Another year older

This post is also two months old. Just know I am working hard to get everything updated. It is just taking longer than I wanted it to.

On April 20th my brother, Stan and I celebrated our birthday. Stan and I have never missed being together on our birthday and this year was no exception. Last year Justin and I went and visited Stan in Waco, TX. You can read about that trip here. This year he was able to come here so we could celebrate. He and his girlfriend drove in late Tuesday night before our birthday.

Justin woke me up that morning with two gifts - one an Anthropologie gift card and the other the Michael Jackson Experience Dance game. Justin had to go to work so Stan, his girlfriend and I leisurely got ready played a few rounds of my new game and then met Justin in Jackson for lunch. Stan let me pick the place we would eat lunch and I chose my favorite place, Bon Ami. We spent the rest of the day shopping around and playing the Michael Jackson Experience Dance game. I LOVE it!! That night we cooked dinner and ate at home and Justin went to Newk's and got two pieces of Strawberry cake. It was a great day!

That weekend just so happened to be Easter so Stan and his girlfriend went to my parents the day after our birthday and Justin and I joined them that weekend. We really didn't do much at my parents house just played outside and relaxed.

On Sunday everyone came to my house for Easter lunch. I love having people over and it was fun cook dinner for my family. The sad part was that Stan and his girlfriend left. All in all it was a great birthday week/weekend.

These eggs were dyed by the college students from our college small group. I think they did a great job and they had fun doing it too.

followell|fotography

On Monday April 18th, (I know that was two months ago) I started a new job at followell|fotography. I was not necessarily looking to leave MC, but there are times when the Lord just drops an opportunity into your lap and very clearly opens a door, and this seemed to be one of those times. I loved working at MC mainly because it gave me the opportunity to get to know a lot of college students, and the webmaster (who worked just down the hall from me) is pretty hot, but there were a lot of times when it was rather difficult as well.

When the opportunity to work at followell|fotography was presented to me, I knew it was from the Lord. Those of you who know Robby know that he is an amazing photographer. We have been grateful recipients of a few photo sessions with Robby - our favorite being a shoot in New York City. Check out those images here and here. Not many people can say they LOVE their job but since I have been working at followell|fotography, those words have come out of my mouth many times. Who would not love talking about weddings and seeing beautiful pictures all day?

Shortly after getting the job, Justin told me he was jealous of my job for three reasons: 1. I get to work with cool people, 2. I get to work in a really cool environment, and 3. I get to wear jeans to work. I'd have to agree with him that those reasons are definitely close to the top of my "Reasons I Love My Job" list. I really do love my job and I am so grateful that I get to work there.

This is a iPhone pic of the studio. (Yes, I do have a chair...we were just temporarily using it for something else!)

I am such a bad blogger :(

I am starting to notice a trend in my blogging, and I am sure many of you have too. The trend is this... I blog like crazy for a few weeks, slow down a little and them completely stop. I start feeling guilty about not blogging and blog an "I am such a bad blogger post" (case in point) and the cycle starts over. No matter how organized I am or how hard I try I can't break this cycle. A friend said the reason my blogging is so inconsistency is because I am always on the go doing things that I need to blog, so I don't have any time to do the actual blogging.

So, the question is, what do I do? Stop blogging all together or continue in the cycle and hope that things might get better? I could NEVER stop blogging all together. So, I guess the cycle will continue. If you are around me for any length of time you know that I talk about blogging all the time. Currently my camera is full of pictures that I am itching to put on my blog.

Here's hoping that the list of things I want to blog about gets on the blog before I get back in the ugly cycle of not blogging. Wish me luck!

Jack had a friend for the weekend!

A few weeks ago, my parents asked us to keep their dog Max while they went out of town. Jack and Max love playing with each other. Well, Jack loves playing with Max...I'm not sure if Max really likes playing with Jack. Max is also a Miniature Schnauzer and is a great dog who only has only one hang up: he will not go to the bathroom unless he is on a leash. I know most people would love that about their dog - don't get me wrong it is great. However, we have trained Jack to go outside in the backyard to do his business without being on a leash. Max will go outside and play and sniff around, but unless he is on a leash, he will not go to the bathroom. It is annoying at times..like at 6:00 in the morning or when it's raining.

