Friday Favorites

Today is my LAST Friday in Miami. Hard to believe it. But it's true. This week has been a roller coaster. A roller coaster of emotions, things to do, and just so much. Moving is so super exciting. Especially since we will be with our families and our friends soon! But, it's been emotionally, physically, and mentally draining on both of us! There is so much to plan, to do, to change, to pack, etc. So much to see, explore, and say goodbye to! It's all for the best, but it's a bit exhausting. Here are some of the highlights from this week :D

1) MOVING HOME- duh. I dont think this needs anymore explanation.

2) Thanksgiving- See my last post, but just everything about that trip was wonderful :D

3) The drive back to Miami- we were really nervous it was going to take us a long time. Last year on that Sunday after Thanksgiving it took us almost 18 hours to get back, when it usually only takes 12-13. However, this year we left pretty early and didnt hit much traffic at all! In fact, we only hit real traffic when we got close to Miami. We made it in 12 hours! YAY!  Now we only have to make that trip ONE MORE TIME! WOOT!

4) Happy Hour- John and I have SO much that we want to do before we leave. So we started with happy hour at local sports bar this week. They have great deals and great wings! It was a lot of fun :D And they dont have happy hour in NC- so we wanted to take advantage of it. haha

5) High Steaks BBQ- Last  night John and I were planning on going to the Heat game (on our list before we leave) but the Spurs left most of their starters at home. We figured it wouldnt be a good game and we would go see the Nets on Saturday instead. Of course it turned out to be a good game. haha oh well. I'm SO glad we didnt go because I ended up getting sick. However, we did decide to use one of our groupons that we had left. It was for a BBQ place and it was VERY southern themed! Everything was Carolina this, Carolina that. Fox News was on the tv and they had country music playing! haha. They also had hushpuppies! I have not seen them anywhere down here. And while they were not the best- kudos to them for trying. Their bbq was also vinegar based! A little strong for me and it had a hint of cuban flair to it (cant really describe that, but that's the best John and I could come up with). Overall, very yummy! We ended up splitting a meal and I'm so glad we did because it was a ton of food!

6) This next week- We have so much planned that I'm really excited about it! Going to see everything one last time and making sure we do some Miami musts! However, even if it doesnt all get done, I'll be okay. I'm excited to be moving home the most :D

7) My staff- I love my staff. They are wonderful and I will miss them greatly. They took the news pretty well. Some of them cried :( But of course I balled when I was telling them. They are seriously what has kept me going this semester. They are great kids. My hear is sad to say goodbye to them. But it's nice to hear how much of an impact I have made on them. It makes me feel like I have been doing something right!

8) Carter- While he may be in NC with our families, he continues to crack me up. He has decided he loves grandma and grandpa Martins bed. He also puts up his new toy they got him when he is done playing with it. haha. Now he is staying with my family for a few days and he apparently is on a mission to protect my mom. He follows her everywhere and makes sure she is safe while she sleeps. Boy do I love that dog!!!

Not such a Friday Favorite- I mentioned that last night I wasnt feeling good. Well 2 days ago I got a tetanus/whooping cough shot. It ended up making me really sick- I had a fever of 102 last night :(. I havnt been that sick since 10th grade when I got mono and my mom had to take me to the hospital. So I'm really glad we didnt go to the Heat game, because I wouldnt have made it through it. I am SO glad I am feeling better today though. I would have been really upset if it ruined our plans for our last days here!!

Anyway, here is to a great last weekend in Miami! Happy Friday y'all!

ps. I miss my puppy!!

So Thankful!

There was SO much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving! A trip home to be with family was among them :D

As I mentioned, we drove up with Kristen, AJ, Carter, and most all of our belongings. It proved to be an interesting journey, but a lot of fun too. Since it took us 17 1/2 hours, we didnt get home until 1am and we were beyond exhausted. Of course Carter was excited to see grandma and grandpa! We were ready to hit the hay! 

Wednesday we slept in some and then got ready to go and meet my new boss, sign some paperwork, and find a place for us to live. The Martins had graciously agreed to let us stay with them for as long as we needed, but we didnt want to intrude on them. So it was on our to do list.

