple hours. The weather could not have been any more perfect!

Then the three of us went down to Corolla for some shopping. I found a rug for our new kitchen. :-) Then after shopping we went to the most wonderful restaurant on the sound and had crab legs. Words can not express how perfect dinner was. Great friends, good conversation, beautiful weather, incredible scenery and yummy food. The only thing missing was my honey.

Really?

This is a sign we encountered at our first pit stop. I let Randy go in first! Ha Ha

J/K It was only so I could take a picture. When he walked out he said, "I knew you

were going to take a picture." The place also charges for ice in addition to your drink. What kind of establishment is this?

Schools Out for Summer!

Yes, I have completed spring semester. I am shocked to say that I got an A for both classes. This is a nice accomplishment for me, especially since my Biology professor told me that it is very difficult to get an A in Biology and to stop being so hard on myself. Well, I proved her wrong and even changed her mind by the end of the semester. She wrote me an email saying, "I’m pleased and not surprised to tell you --- 95 on final, 95 for course! Congrats! I enjoyed having you in class." I am not taking any classes at the college this summer, but I am completing my vet assistant online certificate. I plan to have that completed by the time fall semester begins. In fall I am taking a full load and I am super excited! There is something about being in school that just feels great! Can't explain it, or maybe it is because I do so well. ;-) LOL

Congratulations Heather & Steve!

This past weekend we went to Myrtle Beach, SC for Randy's college buddy, Steve's, wedding. All I can say is, (besides our wedding of course) that was one of the best weddings that we have ever been to. Everything was simple yet elegant. Heather and Steve did an amazing job of making the wedding about them, their family and friends. The church was beautiful, the reception was according to Randy "the most fun wedding that he has ever been to," and it was so nice to see all of Randy's friends from college in such a beautiful location like Myrtle Beach, SC. That is now officially our favorite beach on the east coast.

James Madison University graduates

Happy Birthday Cynthia!!

Today is my sister Cynthia's birthday!

I thank God for my sisters and I have to pinch myself sometimes because I can't believe how lucky I am to have these two beautiful souls as my sisters. They have been with me through good times and bad and have always loved me with an unconditional love that most people dream about. We love you Cynthia and wish you an amazing birthday!

Picture is from November 2002

Precious turns 4!!

Today, our little Precious turned 4 years old (28 in dog years). She is almost as old

as Randy now. :-) For her birthday we always get her a frozen yogurt or Frosty Paw.

This year when I lit the candles she ran away and wouldn't come back until we

blew out the candles. It was hilarious!

We sang happy birthday, blew out the candles, pulled out the candles and.....

She was OFF and licking!

Of course, she got a gift which she unwraps all by herself.

Seriously, she unwraps her presents with her mouth and is careful not

to eat the gift wrapping. Yes, that is xmas wrapping paper. :-)

It only took her about 15 minutes with her new zebra until she ripped it

and we had to take it away. Another $7 down the drain on a toy. Ha Ha