gbc reunion!

this weekend was the young adult sabbath weekend retreat at laurel ridge. i have been so excited for weeks to get away to the mountains, spend some time in the Word, and see my gbc girls! for those who don't know, gbc stands for girly book club, which was andrew's endearing term for our study of the book captivating last year. we began the study all searching for something - a closer relationship with God, with our feminine sides, and with each other. the study involved christin, cindi, me, and sometimes rachel and cate. the three of us who went all the time really found what we were searching for in our times together. in the past year, we've all gone from being in raleigh and unmarried, to engaged, married, and progressing towards our life goals in one way or another. it's really been a cool bond that we've shared, and it was wonderful to spend the weekend with these girls.

since our study, cindi still lives in the area and is beginning her fourth year of vet school at state. she and thomas got married in december at home moravian church in winston-salem. i don't see much of her just because vet school is such a busy time in anyone's life. christin married dusty this fall in roanoke rapids at the episcopal church she grew up in, and they have moved to clemson, sc because dusty works for intervarsity christian fellowship (specifically among the greek population) and is planting a chapter there. seeing them both this weekend reminded me just how much i love and crave good christian women to share in my days. i wish we were all able to be closer in proximity more of the time, but i'm so grateful for having this weekend to spend with them up on the mountain.

top ten

reasons not to go grocery shopping at harris teeter at 10:30pm on tuesday night.

10. you will walk in and find the whole store restocking

9. all the produce is bruised and busted

8. while running into friends is fun, you're already up past your bedtime

7. it will take an hour to do a half hour's worth of shopping (mostly because it's past your bedtime)

6. you will be too tired to find the wine you like, little black dress

5. you will have forgotten the rain check you got last time for the charmin double-roll tp

4. even if you'd remembered the rain check, they're still out of tp!

3. did i mention it's already past your bedtime??

2. for some unknown reason, the 3 employees standing around aimlessly will not open a real checkout lane, and will instead roll their eyes and get angry with you while you ring up your $180 of groceries - and of course you feel like crap cause the rest of the store has now decided to check out behind you and is also rolling their eyes and getting angry with you!

1. you will enter your vehicle a full 15 minutes after you began checkout... and look like THIS:

signed, sealed, delivered...

it's oooooours! well, sort of. we are now officially under contract for the house and land at 303 william drive in the willow lake subdivision. we had about a week of sitting on pins and needles, waiting to hear back from a less-than-friendly selling agent ahemrochellemccoy-wellswithremaxcough and some chick named rainy dew. yes. rainy dew. no really, that's her legal name, rainy dew.

right as we were beginning to look into other properties - literally, andrew was driving to meet our agent to view another property - we got word that the offer had been signed and faxed to the century 21 office. woohoo!

we couldn't be happier or more excited about this next incredible step! we're getting all the inspections on the home, the septic and well, and even checking for termites. we've got to schedule estimates for new carpet, flooring, and paint. and we're going to try to make our repair money stretch as far as possible so we can move into a really nice, renovated house come summer. i just can't wait to get started on all the home-improvement projects i've come up with in my head! we're set to close "on or before may 29th" so we've got a lot to do in the next month or so, but it's all exciting!!

the red & white

this weekend was filled with red and white!

friday night, andrew and i celebrated surviving a week full of house-drama and waiting by going to the red room! after we got there, we had the great idea to invite friends, and so we called monica and dave to see if they wanted to also celebrate making it to friday. to our excitement, they did! it is awesome to have friends who not only call us to make plans, but are available to meet up for dinner spontaneously as well.

saturday, i went to the red & white game with monica, dave, and their friend jessica while andrew worked - poor andrew :( the red & white, for those of you who aren't in the know, is the pre-season scrimmage for the nc state football team. we met up and tailgated with some bojangles, enjoyed half the game, and then the ladies went back to the tailgate area and drank while david watched the rest of the game. it was a great time had by all.




and now i know why it's called the red & white:

for those of you who're worried (or excited), no, i have not become a traitor - love my appies and the tarheels!!!!!

tax day shall forever be known as...

