Grown Up Life

oh may

2009-05-28T21:00:00.003-04:00

well, i've got lots to say about life right now. life has been busy and eventful, but i'm not sure how much is necessary to share. but i'll try to give a nice summary of things.

owen has gotten huge. at least huge in the eyes of a havanese. he's already almost 11 lbs, which is pretty substantial for a 4 month old. most adult havanese only reach 8-12 lbs. i'm hoping he just had an early growth spurt. i like him small because he's so teddy bearish. but i'll love him the same if he becomes grizzly bearish.

i'd like to certify him as potty trained at 11 weeks. i think he's only had maybe 3 accidents inside since then, which i think are excusable for a puppy. he's extremely reliable and has been on the "bell system" for about a week and a half now. the bell system simply involves a nail 2.5 ft above the floor and hanging a bell on a string from it. every time owen wants to go outside to go potty, he rings it to let us know. at least thats how it should work. he picked it up the first day we introduced it, but he abuses the system by ringing it to go play outside when he's bored. sometimes he's pretty demanding and i just picture that scene from the old disney classic, cinderella, where the stepsisters are ringing and ringing their bells screaming "cinderella! cinderella!". he gets pretty persistant too.

on another note, i was playing with owen the other day and he ended up loosing his two bottom front teeth. puppy teeth, of course. i'm hoping i just helped the process along and didn't accidentally pull them out before nature took its course. they're itty bitty and i fortunately was able to find both teeth buried in the carpet. no doggy tooth fairy. i tried to see if we could get some extra cash by sticking it under the pillow. no such luck ;).

speaking of pillows, we've broken down and allowed owen to sleep on the bed with us. its been a really easy transition. he just sleeps down at our feet all night, occasionally wandering around to snuggle closer. when my alarm goes off in the morning, he waddles over to me and rests his head on my arm as if to ask me to sleep a little longer. he's really adorable.

since he's gotten his final round of shots we've been taking owen to try out the local dog parks. he's been three times now. he was really timid the first time, very snarly to dogs that he felt like were getting to playful too fast. last time we took him there weren't a whole lot of dogs to play with, so we went accross the street to take him for a nice long walk. but we didn't even get a step away from the car because we ran into a nice young couple with a blue doberman pincher, who owen ended up becoming quite fond of and wrestled around with for an hour and a half while we chatted. it was great running into a couple about our age in about the same stage in life...married, no kids yet. we're hoping to get together with them again tomorrow to hang out.

so that sums up owen. a lot to say about a dog, but he's a lot of fun to talk about.

as for life, my job is going great. i'm wishing a few more people would just sign their contracts already. i've redrawn at least 3 floorplans and drawn up 5 quotes it seems for 9 of my potential clients. i guess with the economy, people don't have a problem thinking about spending money and seeing how much it would be, but they're too afraid to commit to spending their money. the problem for me is a lot of wasted time. but at least i enjoy doing it. i've organized the showroom nicely (with two men running the place, it was quite a mess) so its easier to find things. i think i did a lovely job. they've built me a "cubicle" if you will. its a knee wall that wraps around my desk so i can greet the homeowners who come in and be the first point of contact. i'm also pretty official now that i've gotten my business cards today. its a shame they turned out to have my boss' cell phone number on it rather than mine. i have to wait for them to get reprinted, but the ones i have will work for now because it has my email and the office number. they're really nice, though.

jonathan and i have had many camping excursions already this year. we went with betsy and jon in april, scott and adrianne in early may, camped out in my parents lakehouse on an air mattress a couple weeks ago, and last week camped out last weekend with robert and melissa. jonathan has sworn he is camped out for the year, but i'm sure we've got more camping not too far off.

we're coming up on our first anniversary and jonathan has big plans for us to go up to where he proposed to me at lookout mountain, ga for that weekend. apparently we're going somewhere nice, but i'm in the dark on that one :).

i finally used one of my birthday gift certificates this evening for a massage. it was lovely and wasn't as ticklish as i had assumed it would be. he's sweet to think of something like that for me. i've still got another one to look forward to.

i'm rethinking the whole paper scrapbooking thing. when it comes down to it, i'm just poor. i can't afford all the frills and cuteness i'd love to have. plus i don't have the space to organize all that stuff. i do have stickers and another birthday gift certificate from jonathan to a scrapbooking store, so i'll be using those, but when that all runs out, i've decided i'm going to have to do digital scrapbooking.

it sounds perfect for me....i love photoshop and they have kits and stuff i can download (i'm most likely going to do all the free stuff) and put details on like ribbons, buttons, stitches, decals, etc. on that i couldn't before. plus, i can get everything to look exactly how i'd like and most likely, save time! when i've completed a book, i can get it published through an online company in a hardback book. another nice bonus is that i can make more than one! yay!

the major issue i have right now is the oldness of my computer. its been a fabulous blue dell, but its more than 5 years old now and in computer years, its over the hill. i've resolved to save up my money and purchase a shiney new machine with at least 2.4 ghz processing speed, large amount of ram, and a more than passable video card. of course, this will probably be the most expensive type computer out there, but i'm going to start looking around. its on the wishlist, but may take some months to come into fruition.

and thats about all i have to say about life at the moment. time flies.

a year after graduating, i'm a kitchen designer!

