Friday Favorites!

YAY! So glad it's Friday :D I cannot WAIT to sleep in tomorrow! haha. This week has been great :D

1) 5k!!!!!! See the previous post for details- but it was amazing!! 

2) Mom and Dad Martin's visit!- again see a previous post for details (including sailing and puerto rico:D), but it was SO nice to see them and get to spend quality time with them!

3) Puerto Rico- It's seriously my new favorite game! We just need someone to play it with now. haha. We also got another game this week that is for 2 players- Agricola! (technically, it's from John's sister since she gave us the money for a game at Christmas :D) So I am really excited to play it!!

4) Google Chrome- where has it been all my life?! Blogger forced me to update to it, and I am glad it did!! It's so fast and easier to use:D 

5) NCSU piggybank! There was only 1 left and we just had to have it. It wasnt real expensive at all, but it's ADORABLE!

6) Pumpkin spice coffee- my sweet, darling husband bought me an entire box of pumpkin spice k-cups. my life is now complete :D and yes, I will be drinking pumpkin spice even though it's the summer :D

 7) Tumblr cup! I wanted something to take my shakes to work in and so I caved and bought this awesomely cute cup!! :D SO excited about it!

Corporate Run!

I finally did it! I ran an official 5k! WOOHOO! 

I've been wanting to run one for awhile now and all the ones that have been around here have interfered with work. So when this one came around- I jumped on it! :D 

John and I signed up for it MONTHS ago- plenty of time to get in shape. Ha. I hurt my back and have not been able to run a lot lately. BUT I pumped out the run anyway:D

John and I left UM around 4:45 and with part of the registration fee we got Metrorail tickets to take downtown. It was nice to not have to drive and get caught in traffic, but boy were the trains packed!  It also took forever to get home. :( but that's okay:D

When we got down there we ate a snack and took some pictures and got ready for the race. Since it was a walk/run there was a start for each. Nobody really followed the signs so lining up was insane. There were over 22,000 people there and I wasnt sure how we were going to be able to run. The race started at 6:50 when the gun went off and we got to the start line about 15 minutes later. After that I decided to just start running through people. It was rough for the first little ways, but then it was easier to manage to run around and through people. John is a sweetheart and ended up just staying with me instead of trying to fight through all the people. I know I slowed him way down, but it meant the world to me that he did the race next to me :D Towards the end he really had to encourage me not to walk :D Good man. Anyway, the run was really pretty! I was so focused on running though that I missed a lot of the scenery. haha maybe next time. 

Anyway, I finished in 41:57- not a great time, but I did manage to run the entire thing, albeit slow. So, I am proud of myself!!! After the race, UM fed us dinner (again, part of the registration fee I'm sure) and then we headed home.

I had a lot of fun. I think I will do a race that big again though- too many people. I am super proud of myself. 

As most of you know, this is something that I have wanted to do for awhile. I started running initially lose weight, however I never stick to anything because I get so bored. However, we got a dog which also helped- why walk Carter when I could run and be done sooner and he'll be more tired? but ultimately, I decided I wanted to do it for my dad. I thought it would be neat to run each year in honor of him. Ever since he had a stroke he was in a wheelchair and couldnt walk. I know that if he could he would have wanted to get up and run and stretch those legs out! So, I thought in my own little way I could do this for him each year. It also just happened to be right around his birthday! So perfect timing:D This run was for you daddy, Happy Birthday! I LOVE YOU!

Arriving at our tent

 Daddy's girl :D

Before the race!

 Sebastian was there! and my sweet, supportive husband :D

 Waiting to get to the starting line...

 haha- running! thanks John!

 I finished!!!

 Shot of downtown before we left- so pretty!

Martins Visit!

We were SO excited to have people coming to visit again! The Martins were our first visitors since July. It definitely makes life easier here when people come to see us. Plus it's always nice to see familiar faces and spend time with family :D

So the Martins flew in late Thursday night. We picked them up from the airport and headed to our place. Since John and I had to work Friday, after we showed them around the apartment, Carter smothered them in love, and we caught up some- John and I headed to bed. 