Minus the whole leash thing, Max is easy to have around, especially when he is entertaining Jack. I know this might sound weird but they really do have a great time playing together. Whenever they are together, they play so much that it gets annoying. I really can't explain it but I am hoping the pictures help you to understand how hard they play with each other. They have ripped apart many toys playing together.



I can't say for sure but I do think that Jack was sad when Max left.

Kitchen Progress-It's coming together!

We are just about done with the kitchen update - boy am I excited!! Hopefully the next post about the kitchen will be the BIG reveal. According to our time line (that I worked so hard on) we should have finished Monday April 18th. Clearly I was wrong. At first I was a little disappointed but now I am okay with it taking a little longer for a few reasons: a) Justin did most of the work all by himself, b) we are only able to work once we get home from work, c) we have a life, d) Justin is being a perfectionist.

Let me give you an example of what our evenings have looked like while we have been working on the kitchen. Normally when we get home form work we rest for about 10 minutes, play with Jack, and make a plan as to what we wanted to get done in the kitchen. Justin starts doing whatever was on the list for the kitchen and I start dinner. I don't want everyone to think that I just sit and watch TV while Justin is working hard painting our cabinets. Okay, let me be honest... the first week I WAS sitting in front of the TV while Justin was working.

Here are a few pictures of the progress we have made.

This is where it starts looking like a real kitchen!

We are now to the point of putting up the cabinet doors which has really motivated us. We should be done with the cabinets in just a few more days but will need to touch up the walls and paint the baseboards and door frames before everything is completely finished.

Going out with a Twist

I hope that the title of this post is not offensive to anyone. If it is I apologize. It was just so witty I couldn't resist! Yesterday was my last day working at MC. I will be starting a new job on Monday and I will tell more about that next week. This post we will be about the events that made up my last day at work.

The day started out like any other day. I got up, did my normal morning routine, and went to work. Being that it was my last day, I had a long list of things I needed to get done before turning in my key. I got to work and starting checking things off my to-do list. There was talk around the office of bad weather coming our way, but some thought it would pass over us. I had no idea about the potential bad weather because Justin and I had been painting out kitchen cabinets in the evening and not paying much attention to the local news. Read about that here and here.

Around 1o:30 or so the tornado sirens starting going off, so everyone in the office went down to the basement, thinking it would last for a little while then back to work we would go. When we first got down there everyone was greeting each other and watching the weather and looking out the windows. Yes, it was raining, dark, and windy, but when you are around a lot of people I think scary situations are not so bad because you are distracted. For a while it was just dark and rainy. I thought for sure that within the hour we would be back to work. I was wrong. Around 11:30 or so the sirens starting going off again and then the power went out. This is a sweet friend Daniel Mortimor who took this picture of us to celebrate my last day at MC. It s blurry because well it was pitch black in the room.

While we were all waiting to see what had happened we got word that a tornado had touched down across the interstate less than a mile from MC. I believe we were down in the basement for about an hour and a half or so before were told we could go back to our offices. The problem with that was we still didn't have power. I went up to the third floor and tired to finish my to-do list. Most of the stuff I need to do was on the computer but without power, well, it was impossible.

We all thought that since we didn't have power that they would be spending us home soon or that the power would come back. I finished what I could and them we just sat around the office talking and answering the phone (at this point our cell phones would not send or receive calls or text messages but the landlines were still working). I will refrain from being negative about the fact that we were made to stay all most all day without power. Being that it was my last day, I packed up my desk and around 2:30 I turned in my key and left! Needless to say, it was a very eventful last day at MC!

When I got home I got on the computer and searched for video of the tornado. This is what I found. I had no idea this was going on just a mile away from where I was. It is very scary and just goes to justify my reasoning for being afraid of bad weather. I am blessed to say that Justin and I did not have any damage and never went without power.