Anniversary, the beach, & early birthday gift...

Wednesday is mine & Chris' 3rd anniversary! It's so hard to believe how fast the 3 years has flown by. It's been wonderful, and I am so thankful to have been blessed with such a wonderful, loving husband.

Here are two of my favorite pictures from our wedding day...

To celebrate our anniversary, Chris is taking me to the beach Saturday. We'll just be there for the day, but that's plenty of time to take in some sun, sand, & a nice dinner. We're looking forward to it!

In preparation for our beach trip Saturday, Chris gave me an early birthday present on behalf of his parents. They had it shipped here probably 3 weeks or more ago, but I was told I couldn't have it...gotta hate that! When Chris told me his beach plans for us, he told me I could open my birthday present from his parents on Sunday before I went to work, so I did & they got me a tripod shelter for the beach. It's perfect! Chris set it up in the backyard overnight to stretch it out a bit & check out how to get it all set up. I think it's going to be perfect to shield some of the sun, but not too much & have a cooler place to chill out in the heat of the day! I can't wait to try it out on Saturday!

$82...

that's how much I made at the yard sale on Saturday.

I didn't think that was too bad especially since I had nothing big to sell. It was mostly all small stuff. It was little work for me too since I had been setting things aside for a yard sale for quite some time.

I'm just happy to have the stuff off of our hands!

We spruced up the yard a bit Saturday evening & then treated ourselves to a delicious dinner of grilled prime rib, grilled squash/zuchinni/tomato medley, roasted red potatoes, baked beans, and a peach cobbler (with fresh peaches!) for desert. It was so delicious.

I got the bedding put on our guest bed Sunday afternoon. It looks great. I'll have to take some pictures of it to post soon. Now we're just waiting on our next set of company. Sissy, Steve, Benjamin & Jennifer are coming up on August 7th which is just around the corner!

I'm working nights this week. It's a nice change of pace from the last few crazy weeks around here.

More later in the week...

yard sale & misc. updates

It's been a busy week...

last Saturday night was Tom Petty...it was awesome!

He played for over 2 hours & played all of the hits.

I love going to concerts where you know the words to all of the songs.

We had a great time!

I was in charge M, T, & W at work this week.

I was definitely ready for a few days off.

I had lunch & browsed at the mall with Karen today.

It was nice to be out & about on such a nice day.

Peppes & Pop kindly advanced my birthday check this week so I could buy a comforter set from Linens N Things that I had falled in love with.

I have waited this long to buy a comforter for our guest room because nothing seemed to be exactly what I was looking for...until now!

I bought it today & can't wait to get it on the bed!

What's keeping me from getting the new comforter on the bed???

A ton of stuff piled up in our guest room in prep for a yard sale Saturday a.m.

I've been wanting to have a yard sale for quite some time but didn't feel like I had enough stuff.

A friend of mine mentioned the same thing to me, so we decided to have a multi-household yard sale at another friend's house this Saturday.

I'm looking forward to cleaning out some clutter &hopefully making a little bit of money in the process.

Off to make some dinner...

stranded...

that is a mild exaggeration, but I stopped by Kroger on my way home from work tonight to get some rice for our stir-fry dinner, milk & a birthday card for a co-worker.

I came out, got in my car & my car wouldn't start...OH NO! I called Chris & he was on his way, so he met me at Kroger & jump started me.

The good news...we made it home fine.

The bad news...my car ran for about 10 minutes after we got home & then died again.

Chris thinks I need a new battery so he's taking mine out now so he can stop & get me a new one tomorrow.

Bummer...hopefully the new battery will solve the problem.

Good night!

household tips...

Here are 3 of my favorite household tips I've picked up along the way...

*After halving a cantaloupe, scoop out the inside with an ice cream scoop. It's a clean swipe & all of the seeds & goo are gone!