2009-05-09T17:41:00.001-04:00

i mentioned a few posts back that new doors were opening for job opportunities. it turned out the smaller company that i had been talking to continued to pursue me and offered me a great opportunity to work exclusively with them. i started in mid-april and just finished my 3rd week there.

i'm finally working at a real job, doing what i had in mind when i graduated. the guys i'm working with are giving me all of their homeowner remodels and in just the few weeks i've been there i already have 5 of my own clients and had somebody sign a contract last week. i get to work with the clients through the whole process...measure their kitchen space, draw up a new plan, consult them on their door selection, and so forth. i've been loving it so far. i had thought it would only be a part time position, but it turns out i've been working at least 9-5 everyday.

yay! i'm finally a kitchen designer!

finally, a visitor

2009-04-20T18:25:00.006-04:00

this past weekend, mine and jonathan's good friends betsy and jon came up to visit. i've known both of them for a long time...jon and i grew up in the same church and i got to know betsy in my college freshman political science class. jonathan and i've been married for 10 months now. here is a list of visitors we've had so far: jonathan's friends/family

jonathan's parents
jonathan's brothers jeff and jason
jonathan's sister jessica and husband brandon
jonathan's cousin robert and wife melissa
jonathan's cousin sandy
jonathan's friend pepe
jonathan's friend marty
jonathan's friend cece

so jonathan has had 12 different people come from out of town to visit him for one night or more. my friends/family

my parents (4 hours maybe)
my sister becca (24 hours)

and that concludes friendly visitors on my behalf. so, i was pretty excited when betsy called me up to tell me that she had the whole month of april off and was thinking that they'd come up to visit. jonathan and i had teased the couple that they owed us a visit because they live in my parents hometown and we'd drop by their place for an evening every time we've been down. we didn't think they'd ever actually be able to come up!

they got into winston late thursday night and we spent most of the evening catching up and watching necessary tv shows such as the office and 30 rock. friday morning we slept in and took our guests out to a local cafe for brunch. we spent the rest of the afternoon trying to cram an unecessary amount of camping gear for four people and a dog into the trunk of jonathan's little green accord. it was quite a puzzle, but of course, a puzzle that the boys were insistant about solving.

owen is doing his stress yawn here...not biting betsy's head off.

we got everything in and headed out in a packed car, owen crawling all over everybody. we scoped out a campsite up at pilot mountain, got our tent set up, and set out on a 2 mile hike to the top of the mountain. little owen was quite a trooper. i had thought we'd get a quarter of a mile in and have to carry him the rest of the way. that certainly wasn't the case. 12-week old little owen hiked all two miles up and two miles back, up boulders, over roots. i was really impressed with him...he is a little fluffy light colored dog and i guess i didn't have much expectations for him. i was a proud mama :).

the view was gorgeous up there! the weather was absolutely perfect, sunny, and we hiked down during a beautiful sunset. we had planned out a dinner of steak quesadillas...i had a checklist for our meals and was really organized about it, but i failed to pack the tortillas. so we ended up having to eat just steak, cheese and sour cream. it turned out pretty good still. oh well. of course, no camping weekend would be complete without s'mores. roasty, toasty marshmallows...mmmmm.

everyone else at the camping grounds had their fires out by 9:30 pm. i couldn't believe it! but we kept ours going strong until about 2 am. i got pretty cold during the night because we had left one of the window flaps down. i just need to be more prepared for the coolness of night i guess. but we survived.

when we got back from our camping excursion the next day, we tried out another local restaurant and it ended up being really unique and delicious food. we tried to show jon and betsy the town of winston all in one weekend...visited old salem, a couple parks, walked around downtown. anyway, it was a great weekend and we were glad to finally get to use our guest bedroom once again!

hopefully we'll get good reviews from them and more people will make their way on up to visit us!

a short update on little o

2009-04-14T11:42:00.005-04:00

Whew. I've finally gotten a little time to sit down and write a post. I just thought I'd put up some information on those of you who may be interested. Owen has kept us pretty busy!

He's been doing great with pretty much all aspects of training. He hasn't destroyed anything and his potty training is doing well. He turned 12 weeks on Saturday and hasn't had an accident in the house 4 days! I'm sure I can expect a mistake soon though, according to every post I've read. Owen knows his name and comes when called and sits. He's even been sitting by the door and whimpering a little when he needs to go out and go potty!

Yesterday we took Owen to get his third set of boosters. At 6 weeks, Owen weighed in at 3.2 lbs. At 9 weeks, he was 3.5 lbs. Yesterday when the vet weighed him, he was a whopping 7.2 lbs!! he's more than doubled since last time...so he's obviously growing like a little weed!

His personality has begun to show more over the course of this past week. He's extremely feisty. He's found his favorite spot in the house...under our bed. He loves to dart in and out from under the bed skirt, doing his playful growl at the sheets. Its really cute. He sits by the closed bedroom door most of the time begging to go in. He's also getting a little spoiled I think. I put him up in his crate at night next to the bed on my nightstand. I've been letting him chew on a toy on the bed before I put him up at night. When he gets a little bored with that toy, he waddles over to his crate, stretches over to reach his crate on the nightstand, and pulls out another toy, chews on that for a minute or two, then goes for the next one. Pretty soon he's got 5 toys scattered all over the comforter! Its really funny to watch.

Owen has also started the bark when he wants my attention, which I try to correct. That isn't a good habit. He's just kind of developed an attitude lately.

Owen has a lot of fun playing with other dogs and meeting new people. He just wants to play, play, play! He's been really good with every dog except for the other day when he met a HUGE German Shepard. It was really the biggest one I've ever seen...like Great Dane size. Anyway, Owen "screamed" when he saw him and wet himself. When we tried to calm him down a bit and the German Shepard mozied his way over to sniff Owen, Owen snarled and yipped and was really very rude to him. I'm not quite sure what got into him but I'm hoping he doesn't already have an irrational fear of big dogs.

So thats a pretty good summary of things for now. Of course, I take about 15 pictures of Owen a day and there is no way that everyone else would be interested in looking through that many...so here are a select few :). note, i said select.

his little pink pads have almost disappeared now :(

Owen's day at the park.

the new coke ad.

