in the "office" hanging out with my "girls"

alright, some post office prattle.

number one, you can verify with justin, i so called the "jam" situation before the new episode came on. i knew they wouldn't put them together--hello, it's only the 3rd season? but i also knew pam wouldn't be with roy--the kiss would have shaken her too much. jim would take the job, pam would be single, and they would pine for each other for atleast another couple of months. save it for february sweeps or something :)

on the whole oscar situation--we knew that was coming. i didn't expect them to open with it, but i read a column by the girl that plays meredith after the fact where she said there had been fear that "the office" would lose it's cutting-edge social commentary, that uncomfortable comedy that made us laugh, made us cringe, and made us look at the way we handled those "difficult" situations. that they would go for the safer, slap-stick comfy comedy that they knew would fly over without making too much of a stir. let's face it, if you have a show that has put episodes out there like "sexual harassment," "diversity day" (looking back, that was only their second episode! can you imagine coming out with that and what guts it took?) and now "gay witch hunt," it's obvious that "the office" has not lost their edge. if anything, they're taking even bigger steps into getting those topics out there. i watched the movie "crash" recently, and it very much focused on those same, awkward, uncomfortable and down-right "ignorant" (if i may quote oscar) statements that a lot of people still hold to. it's handled smartly, with wit, with a bit of sarcasm, and with characters that we love even though their faults cause such drama. it's one of the best shows out there. *off my soap box*

gilmore girls tonight. i am a big luke/lorelai fan and not a christopher/lorelai fan. i'm only tolerating this because i see it as a step that must be taken in order to get l&l together by the end of the season. the whole long-distance rory/logan thing smacks a little too familiar with me (yes, yes, i admit it, i cried during the season finale) but i'm interested to see what they do with rory while logan is away.

and just to round out the whole tv conversation, i'll throw these opinions out there: loved "studio 60" and "6 degrees"--which with my luck means that they'll be canceled by november. only watching "survivor" to see how long candice lasts (yes, i graduated high school with candice on the raro tribe--she was two spots ahead of me in class rank, that smarty pants) and because i'm getting bored with extreme home makeover, i might pick up "amazing race" instead. the DVR is working overtime right now...

alright, off of tv. afterall, i do have a life.

friday was a fabulous social with oakwood folks where there was karaoke, lots of homemade hor's dourves and salsa dancing. you know that sounds like a good time. justin also purchased his new car that day, a blue honda civic that i'm sure we'll have a picture up sometime soon. saturday was the ECU football game vs. WVU, which is the only game of the year where justin could care less who won. (WVU won, obviously--ranked number four in the country--but we did come close). and then sunday was destiny's birthday party, where we celebrated her entering the double digits. it's a busy week, but not too crazy. alan's concert on thursday night. end of student council elections at school on friday. whoo....

a couple of photos to share before i go fix dinner...

taken at dinner on the way back from the beach a couple of weeks ago. it makes me want to be there....



and a very welcome site around greenville. a new sheetz gas station opened on thursday, which means they have 10 days to sell gas below cost to drum up business. which means it started a major competition between the greenville gas stations where the price dropped about 50 cents in two days. flippin' awesome.

counting down the hours...

you have no idea how excited i am about this one...





though i am a bit dissapointed that tomorrow's episode is titled "gay witch hunt" and not "pam and jim get together and live happily ever after." but i guess you need something else to base the show on, so i'll just be patient and see what happens.

yay jam!

things are picking up...

so after wrapping up our first full week of the year (including another crazy book club night and another near-death moment for the mustang--she's close to dying, folks--it's only a matter of time). that's why justin and i have spent time researching car loans and preparing to purchase a new car within the next couple of weeks, possibly by this weekend. ahh, the memories.

this was a fun, productive weekend--a bridal fair in fayetteville where i got some great tips and ideas on other possible vendors. then it was off to raleigh for the rascal flatts concert with maggie. we had an excellent picnic dinner out in the parking lot and then made our way inside to the lawn. the remainder of the evening invovled some amazing music, some kinda decent music, an unusual amount of talking in between songs, and dodging some extremely inebriated college boys and girls (and there was one chick that was determined to tick me off--took a whole lot for me not to react). i did have a great time visiting with maggie, but the night was almost spoiled when it took me an hour to move about 15 feet in the parking lot. as much as i love live concerts and going to alltel a couple times during the summer, there have been a few times where i almost think it's not worth it. maybe i will spring for the "family safe alcohol and smoke free zone" next time, or even actual seats. or possibly just stick towards the back of the lawn with all the rest of the sober people.

and it's a busy busy week at school and everywhere else. i have about 5 sticky notes on my desktop with stuff that needs to get done this week, and a few more things that aren't written on stickies. i do LOVE that it's a new season of tv, and my dvr is chock full of fresh new shows that i can watch at my leisure. right now, i'm watching "studio 60 on sunset strip" and am counting down the days until the new episodes of "the office," "grey's anatomy" and "gilmore girls" come on. i'll get a chance to catch up on those this weekend in between the ecu/wvu game and justin's niece's birthday party.

favorite story of this week? this one i always knew i liked madrid.

