head first...

into the school year.

so i'm happy to be back, and i'm happy to see all my students and spend time with my friends and feel productive! and begin the whole counseling process again. it's taken a while to adjust, though, but i feel like i'm finally back on track. we kicked it all off with open house on tuesday night, my first day back and teaching my health class on wednesday, and my first "thank goodness it's friday" of the year at the end of our abbreviated week.

i also had the joy of celebrating justin's birthday this week, with a lovely dinner out and more shopping for the nintendo ds. we're definitely trying out the whole "sharing" aspect of the ds, even though it was his birthday present, because i have discovered the fabulously entertaining mini-games with the super mario brothers, mariokart (always one of my favorites), brain age (my purchase!) and tetris. all games we can both enjoy, and enjoy we have :)

we headed to fayetteville on saturday this weekend to celebrate mom's birthday today. it was also the first time we'd been to hay street since the engagement, so it was nice to see lots of family friends and visit with them. we have ideas of what needs to happen next with wedding planning, but they just haven't happened yet. i'm trying to keep a positive attitude without stressing out too much when it seems like "the list" is building up. it's very easy to get overwhelmed with the details that are way off in the future--but in the end, the time will fly by, it will only be a one day event, and the only thing that will matter is the fact that justin and i are happily married.

in the meantime, we have finished up the process of selecting our attendants (bridesmaids and groomsmen) and will soon have a caterer and perhaps even a florist. all in due time :)

that's all for now, later, y'all.

three days til the children come...

so, the faculty meetings have begun and we're in full swing preparing for the school year. i enjoyed my last few days of the summer doing some tutoring and getting together with my other teachers friends. we also did a lot to get ready for justin's move on friday. he picked up the truck in the morning, and friday afternoon, we spent about two hours moving his stuff out, putting half of it in storage and splitting the rest of it between his room at heather's and my room. it's nice to have that taken care of, and they should be able to clean it over the next week or so before the end of the month. it was HOT, though, on friday, and i was never so glad to be moving. i've lost my tolerance for the mid-summer heat, and it's hard to believe that i used to be able to stand out in it for hours on end at band camp.

speaking of band camp, i was able to relive some of my "glory days" with the marching pirates on saturday. dr. knighten let us know about a marching pirates alumni event that evening (which included some great parker's barbeque). it was awesome to see some of the former marching pirates people, especially courtney (always a pleasure!) and some other past ECUMP leaders. the evening would not be complete without a small group joining the sousaphones for the pre-game run-on. good times, good times.

AND i got the exciting news last night that there's another engaged girl out there that will be planning along with me--linda and brandon will be tying the knot next summer! i'm so happy for them and couldn't think of a better couple out there :)

we had justin's family birthday celebration tonight at his mom's house. it was great to see everyone and i went ahead and gave him his gift--a nintendo ds lite. he knew he was getting it and went ahead and bought a game to go with it. so now we're figuring out all the neat features on it (with the promise that he will use some of his birthday money for a sports coat--a necessity for a wedding we're going to next month).

okay, that's all for now. good luck on the start of school! later, y'all :)

and now...

we have a preacher! everyone say "woo hooo!"

you've gotta rejoice in the little things when your "theknot.com" list still has 170 items to be checked off.

planning continues...

more details now...

so...adding some pictures from inside the kyle house now. there are four major rooms, all decorated in the historical style with lots of great architectural details--14 ft ceilings, chandeliers, ornate cornices and a great staircase in the center that leads up to the second floor. there is a foyer that connects the house to the episcopal church beside it, and then they have a great back lawn where we could put up a tent and tables if need be, as well as a playground for the kids. not to mention the huge magnolia trees in the front with the covered front porch. it just fit the size that we needed, with lots of options for mingling and places for people to sit and talk. our big decision had been deciding what kind of reception we wanted, and after we discussed the rehearsal dinner and what that would involve, we agreed that it would provide the "sit-down meal" that justin's northern instincts wanted and the reception could be more of a classic southern deal. so check mark for that one :)

besides the reception research, it's been a busy weekend. friday evening was the kenny chesney concert in raleigh--i went with justin's family (scott, melissa, tyler and destiny) and we all had such a great time. it's amazing how that type of concert can bring out the redneck in people. more overalls, straw hats and lack of shirts than i've seen in a long time. i also got to see maggie and baxter before we left fayetteville on saturday--always great to visit them. this afternoon was spent going to raleigh to pick up justin's newly fixed computer from the apple store, and to extend the trip (so it wasn't a 3 hour round trip for a 15 minute task) we stopped in and visited matthew cook for a little while. i miss having him closeby for our weekly chats, but it's still nice to have our catch-up conversations every now and then.

i start work again on wednesday...where has the summer gone?

alright, that's it for now. later, y'all.

we can check another one off...

we've decided on a reception site--the kyle house, built in 1855.