Owen after his second bath

new doors opening...

2009-04-13T12:22:00.002-04:00

i've been working at a small business owned by a husband and wife for the past 10 months or so. well, a couple weeks ago my boss told me that they were going through some transitional phases and wanted to close their studio office space so they could "go mobile" to the coast and to clients' homes. for me, this meant no more regular office hours. they were offering me an opportunity to freelance for them when projects come in and represent their cabinet line, which means going from business to business and trying to get them to add the cabinet line to their products.

it was the only option i had. after months and months of sending in applications to all kinds of businesses in the design field with no results, i had come to the conclusion that that was were God had wanted me to be. with a poor economy and a couple of interviews ending with "we'd love to have you but we just don't have enough work right now", i just kept it up with the only door that had opened. the pay wasn't good. i wasn't getting many hours. i did a lot of small menial tasks that didn't pertain to my degree.

so, this week i set out to sell cabinets to area businesses. door to door sales isn't really my thing. the first place i went, i presented the line to the woman who simply ran the office. i explained everything even though she told me that the owners were the guys i should talk to. after a few minutes of chatting with her, she started telling me how busy they were and how they were actually looking for help. my eyes probably lit up. i told her that i was actually a designer looking for work and that i would come back by later and drop off my resume. i hadn't even found this company when i did all my previous job searching.

i continued with my sales pitches...some seemed interested, others weren't. i was in the Ross area when i finished all my stops and decided to spend some of my birthday money from my parents on an easter dress. its cute :).

anyway, as i was heading home for my resume, i got a call on my phone from a local number. it was one of the owners from the first business i stopped at asking me if i was in the area and if i could drop by. i of course jumped at the chance and went over there. an impromptu interview ended with the two men being very interested in hiring me on. they talked about using all my interior design skills and working it in to help their clients and just seemed really excited about it. they asked me toward the end of our meeting how much i was interested in working with them and of course, in the position i am in, i said high.

well, the next morning i had an official interview scheduled with a company i had interviewed with last august. they went through some changes and switched from a high end build/rennovation company to a kitchen and bath studio...right up my alley. the interview lasted 2.5 hours and we talked for a long time about past jobs and how this franchise operates. they'd want me to be the go-to person, the face i guess, to their clients. i'd work closely with everyone, go shopping for tile with them, pull up their estimats...everything. and unlike the other job, i wouldn't have to go around and try to get jobs to come in. the marketing would be taken care of for me. they're looking to hire full time and i'd have benefits and be a part of an official company rather than continuing this freelance/self-employed crap. there is still a bit of a process to hire with them because they are a bigger company, so an offer won't be here until another week or so.

the next morning i got an email from the smaller company wanting to hear back from me about when i'd be able to start. of course, with the other interview fresh in my mind, i am not sure if i should begin work with that business yet. i told them that i probably won't be able to do both jobs because they'd both require more than 20 hours a week most likely. well, 5 minutes after i replied via email, i got a phone call from him telling me that he was really disappointed and he wanted to see if i could come in and meet with him again so he could "entice" me to come work for them. well, i'm not committed yet, so i figured why not give it a shot.

i met with them again for about an hour as they tried to compare apples to apples, saying they could meet all the things the other place had. i wouldn't tell them who it was, since i don't think its in my best interest that they know. he said that he'd have a proposal for me at the beginning of this week. they really really want me to work for them...one guy said he thinks i have a good presence and he feels comfortable around me, which isn't very common. an interesting compliment.

so, here i am a few days later, still trying to figure out what i should do. its funny how God works. i spend months looking for other work and just as my only opportunity closes, two more open up within two days. i'm really excited about working for kitchen and bath studios and actually working closely with clients, since i haven't been. both seem like great places and i think i'll test run both of them and just pick the projects i work on since i'd technically be freelancing for both. i'm hoping for good things to come! better pay, better work, and benefits! yay!

becca's wedding

2009-04-06T14:33:00.010-04:00

whew. what a hectic weekend. jonathan and i made the trip back to georgia for a decently long weekend and i came back exhausted and feel like i didn't even get to visit with family i hardly get to see. but the wedding day was beautiful and we pulled off a successful day!

jonathan and i made plans with our breeder weeks ago to drop owen off with her for the wedding weekend so that he didn't get in the way and cause more stress on family, since he's so young and pretty much needs constant attention. the day before we planned to leave, jonathan recieved an email from the breeder saying that her daughter had to have an emergency surgery and she had to drive all the way up to michigan. she seemed like she was trying to work it out with us, but we felt like it would be a burden to make her change all her plans for us. i tried to see if another friend of mine would be able to keep him instead, but she was going to be involved with all the march madness basketball semi-finals and such over the weekend (basketball is big around here).

so, we thought we'd have to force owen to make the long car ride (which he hates) and he'd have to be alone for the majority of the weekend. but wednesday, our breeder was frantically trying to get in touch with us, calling the vet, the church, etc. trying to find out our number, which she finally found on the contract, to let us know that her husband would be there and that he would be able to care for him before she got back. it was awfully nice of her and definitely helped us out a lot! i'm sure everyone would have loved to have meet the little guy, but after a couple hours, i'm sure he would have just been in the way.

so after that chaos settled, jonathan and i packed in a hurry, dropped owen off at the breeder's home, went to church, and then left for georgia. we didn't get in until about 1 am. but it was really nice to be there in the morning and be able to help out first thing.