HOUSE BUYING DAY!











after submitting our initial offer, receiving a counter, submitting our response to the counter, and receiving acceptance, we have written up and signed the final offer for the house! all we have to wait for now is for the sellers to sign in the next day or so and it'll be official... you know that and inspections and paperwork and repairs and closing and redoing flooring and paint and and and and...

but we're so excited and can't wait until it's all final.

our house - sounds gooooooood.

counter

ok, so quick update, our original offer was 9k under their listing, they countered with an offer 4k under the original, and we countered back with one that is 6k under the original. waiting to hear - eep!

you did it!

i'm so proud of my mom!

today, she finished her radiation! she's pretty badass.

in the past year, she has gotten a biopsy, a lumpectomy, chemotherapy, and radiation, and somehow through it all has managed to still be an awesome mom and friend to me.

she was there for my wedding to yell at the resort when they messed up and made me cry, she's been there to counsel me and offer experienced wisdom when i have struggled with the newness of marriage, she has put up with me when i'm grouchy or discouraged or worried or just exhausted, she surprised me on my birthday, and she's been there to just sit around and watch mindless tv when we're both tired and feeling lazy - those are incredible feats for a healthy person to assume, and she's done it all while fighting off cancer.

i know she doesn't want to be defined by this disease, but to ignore the things she's overcome in less than 365 days would be a disservice to her character. i'm probably the luckiest daughter in the world to have gotten her as a mom.

above, my mom and my brother at our wedding :)

the waiting game

i am good at lots of games from soccer, to rummikub, and even speed, but the waiting game is not one of them. those who meet me and hear i'm a teacher of middle school students praise me for my patience. those who know me know better. being patient is not really my strong suit to say the least.

so when i found out that the offer we put in on friday and have been waiting to hear about all weekend was never even seen by the seller, thanks to their incompetent real estate agent, i threw a little temper-tantrum in my head. so the offer has been resent and expires tuesday at 5pm. so hopefully by then we'll hear something either way. grumblegrumblegrumble! ;-)

other than that, andrew and i had a good weekend with friends and family, including dinner with monica, dave, and cindi at olive garden, church, desperate housewives with my mom, and dinner with andrew's mom and grandfather, none of which i remembered to take pictures of - sorry!

i promise to update vividly whenever i hear something about the house.

whew!

i haven't blogged since my birthday because this week has been insane! but insane in a good way. so here's a quick end-of-the-week-pre-weekend update:

monday - finished taxes.

tuesday - birthday festivities... AND found out we were approved for a home loan!

wednesday - the sun returns! our wedding prints finally arrive (you know from the wedding back in august), post birthday exhaustion and collapse on couch.

thursday - dress rehearsal for ewa talent show, followed by dinner and a meeting with our real estate agent -- beginning at 8pm and ending at 12:30am, but we got our offer all together!

friday - my bed is my best friend, offer sent to seller, beautiful sunny and HOT day, "SOAR" celebration with the students 7th period, ewa talent show until 9:30, dinner out at cheesecake factory (cause it's like the only thing open that late), sleepwalk to bed.

oh yeah, and insert work full day in a classroom full of crazy, hormonal 6th graders into each of the above.

today - i slept in until 10:30 (glorious!), ate cake for breakfast, put the dogs out and straightened the dining room table (my good deed for the day), now it's off to get coffee, run errands, visit andrew at work, and perhaps make plans for tonight! any ideas?

i can't wait to hear back from the seller -- eep.

it's my birthday, and everyone remembered!!!

generally, i don't make a big deal of birthdays, especially mine, but who doesn't appreciate when people remember and do nice things to celebrate you? i have felt so blessed and thankful today, more than i have in a long, long time. it's really nice.

on my way to school, i stopped at starbucks and was in for some BIIIIIG changes. 1.STARBUCKS HAS CHANGED ITS CUPS!
2. now they have these cool plastic green thingies to keep the coffee from spilling in your car - it's revolution in the world of caffine.

before i even got to work, i had a happy birthday song on my voicemail from my melissa! it put a smile on my face before i even got out of my car. as soon as i walked in the door, paige reminded everyone of my birthday, so during homeroom, two of the assistant principles came in and led my class in a round of "happy birthday". after second period, paige gave me a necklace she made:it's BEAUTIFUL and i wore it all day!

the kids were well-behaved, and my music appreciation class was amazing at learning how to count rhythms! they've never read music before and are already counting rhythms with whole, half, quarter, and eighth notes, as well as rests. i'm so impressed. after class, we went down to a staff meeting where the teachers sang to me - they were not nearly as good as the kids :-) and i even got a message on my phone from my brother out in california!