(sorry for the crappy picture--i forgot to take any of the outside of the building, so this is the only one we could find online)

more info to come.... :)

here we go, here we go again...

for your entertainment...


and yes, here we go again. into the school year, into another move, into wedding planning and everything else these next few months will bring.

so yeah, there's one more week of tutoring and then faculty meetings will begin, followed by the school year. i'm excited about seeing what this school year will be like--the changes with the new building, meeting new students, seeing some of my old favorites, spending time with my friends everyday instead of just one or two days a week like this summer. getting started on those LCSW hours and also trying my hand at teaching (health class for 9th and 10th). i cannot say enough how much i love my job and how perfect it is for me at this moment.

another move...for justin. atleast i don't have to move this summer. but justin's roommate is moving out and we're unfortunately 4 months short of needing a year long lease. so the most economical solution we've come up with is for justin to scatter his stuff around greenville for the next eight months, stay in the extra bedroom at his sister's place and save money for our many upcoming needs (new car, new house, new furniture, etc.) i'll be keeping a few things here, so that's led me to clean up here and throw out some of my stuff that needed to be purged. and so as not to impose on his sister, he'll be over here more often for dinner and to use my internet and tv, etc. so it'll give us a good taste of how we handle more of the "day to day" stuff together. so far, so good :) but it does stink to have to move in august--again. oh well... it'll be over soon.

and as far as wedding planning, we're heading to fayetteville this saturday to take a look at reception sites. we have a couple of ideas in mind, but after seeing them in person, i'm hoping we'll be able to reserve and have that detail taken care of. as long as i have the big details taken care of by the end of the month, i'll feel good about it.

this past weekend kept us busy, with lots of errands on friday, then our "fun with h2O" event at church and some car work on saturday, and on sunday, a trip to raleigh for lunch at carraba's, a visit to the apple store and a quick catch-up with justin's cousin before he heads back to california. lots of stuff going on, but it's all good...

alright, that's it for now. later, y'all.

mid-week post

so we have a date penciled in... now just following up on the rest of the details. at least having one thing done makes me feel better :)

i've been spending a lot of my free afternoons cleaning up and throwing out old stuff, since i know i will have to consolidate it at some point in the future. it's amazing how much old stuff i've held on to, and also how just seeing a piece of paper or little trinket will totally take you back to that stage in your life. i ran across a bunch of old movie ticket stubs in my desk drawer and i could tell you who i saw each movie with and where it was and about when it was. i also found enough important papers to fill up my new file box i bought around tax time (after i got in trouble for not keeping better track of my paperwork.) and i've taken a lot of pictures through out the years--even found some negatives (from the pre-digital days). i think for all of these reasons, i should get into scrapbooking. the trouble would be actually trying to organize all of these things into some sort of scrapbook. i'm just not sure i'm ready to make that jump, cause i'm somewhat afraid of the time and money that i would inevitably end up spending...

and it's hot. let me just put that out there. it's reaaaaaaally hot.

okay, that's it for now. later, y'all.

vacation is over...

and school is two weeks away... sigh.

but i did have an excellent vacation along the outer banks with mom and grandma.

we headed towards the beach and stopped at all the little coastal towns, visiting historic districts, estuariums and local restaurants. once in manteo and nags head, we did all the touristy stuff--festival park where the elizabeth II is docked, fort raleigh, the aquarium, the lost colony, and the elizabethan garden where i had a great time taking some pictures...

loved this gate--


and the statues...and with all this "elizabeth" stuff, i did enjoy seeing elizabeth play in the concert at the festival park friday night amongst heat lightning storms. beautiful music, but scary skies!

in manteo, we relaxed one evening along the waterfront and watched boats coming in and out of the harbor...
and on the way back, we stopped in columbia and edenton for some more historic districts...


more pictures up on flickr as well--check 'em out!

fun stuff? finding a "life is good" store that had stuff from the past couple of years that has long been off the website. enjoying some relaxing beach time. and having dinner with justin's mom and stepdad when we came back into town--along with seeing justin for the first time in five days--i was starting to miss him a bit ;)

so now it's two more weeks of tutoring, a couple of weekends starting the wedding planning process, and before you know it, school will be here. i'm off to enjoy the remainder of my summer vacation :) later, y'all.