my first assignment was to make all the seating charts for the tables. I was a bit frustrated with it, since everything seemed to become crooked, the gold spraypaint kept smudging, and the boards looked huge and empty. i resolved most of the issues, and i think they ended up turning out alright. that took the majority of my day. around 7 pm people began arriving for the dinner my mom put on for becca's bridesmaids and michael and his famliy. we had italian wedding soup, as we did before my wedding. always a good way to get people there to help out with the last minute details of the wedding! we packed the items into bags for each table so it would be easy to set up in the morning. jelly beans, favors, decorations. we also put together all the bridesmaid bouquets, boutonnieres, and corsages.

her flowers ended up looking really pretty...lots of different kinds of yellow flowers. we made more arrangements with watering cans and other vases for the table centerpieces. again, really cute :).

when we were pretty much finished up and everyone left, i got started on making table numbers and embossing them with stamps. another pretty tedious project. becca left that evening to go back up to atlanta...i was sad because i was assuming she'd stay the night.

anyway, friday morning everyone was trying to gather things together. jonathan and i picked up the sound system because jonathan was responsible for dj-ing her reception. dad had to rent a u-haul to bring up all the potted plants and tables and flowers....everything...up to the venue in atlanta. we were running a little late for the rehearsal at 4:00 because there was so much to load up, but jonathan and i got there only about 15 minutes late.

the rehearsal went pretty smoothly...jonathan had to be the stand in minister and we had to play music from an ipod to get an idea of when we were doing what. we had one of the bridesmaids mom helping us out and it was great! we didn't have a wedding planner, so she was our last minute stand in. so that went smoothly, it took us all forever to get up to the rehearsal dinner, that went too late to allow us to unload things that night into the venue, which made the family have to get up even earlier to get things set up the next morning.

so after the rehearsal, becca and i went back to her and michael's new house so we could help michael get a list of things he needed to pack for the honeymoon. the day before, yes, he hadn't packed! so i unloaded the dishwasher for them and around 11 pm, we all went to kroger so michael could pick up some last minute items like sunscreen, flashlights, etc. i felt like i failed at my matron of honor duties because we ended up being out until like 12:15 am, when becca needed to be up in only 6 hours.

well, at 4 am, i woke up as becca was crawling back into bed. i asked her what she was doing up and she said she was having all kinds of nightmares about the water and power in the house being shut off, the makeup/hair artist not being able to find her house in the morning, all kinds of crazy scenerios. i tried to reassure her...i wish we had gotten her to bed sooner so i could have knocked her out with some benedryl. that helped me alot before my wedding!

she finally fell back asleep by 5:30 and only got another hour of sleep before the alarm woke her up. i was frantically trying to get myself ready, while at the same time trying to pack for becca and make sure we had all the important things like her jewelry, the wedding bands, marriage certificate...all the big things. i also had to make sure she had her honeymoon bags packed, the computer for the dj music, her purse. agh. it was a lot to remember. christina was kind enough to steam all the wrinkles out of my dress and take it to the venue for me so it was one less thing i had to take care of.

i also failed to get becca to the wedding site on time. man. thats pretty bad. the hairdresser took way too long to get becca done, so we didn't end up leaving until 8:30, which is when we were supposed to be there, dressed, and starting pictures. but i had to remain calm, reassuring her that all was fine, even though it was totally stressed. i hate atlanta roads...i almost had someone drift over into my narrow lane because i was in their blind spot and they didn't bother to check. it would be really horrible if i was responsible for the bride getting into a car accident hours before the wedding! but, i got her there by 9 am unscathed. thankfully.

we got dressed quickly and started pictures by about 9:30 am. that went well and we had plenty of time to get all the wedding party pictures done beforehand and were anxiously waiting in the back room by 10:20 am. time ticked by pretty slowly...i didn't have anything to eat except half of a chicken biscuit. the setup for everything looked great. mom and dad and the whole family did a great job capturing the rustic style that becca was going after. the girl getting married after becca paid for the big white backdrop, which really made a nice alter area. the watering cans on the tables were adorable, along with the miniature pails filled with jellybeans and little pipecleaner bumble bees (which was really cute because becca and michael are both georgia tech grads).

the ceremony was beautiful. the strings were great. becca looked gorgeous and michael looked so happy as she walked down the aisle. they were really sweet. when they lit their unity candle, i was trying really hard not to laugh because there was a little black spider running all over it trying not to get burned! jonathan did the master of ceremony-ing and dj-ing, so he was really busy through the whole thing. i'm not a public speaker and was pretty nervous about giving my toast to 180 people. i had it written out on my iphone so i didn't have to write out note cards or hold a huge sheet of paper to read from. i got a lot of comments from people about that. kinda funny.

we enjoyed our jelly bean favors, the photo booth, and the bubbly exit (complete with the wramblin' wreck fight song). i ran around like crazy just before their departure, trying to make sure i got all of becca's bags into the best man's car so he could take it to their hotel room along with the gift basket jonathan and i made up for the newlyweds. we left about 30 minutes after they departed because we had a 5 hour drive. it came and went really quickly, but turned out to be a beautiful and happy day :).

changes and uncertainty

2009-03-26T10:28:00.002-04:00

my boss sat down with me the other day to let me know that there were going to be changes with her business. they're moving out of the office space and going to just work out of their home now and have a "mobile studio" because she just feels overwhelmed with personal situations and is tired of keeping up with the office.

so, changes for me would mean that i wouldn't be driving in to work every tuesday, wednesday, and thursday. instead, she offered me to work from home as work flows in and says she'll pay me more for my work. the problem that poses is that i won't necessarially have a steady income every paycheck. i'm not sure if this is going to be a good thing, but i don't really have an option at this point. the havertys guy still hasn't gotten back in touch with me after two weeks. its pretty ridiculous! anyway, i can at least freelance for the business if i do get another job.