My  new work place is wonderful! My boss seems really nice, as do the other people I met that I will work with. One of my new co-workers showed John and I some apartments and then we met with my boss to discuss pricing. The deal was just too good to pass up and so we chose the apartment I posted about in the last post! It was WONDERFUL to have found a place so quickly. Definitely a huge answer to pray. It really felt like everything just kept falling into place. :D Wednesday night we went back to the Martins and ate some dinner, hung out, and relaxed some. We were both so tired still. We also got to meet Julie's new boyfriend Joel! He is REALLY nice and fit in very well with us.

Thursday was Thanksgiving! I got up and made some of my mac and cheese and then it was almost time for lunch. Of course we stuffed ourselves :D It was all so very yummy. Then we played some games and lounged around all afternoon. That's what Thanksgiving is for, right?! I ended up taking a long nap because I wasnt feel good. I think my body is trying to fight off getting sick. Thursday night we went to my Mom's house. We had dinner with them and played some more games! I am excited we will be living so close soon so our visits can be longer :D

 Our Table :D 

 The food! Carter was so excited..

 

More food!

 Joel and Julie (I forgot to take pictures after this one. whoops) 

Friday we got up and had another big day ahead of us. My job was going to let us go ahead and unload our trailer into our new apartment (HUGE blessing!) so we got up and headed over there. I had to turn in some paperwork and then I got the keys. It only took us about 45 minutes to unload everything since there were so many of us. Afterwards, John and Brad took back the trailer while I went over to AT&T to get information about adding a line to our plan. (PS. I can walk to almost anything I want or need! The grocery store is behind the clubhouse I work in and right across the big road (which is RIGHT there) is a HUGE shopping center.) Of course John had to be at AT&T with me, so I walked over to Rack Room and bought some shoes. haha. Then we went and got some lunch at Red Robin with Brad! Always fun :D And finally headed back to AT&T. We decided to go ahead and get me a phone and new number to help make everything easier and to cross one more thing off our list. :D 

After that adventure we went back to the Martin's and got ready for the NC State Basketball game. Steve had gotten us free tickets and we couldnt pass them up. We met up with him and Anna Patton (a friend from college) there and watched the game. We played terribly, but at least pulled out a win! We also took Carter to play with Bailey while we went- they had a fun play date! 

Our seats were waaaay up there! Fun though!

Waiting for a toy...haha

Saturday, I got up bright and early to make some mac and cheese bites for our tailgate. They were DELICIOUS! Then we dressed in some warm clothes and headed out at about 9:30am to get a good spot. We ended up having about 21 people at our tailgate and had such a great time! Everyone brought something different to eat and I must say it was the most grownup tailgate we have ever had! haha. We had so much stuff. It was SO much fun and it turned into a celebration that we were moving back :D So thankful to have such great friends! It seriously made us feel like we were home. 

GO WOLFPACK!

 Anna Patton, her friend, and Steve

 Some of the tailgate gang

 LOVE him!

 I bumped into an old friend too! (we actually bumped into a bunch). Jeff was one of my "boyfriends" in 6th grade. haha

 Love this statue!

The game was FREEZING and John and I ended up leaving during the 4th quarter since we had to get up so early to drive home the next day. We grabbed some dinner and then headed to the Martins. I seriously fell asleep within 15 minutes of getting there. I was pooped. We had planned to get up at 3 and leave about 4- but of course we left later at about 5:30/6am. We really wanted to beat traffic since it was so bad last year. We were lucky and made the drive in about 12 hours! YAY!

We decided to leave Carter in Raleigh with Johns parents. We need the room in the Tahoe and we just didnt want to make him ride in the car for another 26 hours. He would have hated it. It was funny because he could tell we were leaving, but he was with grandma and grandpa so he seemed confused. haha. He's doing great there now though! He even jumped up in bed with grandpa one morning. He's making himself right at home. It is lonely here without him- but I know it's best. 

Anyway, we had a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving and we have SO much to be thankful for! Cant wait until next year when we have more time to spend with each family :D 

An End To An Era...

Well my beautiful family and friends, I cannot even begin to tell you how blessed I have felt in the past few weeks. 