*Never know what to do with grease after cooking...Allow the grease to cool for just a couple of minutes, then take a sandwich baggie, open it & place it inside of a juice glass, pulling the edges of the bag up over the edges of the glass. Pour the grease in. After the grease completely cools you can zip up the baggie & toss it...so convenient!

*After burning a candle down in a jar or a votive holder, place the jar or holder into the freezer for 1-2 hours. This is just long enough to pry the candle's edges off of the candle holder and the remaining piece of candle falls right out, leaving your holder or jar for another candle or use. Chris' grandmother, Boo Boo, passed that trick on to me!

What are your favorite household tips???

Saving $ & earning FREE stuff

These days I think everyone is looking for ways to save money & get FREE stuff. Here are some of my favorite ways...

Right now Kroger has a promotion going on where for each $300 gift card you buy, they had an free $30 to it! We heard about this a couple of months ago & read up on it & decided there really were no strings attached so we did it. I bought 2 more yesterday, totalling $660 but we only paid $600...$60 in free groceries works for me! Check it out, I think the promotion ends at the end of July!

This website is great...www.mypoints.com. Sign up to receive e-mails based on your interests and preferences & for each e-mail you open & 'read' get 5 points. You can also take surveys and earn points for shopping online. After accumulating points you can redeem them for giftcards to popular resturants and stores. I recently redeemed my 6th or 7th reward gift card from them. It's no hoax...it works!

Another great site...www.opinionsquare.com. Here you can take surveys that earn you points which you can then trade in for merchandise or gift cards. I love it!

more later...

July 1st...

I can't believe it's already July 1st...time flies!

Chris & I went to Carolina Beach Sunday...

we had a great time despite the heat,

the wind (sand was blowing everywhere),

and the strong currents.

We stopped at a seafood restaurant on the way home for dinner.

I'm off until Friday, so I'm enjoying that,

but it means I have to work the weekend of the 4th...boo.

We're looking forward to next weekend's Tom Petty concert!

Off to do more homework...

baby Cady

Just a few cute pictures of me & Chris with baby Cady Eggleston on Sunday night.

You can't see her all that well, but she's a doll!

I just love the one with Chris holding her. He actually looked mildly comfortable & she wasn't crying...2 pluses!

a new look

I gave my blog a make-over this morning, obviously!

I like the nice clean, fresh colors!

I got this cute layout FREE from The Cutest Blog on the Block..check it out!

yesterday...

was such a great day!

We got new cell phones yesterday & switched our plan to Verizon. I am already happier with Verizon than I was with AT&T. We each picked our own phone & luckily picked different ones. It was such a pain with us both having the same phone before. This is a picture of my new Motorola Moto. I love it! I'm especially enjoying utilizing the voice-activated commands on it.

We made our monthly trip to Sam's yesterday & I stocked up on fruit in mass quantity. I do love fruit! We bought 2 pounds of strawberries & a fresh pineapple which is so delicious.

Our Tom Petty tickets came in the mail yesterday!

We enjoyed Karen & Barron's wedding. It was so beautiful. She was such a beautiful bride & they are such a happy couple. We're blessed to have them as friends.

We ordered our plane tickets to Portland last night. We'll fly in on Tuesday, September 9th & be gone for a week! We're so excited!

Moving on to today...we took dinner to our friends Chad & Mandy and met their sweet new baby, Cady. She is a doll. We both held her & Chris looked so sweet holding a baby. She almost fell asleep in his arms but he gave her back to me & she did fall asleep. Adorable!

Lyndsey sent me a couple of new pictures of Miss Scarlett. Look at her in this most adorable dress I sent her this week....how sweet!

Off to spend a little time with Chris before bed...

I ate all night & slept all day

That pretty much sums up the last 3 nights & days for me as I've been trying to work 7p-7a.

I say try because I was struggling. It seems like it's getting harder to adjust to night shift instead of easier. That's probably because I only do it every 5 or 6 weeks, but that's certainly ok with me.