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

another mid-week post

so it's our first full week of school--i know, sad stuff, huh? and it's going well and i continue to love my job. colorguard is starting up, i'm getting involved with student council stuff and my new class is coming together nicely.

i got the opportunity to catch up with lisa last week--i miss her a lot at work and she's doing quite well in her doctoral program. afterwards, justin and i caught up with the church crew for dinner and then enjoyed a quiet evening and movie.

saturday, we were incredibly productive--we registered at two stores and made it down to the beach to take some photos that we could use for our save the date cards/engagement announcements. it was a little tough because we were using my tripod and timer feature on the camera, but some of them came out really well.


the last one is a little too dark, but the sunset was gorgeous behind us and we had to capture it.

sunday was church, lunch in goldsboro with dad for his birthday, and registering at two more stores before we called it a day. i've also managed to get the caterer/cake person lined up, and i'm playing phone tag with a hotel person about reserving a block of rooms. it feels good to get a lot of these big details taken care of, and i'll be headed to fayetteville this weekend for a bridal show before the rascal flatts concert in raleigh with maggie for her birthday :) very excited about that!

alright, i will update more later. until then, enjoy the rest of the pictures on my flickr site. later, y'all...

short week, long weekend...

so a little late in posting this week, but it wasn't your typical week either. we had our second week of school--went well, not too many issues, and finally getting into the swing of things. the weather was crazy, with a heat index of over 100 early in the week and then tons of thunderstorms and rain at the end of the week, culminating with tropical storm ernesto on thursday night/friday morning. the flooding and rain was enough to get us out of school, so with justin's car in the shop, we headed to raleigh to put his macbook in the shop as well. both of these visits should hopefully take care of the immediate problems. i did get lunch at the cheesecake factory out of it (with a white chocolate peanut butter truffle cheesecake slice--yum!), so definitely worth the trip :)

saturday was spent car shopping--not terribly exciting, but necessary when justin's looking at getting a new car sometime next month. he's leaning towards a jetta or a civic--still a little bit of time for him to decide.
sunday we got up and headed towards pittsboro to have lunch with the family, and then back towards chapel hill for my cousin meghan's wedding. it was the first jewish wedding any of us had been to, so the boys got to wear the complimentary yamukahs (with the names of the couple and date printed on the inside) and the program offered some great explanations on the symbolism of the wedding ceremony. the ceremony was outdoors on a shaded patio area--overlooking the golf course and lake. gorgeous, a little warm, but overall, a very neat experience.



we were then able to go upstairs in the clubhouse after the wedding and enjoy the cocktail hour before dinner. it was great to see all of the family that had come in for the wedding and people that we hadn't seen since our own engagement. though our wedding will not be anything close to the size of this one, it was fun to pick up some ideas and enjoy being a guest while knowing you're also planning a wedding. we all ended up out on the terrace and enjoyed some of the drinks and snacks before heading into the ballroom for dinner.






dinner was served after the introduction of the couple, a few toast and a big welcome to all of us. they went all out with the dinner, including a four course meal, live band, chocolate fountain, and following the cake-cutting, lots of dancing. we got to see some of the traditional jewish dances, lots of beach music and shagging, and just some plain crazy wedding dancing. it was entertaining, to say the least. justin and i headed back before it got too late, and we were able to enjoy our labor day holiday with kenny, stephanie and kaleb, and a cook-out with the church crew.


i know i've been mentioning the changes i've made to my office at work, and i finally got a chance to put up some of the pictures. i painted it blue over the summer, and then this past week, i decided to add some butterflies to my main wall--just to brighten the place up a little bit more. i finished them today, so i thought i'd give you a nice view of what you see coming down the hall as you look into the window at my office. very kid-friendly, and it just makes me happier to be in there. i had a blast painting those, and it makes me miss my crafty stuff. gotta find an outlet for that at some point...





alright, that's all for now. later, y'all :)