As you know, John and I have been praying for direction for some time now. And well, the time has come for me to share that we will be moving back home! We cannot even begin to share how excited we are!!

Our lives have changed 180 degrees in the past two weeks! The Friday that Kristen and AJ were here, I received a job offer to a company in Raleigh and after discussing it with John and praying about it, I accepted! Remember, I mentioned that on the Monday they were here John and I had to run some errands? Well we went and gave our 2 weeks notice to both of our jobs. Then we went to celebrate and then loaded up as much as we could that night and headed to Raleigh to share the good news. It was wonderful that we had decided to take some stuff back already!! So it only took a few more hours to pack than we were planning. ;) Words cannot describe how thankful I am that Kristen and AJ were here to help! They literally saw our lives change VERY quickly and were here to celebrate with us and then help pack. I will love y'all forever for that!!!

With that said, things have been moving VERY quickly! My last day working for the U is Dec 3. and we head out of here probably the 7th. Then I start my new job on the 10th! I will be a Leasing Consultant for Bexley at Briar Creek Apartments. AHH! SO EXCITED! While we were home for Thanksgiving we had a lot to do. So, we found a place to live AND got me a new number and phone. We were very productive. :D We will be living where I work- the deal was just too good to pass up :D and the area is BEAUTIFUL! I am beyond excited to not have to live with students ever again. Our new place is very peaceful! AND we have a nice little area to take Carter out! 

The stairs to our apartment- it's Terrace level and this is our own little entrance!

Turn around and that's where we park :D

Our new home :D 

 And a "backyard" for Carter! 

John and I seriously feel so blessed to have the Lord move us home. We cannot wait to be with family and friends and in a place where we feel like we belong :D 

I do wanna say that I have very much enjoyed my time here in Miami. I do feel like it was one of the best decisions that John and I ever made. We have grown so much. We have learned so much. And we really are just different people now- for the better of course. We are very much more independent and spontaneous than we used to be. And we have been blessed to live in a beautiful city for 2 1/2 years! There are many things I will miss, but overall Miami is just not home. 

So- We are saying hello to a new chapter in our lives and goodbye to an old one. And just in time for the holidays!

The Klingenmaiers!

John and I were SO excited to have the Klingenmaiers come to visit! They decided to fly down and then drive back up with us for Thanksgiving. So we had about a week with them! The first time they came down we had not been in Miami real long, so we didnt really know fun places to take them. This time, we a lot for them to see! and in fact, didnt get to do it all. haha.

They flew in Wednesday evening and when they got in we went to dinner at Titanic  We actually ran into a co-worker of mine, Jenni and her husband Joel, so we ate dinner with them. Then we went shopping and stocked up on everything that we needed for the week. John and I had to work the next morning and Kristen and AJ were pretty tired, so we called it an early night.

Thursday, John was able to leave work and come and eat lunch with us. We took them to get some chop chop in the student center- UM. Then we both went to work and the Klingenmaiers explored the MetroRail and took it down to Target. That night we went to a happy hour at a local sports grill to watch the State basketball game. Their wings are AMAZING! and we won! Afterwards, we headed back to our apartment and hung out for the rest of the night. AJ and Kristen watch Modern Family but havnt seen any of the earlier episodes, so we watched a few of those. A lot of fun and went to bed WAY to late! haha.

Friday, I took a half day. While we waited for John to get off work, I took them to the Rat (restaurant on campus) for lunch. We got some yummy burgers and fries to share. When John got home we lounged around some and then watched our basketball game. Another win! :D Then we got ready and headed down to Homestead to visit Schnebly's Winery. We had gotten some Groupons and did a tasting. They also had karaoke and a restaurant serving dinner. So we ate and had a good time. 

Saturday I got up and made us breakfast and then we loaded up and headed to the beach! We stopped at Wet Willies on the way and enjoyed the beach for a few hours. We left around 2 so we could cook some tailgating foods and get ready for game! I made Krystal's crack dip, the jalapeno dip, and some pizza volcanoes (volcanoes because they ended up MUCH bigger than planned. lol). It was all very yummy. We ate, watched our terrible football game, and played some cornhole. Sad we lost :( but we tried to have a good time anyway!