Luckily, I was able to take a half day! I was SO excited. haha. Originally, we had plans to go sailing on Saturday but since the weather was going to be bad, we jumped in the car and headed to go Friday. We grabbed food on the way and made our way down to Islamorada, Fl in the Keys. It was about an hour and a half, but we had a groupon for 2 hours of sailing down there. Unfortunately, the groupon was expired but we could still use the value we paid for it. 

The place was beautiful! The rental was actually a resort that we were able to use while we were there. I'm pretty sure if we go back, we can use the resort more! We got our hobie boat and the guy who was working was nice enough to give us the entire groupon deal! We ended up getting a bigger hobie boat, but that was only an extra $10- so that's all we had to pay! YAY! Sailing was SO much fun. The weather was perfect and I even learned how to sail (somewhat) haha. 

The resort

Me and my boo!

Mom and Dad! The sail in the back was ours :D

 Getting us out of the muck

 John helped too

 Cruising!

 

Sailing was SO. MUCH. FUN.! AND I get to check one more thing off my 26 things to do before I am 27! Good thing Dad Martin knows how to sail and him and John could teach me!

After sailing we changed and met John's aunt for dinner and a place called Flanigans. It was really busy and noisy, but the food was good. Plus the company was great! 

Mom, Dad, Aunt Vicki, and John

After we got home we were all wiped out! I believe we walked Carter and lounged around- but really we partied so hard that I am having a hard time remembering. haha.

Saturday we slept in since it was rainy. It was great to sleep in, but sucked that it was rainy while we had visitors. We took them to try out our dininghall since last time they were here it was closed. Then we decided to go bowling. Or so we thought- there was an hour and a half wait! CRAZY! So we went back and played a game. For Christmas John's parents got us a game called Puerto Rico. It needs at least 3 players and you cant really make it work with just 2- so we had to wait until we had friends come. So we learned it with them. It took us 5 hours to learn and play. No joke. BUT it was SO much fun! I also made dinner that night and we hung around the apartment for the rest of the evening. 

So much fun!

Sunday I had to work :( We had RA training. Sad day. But John was able to hang out with his parents. They went to lunch and played Puerto Rico again. When I got home we decided to go out to dinner. We went to a place called Scotty's Landing. It's on the water and it's pretty inexpensive! SCORE! The food was really good too and there was live music. We'll be going back for sure. We may or may not have played Puerto Rico again that night. :D We are addicted. 

Nom Nom! The weather was perfect too!

Monday we both had to work. But I was able to eat lunch with his parents and then John was able to come home early. John took them to the dog park and Carter made a girlfriend. They played fetch together in the lake. Sad I missed it :(. When I got home they were still gone so I went for a run to prepare for the 5k this week! Then I made dinner and guess what we played?! haha. I also made brownies for my daddy's birthday. So we all got to celebrate a little in memory of him. :D Carter also got surprised with a ham bone from grandpa! He loves Carter so much he put it on the plane and flew it all the way down here. lol

Carter and the ham bone...

Tuesday we both had to work again but John came home super early and we were all able to eat lunch together and spend some time together before we took them to the airport. 

Carter LOVED all the time with grandma and grandpa. He adores them and they adore him. It's really cute. They love him SO much and spoil him so much (ham bone and a new toy! plus all the hugs and kisses and extra treats!) that I am a little nervous as to what it will be like when we have human babies :D At least we know they will be adored and loved a ton! haha. 

