stopping to breathe...

so it's been a busy weekend, with showers on friday and sunday and an evening out to the theater on saturday.

the "tool time" shower with the girls from work was fabulous. they had a custom cake, fake hardhat and tools, and all the hoses, shovels and laser levelers i could ask for.


saturday, after we checked out a few places for house stuff and updated registries at a couple of stores, we got ready for a night out on the town. dinner out and then over to ecu for their most recent musical, "urinetown." i was excited to see this unconventional musical and show justin that musicals are not just "rodger and hammerstein" stuff. overall, not bad and definitely not your typical stage show.

sunday, mom and grandma came into town and joined me for my shower at church. my friends got pictures of me and justin, decorated the place and had some great food. it was amazing and such a great time. i should have some more pictures up soon.


and the fun times continue this coming weekend in fayetteville. i'm so excited to see some old friends, and of course, my bridesmaids who are able to be there. it feels impossible that tomorrow is march and we're only about 7 weeks away from the big day. where has the time gone?

okay, that's all for now. gotta start dinner. later, y'all :)

big weekend...

the rest of the week flew by after valentine's day, and before we knew it, it was time for our three day weekend (or for us oakwooders, three and a half days--i LOVE half day fridays).

so justin and i continued our house search and stopped in at the model home of the neighborhood at the top of our list. i had gone to an open house last weekend and talked to a real estate agent there, and he happened to be at the model home that day. we looked at floor plans, got to see a couple of homes that were in progress, and by the end of the afternoon, had seen a house that was about 4 months away from being completed. if we got in now, we could choose our carpet, tiles, paint colors, countertops, lighting fixtures, appliances--pretty much everything except for the vinyl siding and shutters (which was already on the house, obviously.)

we left the house and i said to justin, "i really liked that house." he replied back, "i loved that house. we need to get it." and coming from his background of architecture and designing huge, luxurious homes, that's saying a lot. i had been reminding him that we weren't going to be able to have our "dream home" in our starter home. however, in this situation, i think we're going to be able to come pretty close. granted, it's not the exact layout that he's had in his head for years, but it's definitely a great way to start out.

so we spent the rest of the weekend talking to a few more mortage places, and on my school holiday today--i went and signed our contract for the home. we put some money in escrow (i keep thinking of joey on "friends"--"and i looked on the map and i can't even find 'escrow'!") and now have a ton of paint, countertop and marble samples to choose. just when i thought all the decision making had ended with the wedding planning--we're back to square one :)

but we have a closing date (june 8th--right after i get done with the school year) and a lot to be excited about.

sights of valentine's day at work...

valentine's day at any school is a little hectic. lots of candy, emotions running high, and tons of class parties. so while i had some free time this afternoon, i went around and took some pictures. enjoy my favorite pictures from today and more, of course, to the right on flickr :)

keep on trucking...

so my 24th birthday was fabulous. it was quite the productive trip to fayetteville where we had a practice hair appointment, ordered flowers, and saw a wonderful production of "cinderella" at the CFRT. we were also able to eat lunch at the haymont grill, our recently chosen rehearsal dinner spot. by the time we got back, we were heading to the annual super bowl/chili cook-off at church for some good food and the first time seeing friends there in a couple of weeks. we also celebrated with them the next night for my birthday, so it was wonderful to catch up.

my friends at work had a great lunch planned for me on monday, complete with homemade cake and festive candles. it was very sweet and i was reminded how happy i am to work there! the rest of the week really seemed to fly by, with a fun night of trivia with jennifer one night and a couple of relaxing evenings with justin as well. it helped me prepare for last night's festivities, the valentine's day dance.

i am proud to say that my middle schoolers did an excellent job of getting ready. we also have some awesome parents that are born party-planners and are happy to step in with decorations. we went out on a limb and hired a high schooler for the DJ--a wise move, as he was not expensive and did an awesome job. he had done several other parties for our students and was extremely popular. everyone behaved well, looked gorgeous and we only had to reprimand a couple of some close dancing. the clean-up was done by 10:30 and i was home right before 11. that's a good night in my book :)

today, justin and i headed over to minges colesium to watch his niece, destiny, perform in a cheerleading competition. i must be honest, though i've occasionally paused on the cheerleading competitions on ESPN, i've never actually attended one. the parking lot was full and we made it in just a few minutes before her performance. i did get to witness one of the "individual" performances, which is exactly what it sounds like--one girl performing a routine on her on. destiny's group did extremely well, and even though it was just an exhibition performance and they weren't competing, they have an exciting couple of weeks coming up. their group won the last competition in charlotte and are on their way to nationals in atlanta next weekend. i'll add a couple of pics here on the end.

and on the house front, we are now pre-approved for a mortage. let the house shopping begin!

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

the last few days of being 23...

so it's less than a week until my birthday, and oddly enough, i keep forgetting this.

it might be because we're in the middle of the last big push of wedding planning. in addition to my fayetteville birthday theater performance at the CFRT (this year it's rodger and hammerstein's "Cinderella") we also have a hair run-through, a meeting with the florist and with the rental people for tables, chairs and tents. We'll also meet with people at the church to start planning the ceremony, and we did have a wonderful first meeting with our pastor last weekend. It was so good to see Carl, Mary Ellen and Ellen again--I know they will make the wedding wonderful!

i should be back in time for the super bowl party on sunday afternoon, and though i don't have any huge plans for my birthday, the bridal showers and bridesmaid parties over the next few weeks should make up for it.

it's been incredibly busy at work as i received several new referrals and finished up my case study for the first review period on my LCSW. things don't seem like they'll slow down anytime soon, but i did enjoy watching the kids play in our brief snow flurry this morning. if only it had stuck...

that's about all i have time for now. later, y'all :)