WOW!

I really suck at this blogging thing. I have contemplated not blogging anymore because it's almost stressful at this point because I am always so far behind. BUT alas, here I am again. I keep telling myself I will appreciate the memories one day. and I am probably right. lol. So I'll try to keep this short and sweet and update you on all the seriously crazy things that have happened. I'll mention some and then give them their own post, because some deserve their own post :D

1) JOHN GOT A NEW JOB. 
    JOHN. GOT. A. NEW. JOB.!!!!!!
this will obviously be it's own post- but things have been bananas with us both starting new jobs within 2 weeks of each other! This honestly could also be every point on this list. You have no idea how happy we are :D

2) Duke- I started my new job! My job is amazing. It's so incredibly weird working for Duke. Amazing, but weird saying I work for Duke. My daddy would be so proud! Back when I wanted to be a doctor (big dreams, hah) he wanted me to go to Duke SO bad. Obviously, when I changed my mind it was NC State all the way- but I think he would be glad I ended up here. First, I have to say that I feel beyond blessed to be here. With the whole process happening so fast, it's been so hard to adjust. Not only to the schedule, but to the mindset as well. My mind has been out of Higher Education for awhile now! But even then, it's a different kind of Higher Education and actually its just a mix of both of my degrees (how awesome is that!) but between all of that and learning a brand new job- I have been exhausted. A good exhausted though :D. I honestly feel like for the first time in my life- this is where I am meant to be. I fully support the mission I am working for and LOVE what I do. The program is fantastic. I wont get started on my soapbox, but just know that pretty much every day at some point I sit at my desk and think- "Wow. I am so lucky. My job is really cool and I get to help gifted students all over the world. Okay God- I see the path you put me down to get here. Thanks :D."  I am also very impressed with how important work/life balance is for Duke. They care very much about their employees and that is awesome. I feel very spoiled now. The only downside to all of this is the commute. It's terrible. Worth it, but terrible. After my first 90 days though, I'll be able to switch my hours and that will be a huge help :D

 I got to go into the chapel the first day! It's SO pretty! My dang thumb is in the way :(

 Gorgeous on the inside! and I got to hear the organ!!

I also had to go to the American Tobacco Campus for training- so pretty over there!

 American Tobacoo Campus- I am like 2 miles from this place :D

 My little cubicle!

 Our building is so neat- I love exposed brick! 

 Where I get my work done :D I need to decorate still!

3) Garth Brooks- This was all the way back in November. but OH MAN. Best concert I have ever seen!!!!!! Garth did an amazing job. John surprised me with tickets. Boy do I love that man! Ever since Garth was the music of our honeymoon road trip down to FL, he has held a special place in both of our hearts. The show was in Greensboro, so John came and picked me up (was still working in Brier Creek) and we headed off. We realized when we got there, we didnt have cash for  parking- so we went to the store. Well then we realized we didnt know our pin numbers to get cash back- fail. Super fail. We tried every method we could think of before we decided to just part at a grocery store kind of close by (about a mile, LOL) and walk. We made it just in time for the show though and it turned into a good laugh ( and no worries, we got our pin the next day from the bank. lol). John actually had an interview the next morning at 9AM with the Executive Director of one of the companies he was interviewing with (where he works now!)!!!! We contemplated not going to the concert, but are so glad we decided to anyways. It was SO much fun and John did just fine in his interview :D

4) Thanksgiving- John and I hosted Thanksgiving again this year! Everyone was able to come this year too! It was wonderful! we had: Me, John, My Mom, Bob (mom's boyfriend, yes you heard me right), Chris, Jim, Jane, Julie, Grandma Brinn, two of Grandma Brinns friends, Bryan, and Sherry and Aaron!! 14 people! John made the turkey- again DELICIOUS! and we all brought sides to share. We had SO. MUCH. FOOD. John and I were eating on it for days. It was a great time to get to catch up with everyone and just hang out around the house. :D 

I made a 7 layer chocolate cake this year- well the icing is homemade and takes time to harden once it's on the cake. Well we didnt notice, but it started to drip on the floor- guess who found it and it was dripping on him. lol! Silly boy.

 He wasnt upset about it at all! and luckily didnt get enough to make him sick!

 The spread

 Continued

 YAY HOSTS!

 Grandma :D So glad she got to come to our house!

 Kisses!

5) Black Friday- I really, really , really didnt want to go shopping on Black Friday. BUT I was going to start a new job the next Monday and really needed clothes. I found some amazing deals at Khols and it only ended up taking me about an hour!! I got everything I needed too! SCORE! Last minute in line I decided to google a coupon to see if there were any and yep! It saved me another 15%! ALWAYS GOOGLE FOR COUPONS! :D After I was done shopping, Krystal and Josh met me at our house. They had just gotten in and we were going to hang out :D John had to work late at WRAL that night :( but were all able to hang out the next night.