Anyway, their trip was great. John and I were beyond happy to have them here and we had SUCH a great time! Cant wait to see them again :D

Life Lately

Life lately has been fantastic! Last weekend John and I decided to use one of our Livingsocial deals (it expired soon). I guess a popular area on South Beach is Nikki Beach, so when I saw the deal I bought it figuring we could try it out and hopefully not spend a lot of money. Well last weekend John and I went for dinner on Saturday. We had planned to go to the beach all day, but it rained :( Luckily, it stopped in the evening and we were able to enjoy a beautiful dinner on the beach! Nikki Beach is a secluded area at the very end of South Beach. It has beds you can rent out to tan on and hang out in the sun all day (we will never do this- WAY too pricey!) The area is pretty and it's expensive. lol. I am SO glad we had a livingsocial deal otherwise we would have spent a fortune! We had a very nice dinner though and got to enjoy the area. After we finished eating we walked down to the beach at night. It was beautiful. We hadnt been to beach at night here yet, very romantic :D (Before we made it to the beach we got the security guard to take a picture for us and we ended up talking to him for a long time. We found out that him and I went to the same school in Key West at the same time! We didnt know each other and I dont really remember living there that much since I was so little- but what a small world it is!)

Eating dinner- it was empty! I guess because it rained all day?

 Nikki Beach is behind us...

Last weekend we also got ready for John's parents to come. We havn't had visitors since last summer and we were missing family and Raleigh bad, so we were SO excited! I get a little crazy when people come to visit, especially if they have never been to our apartment before and this time was no different. It was also a good time to FINALLY make myself get some stuff done that I have been putting off. Like cleaning out our closets (automatically my mind starts singing the Eminem song. lol). Anyway, they were A MESS! So I got to work and they look SO much better. One of them still has a little bit that needs to be done to it, but I'm content with the way it is now. If you know me, organization makes me SO VERY happy. and plus now if my in-laws happen to open one of the closets, things wont fall on them now :D

Other things that have happened lately:
-Dexter-We started watching Season 6 of Dexter- SO EXCITED to be watching some of our shows again!!

-Breakfast Burritos- I made about 15 breakfast burritos and froze them. I got this idea off of pinterest (thank you very much!) and they made GREAT breakfasts for John each morning! He just had to take them out, unwrap the foil and put them in the microwave for a few minutes and BOOM! breakfast :D They were also low-calorie (duh).

-Shakes- I have become obsessed with protein shakes. I have now made cookies and cream, strawberry lemon, key lime pie, chocolate peanut butter, peanut butter banana, lemon, and frozen hot chocolate. I. LOVE. THEM. They taste just like milkshakes to me, but they are low in calories. WIN!

-We ordered Keurig. I LOVE IT! My life is so much better now. haha. John started drinking coffee since he has to wake up before the sun and getting a Keurig simplifies the getting ready in the morning process now. Plus, we have a lot of visitors coming in the next few weeks and it's always nice to have some good coffee on hand! 

-Car Wash-We got our car washed and waxed! We had a groupon and decided that it was finally time for the car to get a good wash down and wax. Again, we have a lot of visitors coming and our car was filthy! Now we just need to clean the inside. The car wash also took about an hour and a half so John and I had a dinner date in the middle of the week. It was a lot of fun :D

-Carter got groomed! Again, we had a groupon! Carter has never been the to groomers and I was very much a mom when I dropped him off. I've never dropped him off anywhere before. I dont know how I am going to manage when I have human babies! haha. Anyway, he got a shampoo and blow dry, teeth cleaning, his ears cleaned, nails trimmed, and a few other small things. He came back looking fresh! He was limping though :( We called and asked about it and they said that they didnt notice anything. We just chalked it up to his nails getting trimmed so short. We usually just file them, but they trimmed them down a lot. They said he was great through everything though! So that's good :D They even called the next day to check on him. That sort of redeemed them some. haha.

-John's parents arrived! I'll have an entire post on this after their trip is complete though :D

-Half Day- Since John's parents came in on Thursday night, I was able to take a half day Friday- it was much needed and amazing! (again, details later :D)

-Bottled our Beer! Our beer finally finished fermenting this week and so we decided to go ahead and bottle it. We had no idea what we were doing, so we called Krystal and Josh for help. lol. We were able to do the entire thing in about an hour and a half! I had already sanitized all the bottles (thank you sanitizing option on our dishwasher!) so we didnt have to wait for those to run through. We should be able to try it in about 2 weeks! I hope it tastes good. haha

Siphoning it into the other bucket to leave behind the sediment

Siphoning the beer into bottles

 

Our first ever bottled home brew!!