another thing they're wanting me to do is represent the cabinet line they're now trying to sell. i'm not really a fan of sales, but its an opportunity for comission, so i'll have to see how it goes. after all, thats what the havertys job is. of course, its a little unsettling with all these things going on and the hard economic times ahead.

just trusting in God's plan...

rub-a-dub-dub

2009-03-23T14:37:00.006-04:00

little owen got his first bath last night! well, at least the first bath we ever gave him :). he was becoming a stinky puppy after romping around with the big boys yesterday and getting slobbered all over. after his nap from the play date, we took him over to a church family's house and had him meet five kids, five more adults, and three crazy dogs. he was afraid of all the noise...sensory overload. we had planned to do it that night, but after a bit of an overwhelming experience for the day, we decided to postpone. since documentary is a must, we got it covered with both pictures and a short video, so enjoy! i believe my camera is beginning to die...which is a travesty considering how much i use the thing. but maybe thats why its on its last leg. so forgive the poor color quality, freaky squiggles in the pictures that make it look like everything is melting, and the hiccups in the video :)

he did pretty well considering it was his first time. he obviously wasn't too happy about it! we took him out and dried him off a little and he was shaking. i think it was because he was just nervous...we had the water at lukewarm. anyway, we let him run around the living room a bit and get a little dry on the carpet before i had to blowdry him the rest of the way. he was super fluffy after that!

we gave him peanut butter for being such a good boy! i hope these pictures made you laugh...because i was cracking up over them!

first playdate

2009-03-22T23:35:00.015-04:00

i met a local woman who also owns a havanese and we arranged a spontaneous playdate for the boys on saturday afternoon. her havanese is 1.5 years and named jackson. another woman from north carolina came over too with her havanese pablo. i wasn't sure how owen would do because he hadn't really met any other doggies yet besides his littermates.

the first dog we tried to introduce him to was our next door neighbor's dog, snooks. he's a lapso apso or something like that and seemed to be a sweet little dog. he always follows his master around, waits patiently by his side while his owner smokes his cigarette...you know, the quiet gentle type. well, when we tried to have the two meet, he sniffed owen, then growled and snapped violently at owen's face! luckily, jonathan pulled owen away in time...and owen peed himself a little. we were really upset about his first experience being such a bad one.

then our upstairs neighbor, who also has a smaller dog (she kinda looks like a mini huskey or something), was taking his dog out while i had owen out trying to go potty. she came running down the stairs, tore around the corner, and came right for little helpless owen. she was just really excited...no harm meant at all. but, of course, owen peed himself again.

so needless to say, owen was in need of a good doggie experience. i've read that its really important to socialize your dog with as many people and dogs as possible within three months of age. so the woman and i set up a playdate with our dogs and i had my fingers crossed he'd have a good time.

we arrived and, of course, everyone fell in love with how adorable and soft he was. we introduced him to the other boys (both 1.5 years, and about 15 pounds...which is on the larger side for the breed). owen was extremely shy. he hid by my side and kept trying to crawl up into my arms to escape sniffs and licks from the others.

after about 15 minutes, owen left my side and was willing to be scooped up in the new strangers arms, giving them little kisses. he then approached jackson and pablo and exchanged little bats with his paws at the others.

then, they were off! all four pounds of little owen did his best to keep up...and in play got his entire head soaked from the other dog's slobber.

can you tell his head is all wet?

well, i'm really glad that maryam had an awesome camera. you can really tell that owen had fun when you look at these pictures. jackson (the gray/white dog) was smitton with owen, who seemed drawn to pablo (black), who apparently was like the "cool kid" who just did his own thing.

running pictures are the best...i love them!!!

i snatched owen up for a few minutes to let him get some rest...these would be perfect if owen didn't look so messy!
when owen finally tuckered out, we went inside, where he crashed. even in sleep, jackson still wouldn't leave owen's side. he was a bit obsessive!

following this shot was owen's first car ride where he didn't whine the whole way. this is because he was unconscious! oh, how much easier things are when the puppy takes a nap!

owen's first week home

2009-03-19T18:08:00.012-04:00

our first week with owen has been a bit crazy. he is certainly like a baby...he demands pretty much every second we're home to be spend by his side. but he's adorable...who wouldn't love to sit and look at this little uncoordinated ball of fur play with his chew toy?

owen loves mr. hippo...he especially enjoys gnawing on mr. hippo's ears and tail.

owen has been really great so far. besides the whining when we're not right next to him, he has been wonderfu. but even the howling and crying has gotten better in just three days. we've been hand feeding him his meals to make him learn "sit" and "down" and "come here!". he actually has all those down really well and knows his name! i've heard it sometimes takes awhile for dogs to learn their name, but my little owen is a smartie :)

yes, we've had the 5 am potty trips and he's not a happy camper when we first put him in his crate every night, but after a few minutes he settles down and falls asleep. the funniest noises come out of that little guy. they're piggy noises and whinnys and grunts. its hilarious.

he has done wonderful with the potty training. we've had to leave him alone for the days when we've been at work (the past three) for a couple of hours at a time and he's peed on the puppy pad every time and only pooped off of it once. he's really good about pottying outside and i think he's only had 3 accidents. pretty good!

he is so stinking cute. if you can't tell from the pictures, he's even cuter in real life!

i've gotten quite a few shots of little owen sleeping...but don't be mistaken. he doesn't sleep all the time. but he certainly gets more sleep than i do.

bringing home baby!