6) NC State vs. UNC- John was offered by RayCom to work this game too! So after he worked until midnight at WRAL the night before, he got up and went to work the game. He loves doing that stuff though AND he brought home a win! So that was awesome! He had to go straight to work after the game so he was exhausted when he got home, but we all still got up and hung out with him for awhile :D Our friends are the best. 

 We watched the game from my house while John worked it! lol.

7) Timmy and Meg- Some of our good friends celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary in November! They had a really nice party. John of course had to work and he couldnt get off, but I wouldnt have missed it for the world, so I went by myself. lol. It was an incredible party. Lots of old Asbury folks that made me feel like I was flashing back to high school. haha. It was great to catch up with everyone. Timmy and Meg looked so incredibly happy. They are seriously a couple John and I admire so much. I hope we are just as in love as they are at 30 years!

They looked amazing!

8) Jamberry- I held my first Jamberry house party! My neighbor had me throw her one at my house. We had a few ladies come over and we talked about Jamberry and nails and whatnot. It was a lot of fun! Wasnt sure if I would like an in house party, but it was good times! :D Made a lot more sales that way too! lol. Which also got me a recruit!! I did well in December! I have definitely made back everything I put into it! But then it's mostly just gone back into buying more :D lol. Not all for me, but still. I love the product and forsee me using them for a long time! Here are my most recent Jamicures:

Silly ladies!

 Thanksgiving Jamicure!

 Christmas Jams!

9) Stephen Murphy got married! Whoop whoop!! John was in the wedding, so we drove down early for the weekend. Friday John went bowling with the guys in the wedding- everyone lived out of town, so there wasnt a huge bachelor party or anything. That night was also the rehearsal dinner. They had the dinner at Lindsay (Stephen's fiance) grandma's church. The food was yummy and it was nice to meet her and get to see Stephen again! When we got back to the hotel, it was still pretty early, so we all sat in the lobby and had a good time. Luke and the rest of the Schlimmes came down too, so we hung out with them for the entire weekend. SO. MUCH. FUN. :D The Murphy's ended up joining us and we had about 30 people in the lobby playing games. Saturday, John had to be at the wedding site early, so I hung around the hotel and got lunch with the Schlimmes before we went to the wedding. The wedding was beautiful and we had a lot of fun. It was really nice to see Stephen so happy :D John got the DJ to play our wedding song- he's so sweet :D So we got to dance a little too. I sure do love that man! Congrats Stephen and Lindsay!!! After the wedding, we all went back to the hotel and hung out in the lobby again- huge crowd again. It was awesome. Surely to be a weekend remembered :D

Rehearsal

 My handsome hubby and Luke waiting for the bride!

 KISSES!

 We clean up nice ;D

Stephen and his bride :D

 Selfie after the wedding! LOL

 After party group shot

 This is how we roll...

10) Propane!- We finally have a working fireplace! Kevin, one of our friends in the neighborhood, worked out a deal for the people in the neighborhood and we got ours hooked up! It was actually a pain in the butt because the builders put the dang hook up next to the electrical box and the propane tank has to be 10 feet from it. John ended up having to move the grounding wire and we had to get a lay down tank. Not a big deal, but with everything going on it was a headache. I am glad it's working though! It heats the house up really well. We have the heat turned down low now, so hopefully we will start saving some on electricity! 

11) Carter turns 4! My baby turned 4!!! I cant believe it! Of course I forgot pictures and everything. But I did get one of him opening a present :D Happy Birthday Carterbutt!!!!

12) Christmas! I forgot to take pictures this year :( but we got our tree up fairly early and decorated the house nice. We even got lights for outside this year! We got some of the icicle lights that look like they are falling. Love them! :D Christmas was crazy with everything going on in our lives this December- Both starting new jobs, wedding, my brother stayed with us for a week after he got his knee surgery- just SO much going on. It never really felt like Christmas and we went shopping super late. I am excited for next year when we can really enjoy the season :D To celebrate this year- we spent Christmas Eve with my family. We went over to my Mom's and Bob had made us a very nice meal! It was just them, me and John, and Brittany and Chris. It was nice.  We exchanged presents and played some games. Christmas day we got up early and went to John's family in Fayetteville to see everyone. We saw all of John's Dads family, ate a yummy meal and caught up. Afterwards, John's Mom and Dad and Julie and Joel all came to our house for dinner and to open presents. It was so nice! :D I feel like it came and went quick this year! Tonight we are going over to my Mom's to see Mawmaw and Pawpaw, so that will be nice too :D

Dad Martin did take just a few. Our Christmas tree! 

 Carter trying on his gift! A hiking backpack!!