The Vet and a Sleep over!!

Carter had to get his annual exams and shots this past week. We kept teasing him telling him he was going to the vet. lol. He doesnt mind- they are great. They get down on the floor with him and play with him. It's sweet.

This time he got to play with another puppy while we waited for our appointment. The puppy was only 12 weeks old and wanted to jump all over Carter. Carter loved it. Of course he thinks he is small, so he played back. lol. The poor dog peed all over the floor he was so excited- twice. lol.

Anyway, Carter got weighed and weighed in at a whoping 75lbs! The vet said he needs to lose about 5lbs, but I think he looks healthy. He's really muscular. We'll cut back on his food some so he can drop a few anyway.

We found out that he has whip worms :( That explaines the throwing up and diahreea randomly. Gross. He got some medicine and it will clear them away. Also- how did we not know that we need to give our dog heartworm pills once a month? How was that not in anything we read or even told to us by the rescue or the vet? Oh geez. At least it was a small problem and not something worse!

Other than all that Carter took his shots like a champ and is otherwise a really healthy pup! :D YAY!

It also worked out that Carter had a sleep over this weekend! He was SO excited! We dog sat for one of my co-workers and she has a golden retreiver named Kirby that is about 2 months younger than Carter. They are about the same size and definitely have the same energy level!

Carter and Kirby!
They played....

And played.....

And played some more....
I thought for sure that Carter was going to drive Kirby crazy, but Kirby got to where he initiated playing with Carter just as much, if not more! They finally got to the point where they would both have to rest and then 10 minutes later go again. They got along SO well. My house may smell like dog now, but it was worth it! It rained some this weekend and they played on the wet patio, which means they were wet, which didnt help with the smell. lol. BUT that was better then them ramming each other into the walls the entire weekend. haha. They were both also good to walk together! I'm guessing because they were exhausted from playing, but we'll chalk it up to being good :D
Look how tired he is! LOL
On a great note, Carter started to listen a little better with another dog around! I hope this continues and wasnt because he was used to Kirby being around. We shall see. Anyway, Carter passed out Sunday after Kirby left and slept for the rest of the day. It. was. awesome. :D

YAY doggy sleepovers! haha.

Friday Favorites!

A little late, but better late than never! :D

1) Catan- John and I love to play Catan, but it needs at least three players. We still play it, but it's just not as fun as when there are more people. Anyway, I found a Catan game for 2 players! We played this week and it's a lot of fun!!! :D I love that we like nerdy games. haha

2) Horse Adjutant- I finally finished the book! It was incredibly sad :( but very interesting. It's just so neat to me that I was able to meet the man who actually went through all that! Powerful book, for sure.

3) Brewing Beer- John and I finally brewed our first batch of beer! It is still in the process of fermenting, but when it's done- I'll blog all about it! :D Here's to hoping it turns out alright!

Setting out our supplies

Brewing- literally!
:D
4) Budget/Taxes- we finally did our taxes! YAY! It's a favorite because we didnt owe any money like I thought we would! In fact, we got a little back! We also updated our budget :D

5) Key West- We booked our hotel for the wedding we are going to May 5th weekend. I am SO excited!!!! Totally a high as vacation is not far away anymore!

6) Deloran!- I saw a real life Deloran! I was SO excited I had to run outside and take pictures and send them to John and AJ. haha :D

Words

I don’t know if you all saw the commercial for the movie “A Thousand Words” with Eddie Murphy? I never saw the movie, just the trailer. Anyway, the premise of it is that Eddie Murphy tends to stretch the truth sometimes and the lesson to be learned from the movie is that there are consequences for every word we speak. Anyway, I saw the preview and thought it was an interesting concept.