2009-03-16T17:45:00.000-04:00

i've been bursting with excitement for the past two months and its been an agonizingly long wait to make this announcement! today, jonathan and i brought home our little fuzzy bundle of joy...owen!

we've been keeping it under wraps for a long time, so now i've got to go back and tell you all about our little owen and how we came to adopt him as our family member! (i've been using a lot of exclamation points...can you tell i'm excited?!!!)

it all started on a west coast beach around sunset, the day before thanksgiving. jonathan and i spent thanskgiving out west in oregon with jessica and brandon. we spent the day driving up the oregon coast, checking out different beaches, including canon beach. it seemed that everyone on that beach had a dog, and one little dog caught mine and jonathan's eye. it was a 10 month old havanese. yea, i had never heard of one either. but it was love at first sight for me!

a bit of a history lesson follows. if you're not interested in history, skip to the next paragraph :)

this is the information i've gathered about the breed...i'm not sure how well i'll do with accuracy, but you'll get the jist. the havanese breed is from, you guessed it, cuba. back in the day, the upper class families of havana loved these little dogs and they were definitely a status symbol. the havanese could not be bought from a breeder...they could only be given as gifts to the very wealthy. people loved them because of their friendly nature, compatibility with children, their clownishness, and their desire to always please. they are "non-shedding", tyically from 8-12 pounds, and come in all sorts of colors. but as the american influence in cuba grew, the cubans began to prefer popular american breeds instead. with different political upheavals, some of the elite cuban families were exiled and they fled to florida. the breed almost became extinct until, in the 1970s, a breeder from colorado took interest in the breed and was able to gather havanese from different parts of the country and begin reviving them. they were adopted into the akc in 1997 or so. there are only about 4000 havanese in the US. thats a good summary.

so after our trip to oregon, a little seed was planted in the back of my mind. after christmas, i began looking around the state for local breeders and researching more about the dogs. and what luck! i found a breeder who was within 10 miles of us. we got in touch with the breeder and she had just had a litter of two girls and three boys...born january 17! two of the puppies had already been reserved when we signed up on the waiting list. those were "red male with blaze" and "red female with solid face". jonathan wanted a male, so we were deciding between the black and the champagne one. the breeder was out of town for a few weeks, so we couldn't visit the puppies. we then got another update from her: all the breeders come up with litter themes and assign the puppies temporary names. their theme was "our favorite jeans". puppies are so cute! anyway, at 6 weeks, we finally got to visit the puppies and, of course, i took about a hundred pictures. at that point, one of the families that got to choose before us hadn't decided which puppy they wanted yet, so we went to visit both "levi" and "calvin". its funny, because we were actually considering both of those names. in the visit, i had a strong gravitation to "levi". he enjoyed posing for the camera most. This was the most adorable row of pictures...he wakes up from a curled up ball... turns himself over onto his back... i rub his little belly... he falls asleep...precious! and then his brothers and sisters smother him because, obviously, he's got too much room :) and then we said goodbye for two more weeks. as you can see from the pictures, by the time we left we decided that "levi" would be our first pick. the family who was supposed to select before us were supposed to visit the next day...which was the day everyone had that blizzard. we were waiting on pins and needles hoping we'd get little "levi", but trying to stay positive if we ended up with "calvin".

about a week later, the family still hadn't visited, but in an email, the breeder told us that they were "pretty sure" they wanted "calvin". for us, "pretty sure" wasn't satisfying because that obviously leaves some wiggle room for them to change their mind. that made last week the longest week ever! in the meantime, we had a nametag made and picked out the name "owen".

we got the apartment all puppy proofed...taped up wires, created blockades, picked up chewables. i joined a forum online for havanese owners to try to gather up as much puppy info i could find. i was fortunate to find that there is another havanese owner down the road a couple miles...another great thing because, as i said before, they're not very common. the forum has been great and has tons of owners all over the country on there with advice and tips with everything from training to grooming to picture sharing! its great.

so this morning jonathan got up and went to work for a few hours. we went to pick up owen around 1 pm and spend over an hour with the breeder getting helpful tips and information from her. owen is such a sweetie! he cried the whole way home and wasn't easy to settle over the 20 minute car ride, but once we got him home, he was wagging his tail and playing with us.

i tried to get tons of pictures, yet again, but he's just so fast and my camera isn't the greatest with poor lighting and action shots! after about two hours of constant play, his little puppy body got worn out and he fell asleep on my lap :). after awhile, i got up and put him in his crate to sleep...and i figured i'd get this up while he's down for a bit!

that little face is irrisitable! sleeping in daddy's arms :)
the photographer doesn't get in many pictures, so a blurry one will do.
notice our creative "puppy proofed" play area :)

married, filing jointly

2009-03-15T20:37:00.003-04:00

so yesterday was designated as mine and jonathan's "tax day". oh, the fun! being my first year out in the world with daddy not doing my taxes (for the two times that has been needed in my life), i was a tiny bit more involved. though, of course, jonathan pretty much did my taxes for me :). i'm a lucky girl.

i spent the afternoon running errands to the grocery store, home depot, etc. in the rain. i hate running errands in the rain. when i finally got things unloaded and settled in, i sat down and figured out jonathan's mileage he put in for church business write offs and such. i had to look up about a bajillion places and do some investigative measures because most of the time he just listed "church to starbucks", "home to rudy's house", "church to funeral home in dobson". in the end, it didn't matter because the total mileage of like 3,000 didn't exceed some kind of automatic deduction of some sort. i don't get taxes.

then, i had the pleasure of shredding a grocery bag full of papers. i know...oh, the fun! i had to work in about 20 minute sessions because the thing would get overheated and refuse to do its job for about 45 minutes until it cooled off. i don't think its aware thats not how it works in the real world. its lucky i showed it some grace because i was getting pretty aggravated with it.

so a grocery bag size of paper ended up shredding into two giant trashbags full of shreds. i'm still amazed at that.

the amount of taxes we had due was all over the place...from a couple thousand to a couple hundred, a thousand, and finally we ended at owing a very nice number: $74. that was about the same we owed turbo tax for using their software for the day. yay for us! april 15th, we are not afraid (but we're crossing our fingers we did it right!).

still waiting...