 Watching the game (I forgot to take many pictures.) 

Sunday we slept in and had planned to go to the beach, but it was overcast all day. :( We ended up hanging out some and then we went to The Biltmore Hotel which is probably one of the nicest hotels in Miami. They do haunted ghost tours since it was converted to a WWII hospital for awhile. We ended up missing the tour :( The times online were wrong- sad day. But walking around the property was still beautiful! Afterwards we went and got food at Scotty's Landing. YUMMY! Then we headed back and played some board games and watched our last basketball game. We lost :(.

 So pretty!

 They had bird cages inside

 I think we read it has the largest pool in the continental US!

 Golf course

 Dinner!

 From our seats

 me and hubby!

Monday we got up and John and I had to take care of a few errands (more on this later!) and then we headed to the beach. It was gorgeous out! We hung out for a few hours and then headed back towards home to get some dinner. We took them to Shake Shack and man it was delicious. I sure did feel like a fat kid afterwards though! haha. The rest of the night we ended up loading a Uhaul and packing up some of our belongings. John and I had decided a few weeks back that regardless of whether or not we decided to move home early, we were going to start taking things home. So we loaded what we could into the Uhaul! We packed until 2am- YIKES! then left bright and early the next morning. 

We packed the Uhaul and the Tahoe tight and had 4 adults and a dog crammed into the car. It ended up taking 17 1/2 hours to get home and of course in the first 30 minutes we started with a blowout on the Uhaul. Luckily, they only took about an hour total to fix it! Then we were back on our way :D We had some good company, Carter was a sweetheart, and we made it home safely :D

womp womp..

 Carter took turns cuddling with people

 Kristen's turn!

Overall, we had a wonderful trip with the Klingenmaiers and cannot wait until we get to hang out with them more often!!

Friday Favorties

SO glad it's Friday! I may be on duty, but I'm still glad it's the weekend :D

1) Revenge- Krystal got me hooked when we were up there. I finally caught up this week. I hate that I'll have to wait week to week now! It's just TOO good. haha

2) Cornhole- I've been working on touching up the paint and it's finally almost done. That's on my to-do list this weekend for sure. It's starting to look really good!

3) Carter- He's just the best thing besides John to ever happen to me :D He's the sweetest dog ever and I love his cuddles :D

 All snuggled up next to me :D

4) Our set up- This weekend the weather was amazing so we pulled the TV out and put it on the back patio. We took our food out there and watched some football! Later in the evening we moved another TV out there and the Xbox and played Halo while watching football. It was a great day ;D

Oh yea!  Ridiculous, we know. But we had fun! Oh and there is our tent. :D

 Yummy Jalapeno Dip

 Even Carter had a good time!

5) Short Week- Last week I took Friday off and it was wonderful :D It was nice to relax. Good mental health day for sure! 

Next week Kristen and AJ are coming to visit!! And then we get to go home for Thanksgiving. A lot is happening in the coming weeks and I'm excited to share it all with you :D

HAPPY FRIDAY! (let's hope its a quiet duty week!)

Maryland 2.0

I apologize for my hiatus, but I just have not been in the mood to blog. Blogging to me is supposed to be fun and a way to capture our life adventures. However, when I feel to pressured to blog, I dont like it and hence the hiatus. I wonder if it's because sometimes my blogs are long winded? Hmmm...maybe I'll need to work on that ;D Anyway, I'm back! :D And I must share with you and document our WONDERFUL trip to Maryland.

SO, John and I took a much needed vacation to Maryland at the end of October. I creatively named it 2.0 as this has been our second trip to visit Krystal and Josh! This trip did NOT disappoint by any means. In fact, I would say it's been one of our favorite trips thus far. 

We started out by flying out on a Wednesday afternoon. We got to fly first class! SCORE! Thanks Aunt Vicki! It was a very nice flight indeed. haha Upon arriving to Maryland we went to Krystal and Josh's place and got to see all that they had done to their place since the last time we were there. Y'all, their place looks SO GOOD! It made me want a house super bad. haha. They have done so much work and decorating on it and it's just so cozy! They also surprised us and had their new bar area set up with taps and everything. So of course we had to have some of their beer- ON DRAFT! Super jealous! haha. Krystal and I also exchanged birthday presents and pretty much did the same thing for each other. It was really funny! She also made me a DELICIOUS pumpkin cheesecake! It's like she knows my soul or something ;D That night we ended on going out for dinner and to try a beer that had no hops- not that good. Dinner was though! The rest of the night we spent catching up! Nice relaxing night after a crazy week of work for sure!