 So adorable :D

12) Kevin turned 30!- One of our good friends in the neighborhood (yay for neighborhood friends!) turned 30 and we all went out to celebrate. It was so much fun! I cant believe we are all getting ready to turn 30 though! haha :D HAPPY BIRTHDAY KEVIN!

Weeks of FUN!

How is it already November?! I feel like time is just slipping faster and faster away from me. I have some BIG news to share!!! :D (No, I am not pregnant :D)

I GOT A NEW JOB! I was offered a job at Duke University! I will be working for the Talent Identification Program and could not be more excited :D I had a colleague that I went to grad school with contact me and tell me about the position that was open and she thought I would be perfect for it! I interviewed for it and they offered the position to me! It all happened INCREDIBLY fast. It is such a great opportunity for my career and I am really happy that I get to use my degrees again :D 

I gave my notice a few weeks ago at my current job and I will miss them dearly. I have loved property management, but this job at TIP is just not one that I can pass up.

My last day with Weinstein is November 24th,  I'm off for Thanksgiving, and then I start at Duke on Dec 1!

SO EXCITED!!!!

Here are the other things of fun :D

1) Halloween- (I did say weeks!) I LOVE Halloween! This year John had to work :( So after I got off work, I went home for a little bit and handed out candy. Then I went over to Brad's for awhile to hang out. Hopefully, next year John will be off and we can throw a party or something :D Halloween and Thanksgiving are seriously my favorite holidays and I would love to do more for Halloween than we usually get to do :D Plus, we had SO many trick-or-treaters, It's fun to see all the costumes and hand out candy to kids!

The Hosts- so silly!

Thank you Sandlot and the little Minion. LOL

2) Krystal and Josh- They came down for the week and we just had a blast! They came in late Tuesday so I didnt get to see them much since I was already in bed for work the next am. But Wednesday came and they hung out with John some and then when I got home (John had to go to work :( of course) so we went up to 42 Craft Beverage and hung out for awhile and caught up. Then we ate dinner and I took them over to meet some of our neighbors and we had a really good time. And from here on out, just about each day they visited basically deserves it's own number:D

3) Surprise celebratory dinner!-  The Thursday Krystal and Josh were, after I got off work John had surprised me by getting a lot of our friends together to celebrate my new job with me!!! We went to Tyler's Taproom and had a great time. I seriously have the best husband in the world :D 

4) State Game- Two Saturday's ago was Homecoming at State! Which is why Krystal and Josh were here in the first place. lol. But the came kicked off at 12:30- which meant we got to tailgating at like 7:30am. IT WAS SO COLD. I am definitely not ready for the cold weather :(. But we had a great tailgate! We had so much fun and after the game, which we wont talk about, everyone came back to our house to grill out. Good times! :D 

Love this girl!

John's face is priceless. lol

So serious!

Kristain and Andrew!

We met some random guys from Scotland. They flew to the US and picked any game in NC to go to and they chose ours! :D So we let them hang with us :D

5) Maryland- Tuesday, after Krystal and Josh left Monday, we drove up to visit them! haha. John and I finally got some vacation time together and we wanted to go up there and visit them again. Another post to come for sure about that trip!

6) Job Interviews! John has had a few over the past few weeks and has another this week. MAJOR prayers are appreciated for one to come through!! :D

7) Neighborhood friends- John and I have been so blessed lately! So many changes going on, but a major one is that we've met a few couples in our neighborhood! One couple in particular we have become pretty close with already and just adore them. Slowly, we are getting to know more! We also had a huge block party- which is how it all began. One of the girls in the neighborhood put an invite on my door and I RSVP'd and volunteered to help put it on. It's been wonderful getting to know these people! Everyone in our neighborhood is so nice. I really love living where we do! We had about 50 people show up to the block party and we all brought food and even had the fire department come out for the kids in the neighborhood. It was awesome! 

8) Girls night! I had my first girls night out with these two lovely ladies from my neighborhood last night! We went and got Mexican :D Love these ladies already! It is a TERRIBLE picture of me- no judgments. :D

9) And always this guy: Just look at that face! Those ears!

28 things before 29 Summary

I still cant believe I am already 29! and a whole month in. Yikes. lol This past year as been a whirl wind for sure, so of course I didnt get to everything I wanted to get to. Again, I do it just as a guide, but I'm not upset I didnt get to it all. Life happens and SO many other things have taken the place. Here's the summary and keep an eye out for the new list. 30 is a big year!!!

Bold= Complete

Italics= In progress

Red= Have not completed...