2009-03-14T20:35:00.003-04:00

i interviewed for a job at havertys last thursday. it has now been over a week...three days after he said they'd get back to me by. things aren't quite looking up, but i'll have to contact him again to see what the status is. i think this is the most frustrating thing about job searching...people not responding in a courteous fashion. but i trust that the Lord has things under control.

on another note, i'm greatly anticipating the arrivial of monday! i spent all day getting things ready for it. i'll have plenty to post about things monday evening...you'll have to check back then because i know i'm being vauge. :)

oh, and today is mine and jonathan's 9th month of marriage! yay!

still mistaken for a high schooler...

2009-03-09T11:59:00.000-04:00

jonathan and i went to the movies friday afternoon to see the watchmen. personally, i thought it was a terrible movie and did not enjoy it at all...but i don't do movie reviews so i'll leave it at that.

i've graduated from college and been married for the better part of a year. so friday was both mine and jonathan's day off work. we are both wearing our wedding rings, obviously married. well, jonathan asks for two tickets to see the R rated movie and what does the woman at the ticketing booth do? she asks to see some ids.

yes. she apparently doesn't think i look older than 16. i'll be 23 next month for goodness sake. not only that, but did she not get a chance to check out the bling on the left hand? how many 16 year-olds are married? or realize that its the middle of the school day for 16 year-olds? or see the handsome man standing next to me who would at least be a sufficient "guardian"? geez. so both jonathan and i had to get our ids out, laughing about how ridiculous it was.

we continued this laughing inside, and as we approached the guy inside to have our tickets torn, he says, "well, you know i'm going to have to see them too." what? did we not just have to show them twenty steps back outside?

so i asked the guy "how old do i look?" he skirted around it saying "some people just look really young."

well, jonathan asked him how old he thought he was...the guy's response: 19. ??? that was a stupid guess. that would make me about 13. jonathan laughed and said "i'm almost 30!"

the guy had jonathan guess his age...jonathan estimated about 23. i would have guessed 26. well, jonathan was right. but i want to point out that that guy was MY age and he's carding ME!

i've complained about this a number of times. when i was 20, the flight attendent asked if i was old enough to sit in the exit row (you have to at least be 15). everyone keeps saying that one day i'll appreciate it. i'm sure i will. but i would like to at least be mistaken for a sophomore in college rather than a sophomore in high school.
so the picture of me on the left is me at 16. the picture on the right is me back in november. i look older!! goodness.

awana grand prix

2009-03-08T23:38:00.005-04:00

the church held the awana grand prix tonight for the kids. it was a pretty cute event...all the kids decorated their cars and submitted them to "race" down a ramp. everyone sat in a big circle around the ramp and everyone cheered. i got to judge the car designs along with a few other church members that don't have kids in the program. obviously, many of the kids didn't do their own, but some of them were pretty amazing! i took some pictures so jonathan could use them for the site. i thought it was fun so i though i'd share a few.

this is the car that won. pretty creative! but i don't think it was done by a 5 year-old! :)

hanging rock hike

2009-03-07T20:21:00.004-05:00

yes. five days ago, we had 5" of snow on the ground.

well, this morning i stepped out of the apartment in a t-shirt and shorts into 77 degree weather! it was glorious. jonathan and i climbed into the car next to the spot where we had built the snowman (the one in the blue hat below) and there was still about a snowball size chunk of him still melting. THAT is how close together these completely opposite weather days were.

we decided to make the most of this premature spring day by finally going on a hike together. the whole last summer, with tons of closeby hiking trails to explore, we never went hiking in NC. nor did we go camping. the only hiking we did was up in virginia at peaks of otter...which was quite amazing. that is, until, i severely rolled my ankle at the tail end of the hike...as you can see! don't worry, its all better now!

i was a little more careful today, keeping this injury in mind. anyway, we decided to drive about 45 minutes north of us to hanging rock. of course, we got a little turned around on the way because my iphone which was giving directions died, but we made it. being a little higher in elevation, there was still quite a bit of snow piled up in shady spots in the parking lot up there. again, it shows the craziness of the weathr this week.

we hiked down a couple different trails...saw some small waterfalls and cool rock outcroppings. we ate our subs at the picnic area before we went on the long hike. seemed like everyone else in the state had the same idea as us. beautiful springlike day: go hike at hanging rock. seriously, everybody and their dog was out. lots of dogs. big, small, tiny. all varieties. i can't wait til i have my puppy to take hiking!

anyway, it was quite a lengthy hike, but the view up there was incredible. tons of people were up there and it was almost difficult to just find a place to sit down. the breeze felt awesome up there. i was suprised to see a little maltease all the way at the top...i was tired from the mile and a half hike up there, i'm sure he was exhausted!

but we had lots of fun and plan to check out pilot mountain nearby in the future! i love warm weather!!!

interview report: first round

2009-03-05T22:49:00.001-05:00

well, i had the interview this evening. met with the guy for about an hour and fifteen minutes...which seems like a long time which may mean good things, perhaps? he basically just had me talk about myself. he asked me to give him examples of things like "tell me about a time when you had to deal with a really difficult client?", "what are some hobbies you have?", and "tell me about an instance when someone snubbed you?". that last one, especially, caught me off guard. i'm not one who likes to hold grudges and my memory is a little fuzzy when asked to give a specific instance of such a thing. i definitely know how it feels to be snubbed, but bringing to mind an exact case is difficult. i tried to come up with an answer...which was probably not clear and answered his question pretty poorly.