Then, I was reading my cousins blog and she blogged about something similar. Words, and the endless amount of words that we use. She shared that she was being challenged by the following verses:

James 1:19-20 - Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

Proverbs 10:19 - When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent.

Proverbs 31:26 - She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.

Again, I thought that’s an interesting idea. I didn’t really think about it again.

Last week, I came across the concept on another friends page! (I wonder if it’s something that keeps popping up, or something I am just noticing more?) Ever since then, I have really been thinking about this concept and the types of words we use, the things we say, and how they really can have impact on who we say them too. Is everything that comes out of our mouths pleasing to God? If our purpose is to bring other’s closer to Christ, do the words we say reflect that, that is our effort? I know not everything that comes out of my mouth does. Then I started to reflect on the things I say at work. The things I complain to my colleagues about. Am I showing them that I am thankful for all that the Lord’s given me?

I also started to reflect on this a lot when I decided to give up complaining for lent. I realized I complain about the smallest, insignificant things!! By complaining about them, I realize I let them take over my mood and my day. By the end of the day I am in a bad mood because of some really stupid things that I let get to me. By complaining and allowing myself to behave like this, I am in no way showing the people that I work with that I do this job for the Lord. And if anything, I am leading them further from what I believe!

Anyway, today I opened the daily bible verse that gets sent to me every day and BOOM. There it was again. Apparently, the Lord is trying to tell me something! Here is the verse:

“If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.”-- 1 Peter 4:11
And here is the reflection that came with it: We are given gifts to use in God's Kingdom for two reasons: 1) to bring glory to God, and, 2) to bless others. Whether we serve or speak, we are to do so with these two goals in mind, knowing that God will supply the strength to do what he has gifted us to do.

I think this verse speaks (no pun intended! haha) to both my issue at work (that I spoke about in the previous message) and to the types of words I use. I need to serve (work) in a way to bring glory to God and to bless others. That means no complaining and really it means to guard my tongue to ensure that I am “speaking the very words of God.” All of this is going to be a tough feat, but if my goal and purpose here is to bring people to Christ, it’s something I must really strive to do.

I am in no way done thinking about this, but while I continue to consider it I encourage you to, also :D

Direction

I feel like I have so much to say, but I’m not sure how to gather my thoughts or where to start writing. So please, bear with me.

I mentioned in a past post that I have been praying for direction in mine and John’s lives. We have really enjoyed our time down here, but feel that there isn’t a whole lot left down here for us. Plus, we miss our home and family and friends. Please note that we have truly enjoyed living down here and there is SO much more we want to do! But in the growing aspect of our lives, that’s where we feel there isn’t much. Well we decided to pray about it and I started to job search this past winter. We were very selective in where we applied. In fact, I only applied to two schools and then other types of jobs in Raleigh. One school said “no, thank you” and the other- Elon (I fell IN LOVE with this school and all the people I met) wouldn’t let us have Carter live with us, so we had to politely and regretfully turn them down. And then, I have not heard anything from any of the jobs I applied to in Raleigh. I was bummed. I am bummed. Even though I knew both schools were long shots (mostly because of Carter) I was still super disappointed. I may or may not have even cried a little.

I REALLY thought it was time for us to go home. And I am not going to lie, I’m still struggling with the fact that we are not. Ever since we found out that we will be here longer than we planned I keep wondering what message the Lord is trying to send me. Is it- His plan isn’t my plan and I need to truly rely on Him more? I prayed through the entire process, but is that enough? I just don’t know.