1. Read 15 books
1. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
2. A Midwife's Confession by Diane Chamberlain
3. The Good Father by Diane Chamberlain
4. Before the Storm by Diane Chamberlain
5. Secrets She Left Behind by Diane Chamberlain
6. Keeper of the Light by Diane Chamberlain
7. The Lies We Told by Diane Chamberlain
8. Divergent by Veronica Roth
9. Insurgent by Veronica Roth
10. Allegiant by Veronica Roth
11. If I Stay by Gayle Forman
12. Where She Went by Gayle Forman
13. The Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
14. The Pretties by Scott Westerfeld
15. The Best Yes by Lysa TerKeurst
2. Run a 10k- I have not run an official race- but I've reached the goal of being able to run 6.2 miles!
3. Run a 1/2 Marathon!! (ambitious, I know)- yea, ambitious it was. Never happened. I got up to 6.2 and stopped. 
4. Lose 15lbs- ha. I've gained weight :(
5. Go fishing- 5/7 on our beach trip!
6. Try Geocaching
7. Start a garden of some sort- It's not a veggie garden, but I do have a pretty flower bed with flowers in it now! That counts, right? It sure was lot of work. lol
8. Start an IRA- Decided to not move my funds over from my 403B- yet. :D
9. Make homemade sushi- see blog post!
10. Create a first-aid kit for us and Carter- Still need to do this one :(
11. Go camping- and this one too. 
12. Take a random trip with John- Went to Kinston, NC and Pittsboro- see blogposts for more info!
13. Kayak 5 times this year
1. Corrolla, NC
2. Neuse River, Raleigh
14. Read through and study a book in the bible- Completed Job and Ruth
15. Host a theme party- Housewarming party! 1/25/14 and July 4th party! 7/4/14
16. Scrapbook our time in Miami- not sure I'm going to do this anymore I LOVED our time in Miami, but I have it all on the blog. I dont know if I want to scrapbook anymore or not.
17. Try 10 new restaurants
1. McCall's in Clayton, NC
2. Three Olive Pizza in Garner, NC
3. Yummy Yummy Japan in Garner, NC
4. Armstrong Seafood in Nags Head, NC
5. Terrafin Station in Garner, NC
6. The Clubhouse in Garner, NC
7. Fiesta Mexicana, Garner NC
8. Kings BBQ Kinston, NC
9. Carolina Brewery Bar and Grill Pittsboro, NC
10. Simple Twist Garner, NC
11. and lots more :D
18. Try 10 new recipes
1. Chicken Stir Fry with Peanut Sauce
2. One Pan Cheesy Smoked Sausage and Pasta Skillet
3. Sour Cream Noodle Bake
4. Layered Enchilada Casserole
5. Quesadilla Casserole
6. Meatballs
7. Million Dollar Spaghetti
8. Chicken and Wild Rice
9. Goulash
10. Sushi
19. Sew 2 items
20. Re-purpose a piece of furniture
21. Landscape our new yard :D
22. Establish a cleaning schedule for the new house.
23. Make a piece of art to go in the new home- I've started and almost finished!
24. Unpack everything and find a spot for everything- yea...
25. Find a church and get involved in it- C3?
26. Fence in yard
27. Host a family dinner (both of our families invited)- This thanksgiving will complete this one- a little late, but better than never!
28. Update a calendar with everyone's birthdays/anniversaries for the year and send out cards! I need to start on this like asap for next year. lol

Friday..errrr..Saturday Favorites!

Haha :D Life continues to be full of craziness! Here are my favorites from this past week-ish :D

1) MY HAIR! I have not changed my hair style in YEARS. YEARS PEOPLE! I decided that 29 needed a new look. I didnt know what the look was going to be though. My good friend, Kala, does hair for a living and I told her to just go for it. So, 11 inches and red hair coloring later- I'm a new woman :D 

Before. (I was trying to take a sad face picture, but some ladies were making me laugh)

11 inches!

 After! :D It looks so much happier :D

I think I look more grown-up now. lol

 2) FALL!!! I cant believe I haven't even posted about it being fall yet. MY FAVORITE TIME OF YEAR! :D Of course my house is all decorated! I also have a big beautiful porch to decorate now too! So I got to get some outside decorations! :D

 3) My flowerbed!! See the post about my birthday- but it looks SO much better :D

 4) GUTTERS! Praise the Lord for gutters! lol. Now we wont have any water damage issues and the mulch wont float away from the rain and my plants wont drown :D

5) Jamicure- My latest! LOVE this product!

 6) This lady- She cracks me up. Glad to say that she's my friend now and not just my mom. :D We have so much fun together. She's crazy. lol She has started to date again recently!! crazy. and this deserves it's own post with updates, so that will becoming :D

7) Throw Back with the Pack! John and I went with Steve to the Red and White basketball game last night. They started with a throw back game with some of the legends! It was awesome! :D Good time. Then we ended it with Mexican. You cant go wrong there. :D

 Love this man :D

Have a good weekend y'all!