when i got home, i was shocked to find streamers, a sign, balloons, flowers, and a cake from my mom! i was so surprised by it all. i seriously had no inkling that anything like that would be awaiting me. andrew chipped in by making the bed, cleaning the kitchen, and best of all, just keeping it all a secret from me. apparently mom forgot her camera, but i definitely took enough pictures for everyone:




when jess found out that andrew was going to have to work tonight, she offered to make me dinner. i went over to her house and enjoyed a fabulous steak and potatoes dinner with broccoli and salad, followed by (of course) cake! jessi gave me the most beautiful calla lilies i've ever seen - and they're in a pot, so i can keep them forever... or at least as long as i can keep them alive!

i just really have to say thank you so much to all the people who made me feel so special today. i've been having such a very hard time lately, and there's nothing more that i could have asked for on this day than to feel that kind of love from my friends, my family, and my God. thank you all immensely.

rain, rain, go away!

alright, the lake has filled up again, we're off stage two water restrictions, and it's been gross for a week now. the rain can end! and with it, i banish the rainy gloom that's been permeating my existence! from now on, i will accept nothing less than sunshine, blue skies, and a warm summer breeze, damnit!

i went back to work today, and the children were relatively well-behaved, minus the interaction first thing this morning, when i sent a 7th grader to the office before the bell even rang. but well, that's middle school. it was actually pretty funny because when i discussed the child's rude and disrespectful behavior with the assistant principal, his reaction was quite comical, "oh, he doesn't know you yet." i'll take it as a compliment coming from him. that i'm basically a hard-ass and kids don't mess with me... which is of course not at all true ;-)

then, this afternoon, i posed the question once again to my bosses about moving up to teach high school instead of staying in sixth grade, his response was both frustrating and flattering. basically, he said he won't let me or paige move up to high school because he hasn't had a "strong sixth grade team" ever, and he doesn't want to lose us to the high school. flattering because he thinks we're doing a good job, and frustrating cause... i don't know how long i can take sixth graders!!!

andrew had this evening off, so we went over insurance, financing, etc. etc. etc. we went to dinner at the rockford and saw some random bagpipers, and for no apparent reason, i took a picture of the underside of a tree: (both of which i was going to post, but blogger is being lame and won't let me).

aaaand that's all for tonight!

when life hands you lemons...

put 'em in your bra! or at least that's what one of my college friends used to say.

but what do you do when life hands you lemons, squeezes them in your eyes, washes your eyes out with salt water, and then hands you a towel full of sand to dry them with?

i mean, seriously, what do you do? cause i'm at a loss.

i like to think that i have a generally optimistic, though realistic view of life, and i like to think that i deal well with stress. but after this week, i think if things don't start going better, i'm going to have to check myself in to a place with padded walls.

it's not any one thing specifically that's gone wrong, but lots of things each day that have added up to a mountain - no, volcano - sized thing, spewing forth molten crap that covers me every time i start to climb out, and covering my life with an ashy haze of gloom.

some examples of flying molten crap:

• andrew's job
  
• trying to buy a house
  
• RAIN
  
• enduring my job
  
• the tarheels stinking up the court last night
  

rays of sunlight through the haze:

• dinner out with melissa
  
• the few hours each day when andrew is home
  
• my family
  
• JESUS
  

so off to church i go this morning... alone once again. maybe next week will be better.

foto friday

sheila always does "foto friday" on her blog, so i'm taking a note from her. today's topic - spring has sprung. this little birdie was courting a female birdie in and out of the bamboo.
this little tulip is one of the few pleasant surprises our rental house has given us.
and this beautiful dogwood is one of two in our yard.

*all the uploads are the full size, so if you click on them you can see them better :-)

ACK! THIS POST WAS DONE BY MEEEEE, EMILY! i guess using andrew's way faster, way better computer has some disadvantages.

:-(

i can has it be weekend pleez?

EDIT:

the gremlins are back

i am so tired! time off was FANTASTIC, but going back to work is that much harder now! monday was a teacher workday that went really well. i had done some planning over break, so i just had to go back and make a few notes, clean up and reorganize the classroom, do some paperwork, and other little administrative stuff. compared to having the kids, workdays are like time off.

when i walked to the door this morning, i was somewhat dismayed when i realized, the gremlins are back. no, i do not think ALL children are gremlins, just MY children! hah. just kidding. mostly. classes went alright, and the new elective i'm teaching this quarter, "music appreciation" should be pretty fun. it's kind of like i get to be a music teacher without having to go back to school! i sort of wish i had, you know, resources... or a curriculum, but it's also nice to be able make it up as i go along.

aaaand i'm too tired for anything else today! no working out, no grocery shopping, just me and the couch until andrew gets home around 10.