I went to breakfast with Kerri & Rachel this a.m. at Elmo's...soooo yummy! I came home & got in bed at 9:30 & was up by 1:15 so I can do some catching up & try to get my body back on a somewhat normal schedule.

We're dog sitting my in-laws dog, Jasper, who's an Italian Greyhound. He's such a cute little dog. He & Sadie play well together so that's good. He'll be with us for more than a week so hopefully they'll still be playing well when it's all over & done with. I'm going to take some pictures of the 2 of them. I love having another photo subject around!

Off to listen to more lectures & read more journal articles...

random notes...

* I got my hair cut this morning at Aveda. Nothing major, just a shape & trim.

* I'm working nights for the next 3 shifts starting tonight. I haven't worked nights in about 6 weeks, but I think it'll be a nice break. At least I can probably get a lot of homework done.

* The dinner I went to last night at the Angus Barn was great. It was definitely the best steak I've ever had, of course it was filet mingon. They fed us appetizers, salad, a huge meal, and a desert sampler. I was so stuffed after we left.

* Last night, Chris & I bought tickets to the Tom Petty concert on July 12th!
* Karen & Barron's wedding is this Saturday at 3 p.m. We're so happy for the 2 of them!

* Chris & I have planned a trip first-thing Saturday morning to the Durham Farmer's Market. I want to get some fresh lettuce, corn (if they have any in yet), strawberries, and some blueberries.

* Chris & I are talking about buying a new mattress for ourselves. We definitely need one. It may wait until after our trip in September since we're saving up for that now.

* I picked the first squash out of garden a few minutes ago. It's a big one, but I don't think we're going to have that many this year.

* My mom bought me a lavender-scented reed diffuser. I put it in the living room yesterday & absolutely love the way it smells.

* We're more than 1/2 way through the summer semester...yeahhh!!!

* 2 months from today is the Yankee's game that Abbey & I have tickets to see!

yummy...

I had this delicious strawberry poppyseed salad at Panera today. It was so delicious that I had to share.

It was covered with fresh strawberries & blueberries, pineapple tidbits and mandarin oranges with some scattered pecans. The poppyseed dressing was delicious!

I will definitely get it again & I'd love to try to make my own version of it at home!

today...

is off to a good start. I went for a short jog a few minutes ago before it gets any hotter.

We had a quick, but nice trip home this past weekend. We enjoyed spending some time with our dads on Father's Day, and we're glad we got to see David once more before he flies out to Portland on Friday.

I'm meeting up with my friend Katie and her baby, Wyatt, this morning to hang out for a little while. That should be fun!

Tonight, I'll be going to a work inservice here. I can't wait. I've never been to the Angus Barn but have been wanting to go since we've moved here.

Sometime today I have a 2 hour stats lecture to listen to. Notice I'm writing about that last!

headed home

This is a shot of one of the beautiful lilies blooming by our front door.

Chris & I will be headed home tomorrow evening for a weekend in GA with our families. Chris' brother, David, will be moving to Portland, Oregon next week to take a job with an architecture firm there. He seems very excited about the transition and we are excited for him.

We're especially looking forward to hearing how he likes Oregon after he gets settled in as we're hoping to visit him there maybe in late September or early October. We had originally thought of flying into Portland and staying there for a few days & then driving south into northern California. After we found out that Seattle, WA is a mere 2 hours from Portland, we're actually leaning more towards flying into Portland and driving north instead.

From what we've read, Portland & Seattle possess some of my favorite things...bookstores, coffee, and good seafood. Portland, OR is home to the largest bookstore, housing over 1 million books...wow! I can't wait to check that out. We're also scouting out some coastal towns to visit to check out some lighthouses and other beautiful scenery. Just outside of Oregon there are several vineyards and wineries we'd also like to check out. Planning it all out is going to be so fun!

I'm off to finish my statistics homework & to pack for the weekend at home!