FIRST CLASS! :D

 The Kinlaw's Bar! They had Pumpkinlaw and a 90 Minutes on tap!

Thursday we got up and had a yummy breakfast, courtesy of Krystal. Then we got ready for a BIG day ahead. We had plans to tour Heavy Seas AND Dogfish Head. Heavy Seas doesnt usually have tours on Thursday, but John was able to get us a private tour. It was amazing and I am SO glad he tried! You never know until you try! We learned a lot about their beers and brewing. I also LOVE the pirate theme.  Afterwards, we hopped in the car and head to Delaware for the Dogfish tour. We were not sure if we were going to make it or not, but we did! I'm glad we risked it and it worked out for us. haha. Their tour was really interesting too. It's neat to see how different brewery's do things. After the tour and tastings we headed to the brew pub and ate some dinner and tried more of their beer. You dont get to pick what you taste at Dogfish head, so there were some we still wanted to try. We each got a different one and tried them all. After that we headed back to the Kinlaw's and hung out for the rest of the night. 

 Tasting different beers and hanging out

 Part of the production line

 Dogfish Head! 

 The Kinlaws

 Their cool tree house. Sad we couldnt go up

 They were in the middle of production- the first time we've seen it! Really cool!

 All those boxes!

 Brew Pub! They sat us in a very cramped area :( Later we saw they had SO many more sitting places, so I cant figure that one out. It was still fun though.

Friday was the start of Maryland Beer Week! We got up and prepped all the food for the game the next day since it was an early game and we were planning on being out late. Then we took a cab and buses down to Fell's Point. It is such a nice area! They had great deals going on, so we tried out a few different places. We meant to go back home around 9, so we could get some sleep before the game....womp womp... time escaped us and we ended up home around 1! haha. We had SUCH a great time though!!

Our Crazy Hubbies

 All 4 of us! I think this is the only picture we got of just us 4 all weekend. whoops! haha

me and the best friend:D

Saturday we got up early and loaded up the car and headed to the game. We couldnt find a good place to tailgate :( There were too many Maryland fans and not enough Wolfpackers! We found a spot and set up shop anyway. We ended up having some friends join us and another solo wolfpacker who was looking for some people to hang out with. It wasnt my favorite tailgate (we were all still so tired from Friday) but we still had some fun. I love tailgating at away games because you connect with other wolfpackers and that didnt really happen here. We had some VERY yummy food that Krystal made! She made some jalapeno popper dip, mac and cheese bites, and some chopped pulled pork. John liked the dip so much that he's had me make for the last two games too. haha. After tailgating we headed to the game and it was just a crazy game! We should have lost it, but we won! It was a fun game to win. Well it was fun game for Maryland to win for us ;D. After the game we hung around to meet some of the players and got a pic with Mike Glennon! 

Pretty farm on campus

 He thought they were MD fans at first...haha! I love this picture!

 YAY! PACK!

 Some of my favorite players all sitting together...

 The excitement was intense! Look at our players on the bench...

 Final score! GO PACK!

Mike Glennon and our gang!

Sunday we kept as a lazy day. We really wanted one lazy day while we were on vacation and it was a good day to choose. We watched football all day and ate some snacks. Napped a little, and played with Bailey. Poor Bailey was worn out that night. She didnt really nap at all and she was just such a sweet little tired puppy. It was cute! We played some bocce and watched more football and made some yummy roast for dinner!

I cant wait till we live closer and can bring Carter and then they can cuddle together! ah!

Monday it was time to go home :( We packed up our stuff and headed off to the airport. When we finally got home, Carter was SO excited to see us!! We went and grabbed dinner and vegged out for a little bit. 

We had SUCH an amazing trip! The company was wonderful and the weather was perfect :D  We cant wait to see you guys again soon! :D