I mentioned in another post awhile back that I was excited to be working with Ivan and Anthony next year. And since I will be staying now, I am. I don’t remember how much I shared with you all before about issues I had going on at work a while ago. I don’t think I told you anything actually. Well, the department decided to do some restructuring in my building and the connecting one- Pearson. Currently, there is:
- one Area Director for Mahoney (me)
- one Area Director for Pearson
- and one Assistant Area Director for both

The Assistant Area Director for both buildings just doesnt work- they get pulled in too many directions. So the department decided to invert the model. So next year there will be:
- one Area Director for both
- one Assistant Area Director for Mahoney
- one Assistant Area Director for Pearson

The Area Director for both will be more in charge of behind the scenes items and the Assistant Area Director 's will do more building specific tasks. This clearly impacts my position as Area Director in Mahoney, AKA it won’t exist next year. Well I was presented with a few options, prayed about it, sought out some counseling, and talked long and hard with John about it. We decided that we would job search- hence part of the reason for the above, but also stay where we are in the meantime. Meaning, I would be the Assistant Area Director in Mahoney and take a demotion in title. I’m sure I don’t have to spell it out for you, but I wasn’t that thrilled. However, John and I decided this would be the best decision for us right now. I wouldn’t lose any benefits and we wouldn’t have to move. I like my job in Mahoney, I love my RAs, and I will get to do most of what I do now. Ivan will be the AD for both buildings and he is a great guy, so again, I am excited about next year. I even became at peace with all the changes. Recently, as we have started to plan for next year, I have realized that it may be a little harder to deal with than I realized. However, I’ll just pray about it and know He has me here for a reason.

I really think He is trying to teach me humility and to be thankful for what I have while I have it. There are just some times that it’s so hard to be appreciative of things when you feel like you are being wronged. BUT I guess there is another lesson- to understand that He has a reason for everything that happens to us.

I guess my take away from all of this is to 1) truly rely on God more 2) appreciate what I have, even if I don’t understand why I am where I am 3) understand that God had a plan for me and He only wants what is best for me. All of that can be so hard to remember when life gets in the way, I guess I just have to work on not letting life get in the way and let Him lead me through it all.

So again, I ask that you help us pray for direction, pray that we are shown what our purpose is here, and pray that we learn to be thankful what we have while we have it- even if we don’t understand it.

Friday Favorites!

I feel like this has been the slowest week ever. Thank GOODNESS it's Friday! Even if I am on duty! This week pretty much sucked. Aside from hurting my back somehow, it's just been really stressful and some doors that I prayed would, open shut in my face. I know that means it's not the Lord's plan, but it's never fun.

The only good thing was John's BIRTHDAY this weekend! Friday we kept it low key because I had to be up early the next day (5am!) so we went to happy hour at RA Sushi and then hung out for the rest of the night. YAY SUSHI!

Saturday I had to work part of the day for relay for life, but I left around 3 and then I gave John his presents :D Since Brad was his main present I didnt spend a ton of money, but I did blow up one of the pictures he took back at state and put it in one of the frames we had.

Side note on the frames- we had purchased NC State photos from Replay photos a few years ago and have been waiting to frame them since it's so expensive. Well we finally bought frames a few months ago and got matting for them and then realized they were the wrong size. womp womp. So they have been laying around our apartment waiting to be filled. I thought it would be nice to fill one up for him and I decided on a picture he took! It looks SO good :D It's seriously one of my favorite pictures of the bell tower. He didnt mess with the color or anything!

The John Martin original ;D (sorry it's sideways and it's not the best picture of the picture- haha)

He opened a few other small things from me and Carter and then family cards and presents. And of course we had to have cake! That night we celebrated at TGIFridays and I made them sing to John. haha. :D He LOVES me for that.

Sunday we went to Lincoln Rd. We tried a few different places on the road and then had a very fancy dinner at a place called YardBird. It was really good- southern for here :D Here is what we ordered (we split because it because it was a lot of food!)

Our drinks came in mason jars! yay!
Birthday Boy!
Chicken Biscuit appetizers...YUMMY!
Our dinner- we had mac and cheese, some type of bbq? and it came over a piece of cornbread- it was very delicious!
I am so blessed to have this man in my life. Even more blessed that I have been able to spend so many years and so many birthdays with him. I love him with my entire heart and cant wait for all the birthdays to come! HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHN!