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"Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!" -Anonymous

This was an anonymous comment left on my last post. I am sure it was spam of some kind, but I got a big kick out it. Did this anonymous spam program not notice that I don't post nearly as often these days? And that most of my posts are apologies for not posting as often as I feel I should? Perhaps they're sending me a different message, which is, "your silence says more than your lame posts ever will" or "it's what you're NOT saying that I'm hearing loudest" or "your blog was chosen at random by this spam program".

Who knows. The point is this. I will be even MORE creative and MORE original than my newer posts. Take THAT, SPAMMER!!!

Also, if you are the author of this comment, and are not spam, feel free to identify yourself next time. All opinions are heard on this blog. And by all opinions, I mean mine.

FIN

Happy Holidays!

Well, so Christmas Eve, Christmas, Hanukkah, and Boxing Day have all passed, but New Year's Eve and Day have yet to pass, so I'm still on time. HAPPY HOLIDAYS!! I hope everyone got to spend time with family and friends, or will soon. It certainly makes for an excellent beginning to the New Year.

For Jim and myself, we have spent the past several days in Iowa with the Van Fleets. We've had great fun spending time with the family, eating lots, playing games, watching movies, and just hanging out. Thank you for a wonderful Christmas, Jane, Alanson, and Ib!!!

We leave tomorrow for Charlotte, where we'll go back to work for a few days, then head to Fredericksburg to do "Christmas for New Years" with my family. I am excited to see them, since it's been a while (we saw Mom and Bob at Thanksgiving, but haven't seen Ryan or Melysa since Easter!). I miss my family a bunch lately, so I am super excited to see them! (Note to family: You are ALWAYS welcome to visit us in Charlotte!!! That would be so nice!)

We'll be visiting Richmond people on the way to the 'Burg too, which will be fun! We'll also get to visit with Marta and her family while in Fredericksburg, then we'll get to see all of the Barretts at Sammy's 1st birthday party in Staunton, on our way back to CLT. I am excited about seeing so many people, even if it is packed into only a few days...

My New Year's resolution is to get Blogger working well with my iPhone, so that I can blog directly from my phone. Right now, I am having some issues...

Here's to making 2010 (saying "twenty ten" will save years off your life apparently--haha, not really) a year of peace, love, and togetherness.

A bunny outside of the Van Fleet's house in Iowa! He was sooooo cute!!

Our Nativity scene in Charlotte. This was my Grandmother's set that was given to me.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care!

Our beautiful Christmas tree!!

I've got some 'splainin to do!!

Oh, loyal, faithful readers, I am sorry I have abandoned you. In this economy when you need my wise words more than ever, I have forsaken you. A million times, I am sorry!

I wish there were some awesome reason for my absence...world travel, disease that led to weight loss and a new rockin' bod, monumental changes going on. But sadly, just life as usual, which has been pretty great lately. I won't update you on every little thing, mostly because I can't remember them, but I will give you a few highlights, with a promise to do better.

Everything around the house is still good. My decorating craze was put on hold, mostly because I just sort of stopped decorating, but soon it will be back when we get some shelves installed on the main floor, and I make some rockin' curtains for a few rooms. I did, however, get the office in great shape, with a new filing cabinet, my diplomas hung, and a general cleaning. It looks great, and Jim was really surprised! Yay!

A few trips we have made:

-Asheville, NC to see a Richard Buckner show, and visit our friend, Ezra
-Scott Mountain near Amherst, VA to go camping with Tasha, Jeremy, Gwen, Brady, Sophie, Gardener, Matt, et al.
-Jim went to Cincinnati for his last ever CISV Board Meeting!
-We went to Richmond for Kate's birthday and Halloween. We had a great time, as always!!

A few trips we are going to make:

-Jim is in San Francisco now at a conference
-Thanksgiving in Fredericksburg, with a visit to DC in the days following
-I will be heading to Philly and Swarthmore, PA to visit Sarah, Andy, Maddie, and baby #2, and to go to Emily and Roban's wedding with Marta!!! I am really excited about this trip!!!
-Christmas in Iowa, then Fredericksburg
-Perhaps Paris in April?!? We've been talking about it and would love to go. We think there may even be a direct flight from CLT to CDG. We're researching...

Some new things:

We bought a beautiful new LCD TV for the basement, with an HD Tivo, new Amp, Mac Mini, etc. We've really been loving it. I never thought I would really care about the picture quality of TV, as long as my favorite shows are on, but it really does make a difference.

New friends. Jim's geek connections have been paying off lately. We have befriended a guy he works with, his wife, and their adorable daughter too. Also, another fun couple that features a programmer. Our new friend Ben just left Charlotte to move back to Lexington, but we're hoping he and his girlfriend will return soon.

I dyed my hair for the first time in FOREVER! It's my Winter look, and I am really enjoying it.

I got an iPhone!! I have had the same phone for the past 4-5 years, and it was showing! I had a huge phone, with no data plan, that would freeze for 5 minutes after I sent a text message (which makes texting back and forth a huge problem!). I am glad to see it go. If you have not received my new number, and you are a friend, just email me for it. I absolutely love my iPhone--works wonderfully, calendars syncing, apps downloading...life is good!!

In other news...

-Jim's parents will be coming to visit in early December, which is exciting.
-Work is still going well, with some general annoyance from useless coworker.
-I am excited about the holidays. I have no idea what to get anyone this year...seriously. I started to make a list (because that's what I do), and it just a list of names with blank spaces next to them. So SEND LISTS!!!
-Jim and I are still loving Charlotte, our house, our lives in general.

Well, that's about it for now...I will try to be better about posting. With the holidays coming up, I will have some time on my hands (work will be slower, more vacation time, general happier mood for sharing). I will try to share that time with you, dear readers.

Can't stop redecorating

I don't know what's gotten in to me lately, but I can't stop redecorating. I can't stop shopping for nick-nacks (or nick-nicks as we call them, thanks to the Van Fleet's movers a while back) and throw pillows, making lists of home projects, planning, planning, planning. I just hope that some of this planning actually materializes into awesome house-ness. We went to IKEA yesterday for shelving, and I found a photo ledge to help put up these canvas board paintings my brother did a while back. Sooo happy about that, since I didn't want to frame them, but didn't know how else to get them on the wall!

I am hoping that I will have fabulous pictures to post soon!!!

The weather is getting cooler, and I think Fall is officially here, which I am so excited about. I can't wait to get out in the yard and prep it for the coming winter. I have big plans for a veggie garden for next year--and actually getting to use the compost I've been working on. Recently it's a bit wet because of all the rain we've had, so I need to add some more brown to balance that out.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend! I am also hoping that this coming week goes by quickly. I have really been loving the weekends lately, and not so much on the work front. Nothing terrible to report, but it's work, and I prefer relaxing.

Houston and Charlotte

Over Labor Day weekend, Jim and I went to Houston for his college buddy Jordan's wedding to the lovely Aimee. I was excited to go, since this was the first time I had seen Rice, where Jim and Jordan met in college, and the town that Jim speaks of often (and not too fondly, in general). I had a great time on the trip, and was pleasantly surprised by Houston and all it had to offer. I will mostly just post pictures here, since I am drugged up on pain medication from getting my wisdom teeth out yesterday.

The wedding was absolutely beautiful! Very modern, with vintage touches, and the bride was truly glowing and happy and fabulously gorgeous! The groom looked awesome too, in his sharp new tux, which he seemed quite pleased with.

The House of Pies, where we ate breakfast our first morning there. They offer more than just pies, of course.


Jim at The House of Pies.The pies of The House of Pies.

Welcome to Rice University!
Founder of Rice, Mr. William Marsh Rice. He is buried under this statue, making Rice the largest private cemetery in Texas (I believe).


Jim under the Sallyport, which welcomes you into Rice's Quad.
Jim's residential college, Baker, was under construction, and therefore we couldn't go in to visit. Doesn't look like anyone will be living there this year!

More construction at Baker College!

Jim has talked about Freebirds since we met. It's his favorite burrito in the world. Two thumbs up, indeed, Jim!

Preparing to have his mind blown by his monster (that's the size of the burrito he got).


Digging in!

Savoring...

This is my burrito. I am usually not very excited by burritos, since it's usually just the same stuff everywhere (and for whatever reason, most places don't believe in heating up their fillings?!?). This one was quite delicious--lived up to the hype!

I made wedding bells in honor of Aimee and Jordan out of my foil for the "Foil Objects Wall" they have at Freebirds.

The proud artiste!

Minute Maid Stadium.
Downtown Houston!

Fun animal topiaries!
They had so many!

Before the wedding started. What a beautiful sanctuary they had set up. I would never have guessed that a wedding in a hotel would be so beautiful!


The dinner plates were so beautiful! And the food was delicious!

We sat at the Cornwall table.


We elected Evan "Duke of Cornwall" by the end of the evening. Very fun guy!

Dad giving a speech about Aimee and Jordan. Cheers!

Thank you, Aimee and Jordan for hosting such a beautiful event. This was the first time I had met either of them in person, and enjoyed such a fun weekend. Can't wait to visit again (or have them visit us!) Have fun in Costa Rica!

Back in Charlotte, we got to meet several babies for the first time. An unusual friend of mine, Charlotte the spider, has taken up residence on our back door. At first I was very annoyed, and wanted to get rid of her, but then I became amazed at her perseverance--every time you open up the back door, she has to rebuild a bit of her web, in which she had created 2 egg sacks. This is after the second one yielded lots of baby spiders--those are the little spots everywhere!


We also got to meet our friends Sarah and Morri's baby Miriam. She is an absolute peanut--so cute and adorable!!! I'll post pictures of her soon--have to get them from Jim's phone, since our camera battery was dead by then!

And then, just before we left for Houston, I found this fabulous couch at our Salvation Army just up the road. I love that place!! We got this sofa, in great shape, for $80. I am planning on removing the skirt to make it a bit more contemporary. I'll also get some throw pillows to break it up a bit. But I love it!!!




And finally, here's me and my wonderful nurse during my recovery this weekend. My cheeks are big anyways, and this just makes me look ridiculous. I hope the swelling goes down before I go back to work on Monday!!

Surprise!!!

On their way home to CA, Christine and Lanny stopped in Charlotte to say hi!! It was so great to see them both, and I wish they could have stayed longer! They are so Berg-a-licious!

Let's Get Ready To Rumble!!!!

This weekend, Jim is participating in the Rails Rumble with a coworker and friend of his, so I took the opportunity to clean, clean, clean, weed, mow, and shop.

To read what the Rails Rumble is, go here.

Saturday, which was the first full day of the contest, we ate lunch with Sarah and Morri. Jim then went to work at Adam's house, while Morri, Sarah, and I went to see The Cove. This was a good documentary, but like most, extremely depressing. It is about the slaughter of dolphins in Japan, and a team's journey to get video footage documenting this slaughter (the area where they are killed is not visible, so nobody had seen how the dolphins were killed). One of the team leaders is a man who starred in Flipper, and it also follows his personal struggle to forgive himself and make up for his role in this process.

Then I went to the hardware store to get several items for various home projects.

My big excitement came at the Salvation Army near our house. I bought a cast iron skillet, a cute white bowl with nubbins all over it, a cute hummingbird "bric-a-brac", and a fabulous chair ALL for $26!!! The chair is now in our bedroom, and adds that perfect bit of glamour I was looking for!

Then I cleaned the house for the next 7 hours, and it is beautiful!!

Today, I mostly did laundry and yardwork. I mowed the grass, weedwhacked, and weeded our beds. The yard looks magnificent, though I wish we had our yard tools from my parents' house, so I could lop off a bunch of branches on all of the crape myrtles that are out of control!

My herb garden is doing very well. The rosemary that I thought was stunted forever has finally shown signs of growth. We have 2 jalepeno peppers that are almost ready to be picked, and I will be making a lot of pesto soon to use up all of the basil out there. The grapes are alive, which was more than I thought they would be at this point, but they are still too short to tie to the pergola. Hopefully they will survive the winter and grow more next year.

I just got back from the grocery store, and now I'm blogging obviously! At 7PM, when the Rumble is over, we'll probably go out to eat with Adam. I feel extremely great about how this weekend went, and am looking forward to a somewhat slow week, since one of my bosses is out of town.

I will post pictures soon of the things I mentioned above, and a few of the house too (especially now that it's super clean!!)

PS: I got my first business cards this week!!! Woohoo!

PPS: I also forgot to mention that I am scheduled to get my wisdom teeth out in mid-September. I am obviously not thrilled, but I am not nervous at all about it. I met with my surgeon a few weeks ago, and he is great. He actually reminds me a ton of our Financial Planner, Bill, and is great, so that is one fear assuaged. Once my date is actually scheduled, I'll let you know. I just don't know how much bigger my cheeks can get!