so basically i guess he was just trying to assess my people skills in general. it is a retail position (not particularly what i aspired to do when i walked across the stage at graduation a couple months back), so i think he could read that i'm not necessarily crazy about the job. he could tell, however, that i was passionate about designing. that could be good or bad i guess.

overall though, i think it went okay. there are still two more rounds of interviews left. i'm just looking to tack on another half of the work week. updates, i'm sure, to come.

blizzard of '09

2009-03-05T13:54:00.015-05:00

we've had a couple of light dustings of snow here in winston over the course of this winter. jonathan and i managed to make a snowman in our garden at the end of january, but it required all the snow from the lawn outside our apartment door!

i was hoping that living further north, we'd get some good snow. well, on the cusp of spring weather, we got snow. march 1st was our lucky day. the storm swept across alabama and georgia first and their snowfall ended before ours even started! it had rained all weekend and through all of sunday, but by 7 pm, our snow set in and continued through the early hours of the morning.

we got 5" and i dragged jonathan out of our cold apartment (we don't have the heat on) to play in the even colder snow earlier than he wanted to. but it was a gorgeous day and the snow really blinded you. i had to squint all morning because i broke my only pair of sunglasses awhile back. anyway, we walked around in the snow, built a couple snowmen, made some snow angels...you know, the typical snow stuff.

now, three days later, we still have snow sticking around on the north side of all the buildings and in the shade. it won't last much longer--its supposed to get up above 70 degrees this weekend! crazy weather.

job searching

2009-02-28T14:06:00.001-05:00

like the rest of the nation right now, i'm attempting to get more hours in my work week. right now, i'm only getting less than 20 hours a week. i've been continuously searching for more job opportunities in the design field, but everyone i've interviewed with has told me they just don't have the positions right now. what a great time in the economy to graduate from school.

well, a couple weeks ago i sent my resume in to havertys. they're hiring right now and i figured if i can get a part-time job at least to supplement the hours i'm not getting where i work now, i'd be doing alright. well, they had scheduled an interview with me for this past friday. i had planned the whole day around the thing...of course to get a call an hour beforehand to postpone it to next thursday. postponed interviews seem to be the story of my life.

so the interview is this thursday at 5:30 pm. fingers crossed, this will be something i can do and more importantly, make money at doing.

kicking off 2009

2009-01-27T14:49:00.006-05:00

i can recall my 13-year-old self ringing in the year 2000 in the basement of my parents house, surrounded with my best friends, staying up all night making hilarious videos. i can't believe that was almost a decade ago. now here i am, a married woman, a college grad, working as an interior designer in north carolina. its amazing where time takes you, with God's provision, of course.

the year 2009 will be a great year. though the economy has gone to the dogs, as they say, i know God is at work. with people getting laid off from their jobs left and right, i'm appreciative that i at least have a part time job. jonathan and i have worked out our budget to get ourselves out of debt...slowly but surely. it would help to have the opportunity to work full time, both in the purpose of furthering my career and speeding up the debt free process. i've been proactive in searching for something a little more substantial than the part time position i currently hold, but its clear after another round of resumes to about 40 places in the area that i'm right where i'm supposed to be. and i'm okay with that.

my twin sister's wedding is quickly approaching...down to about the two month mark, and i've been busy planning her shower for the weekend, as well as trying to offer her some creative ideas and plan her bachelorette weekend getaway. she's doing a rustic kind of theme in a rather industrial building thats in downtown atlanta. her colors are green and yellow and she's been using birds as a motif throughout. i thought it would be adorable to use cutout bird shapes for guests to write their wishes on and hang on a small "tree". later, they could take all the birds and place them in a scrapbook as a guestbook! i think it would be absolutely adorable!she is going to use green and yellow jelly beans for her favor...another cute idea i have is to make little bird nests out of spanish moss or something economical and making them double as place holders (they'd look like little eggs!). anyway, to fit the rustic feel, she's using galvinized watering cans, gingham cloth for the table centers, and wildflowers. i'm telling you, i'm just too full of ideas.
photoshop and i are good friends.

anyway, jonathan and i have also been quite busy with church events. we took the youth snow tubing last weekend. i can't quite explain how hilarious this was, but i'll attempt. jonathan let me go down ahead of him one time and i was waiting for him at the bottom of the long steep hill. he wasn't slowing down at all and i barely got my tube out of his path when he went barreling by, launched up the 4 ft snow berm (which was there to stop people) like it was a ramp, and all of a sudden he was 5 feet in the air, tube going one way, feet kicking in the air, silly hat heading in another direction....he landed in the muddy area on the other side (everything was manmade snow and none was in the area behind the berm) on his butt. it was irristably funny. whew. i was rolling on the ground in tears it was so funny. sadly, there is no picture of this hilarious event.
apparently, jonathan thought it was too cold to look at the camera. the only shot i got of us together the whole day :(.
a good one of jonathan in his funny hat.

splitting time at christmas

2008-12-29T14:32:00.000-05:00

being married, you've got to spend time with both sides of the family. especially if its feasible. since our parents only live about an hour apart, this setup is quite obvious.

we spent christmas eve at my parents house and were able to take part in the traditions i grew up with...roast beef, candlelight service, christmas music blasting, hot chocolate and french toast casserole breakfast, clemintines, gift exchange. rebecca's fiance michael was there this year, so jonathan had a lot of fun because there was a bit more of a balance in the house :). we spent christmas morning there and left for jonathan's parents just after noon.

as ususal, the day started late there...i think everyone was up and ready for christmas festivities by about 3:30 in the afternoon. we had yet another delicious meal and took part in the gift exchanging. we were able to stick around for a couple days while the guys enjoyed guitar hero on the wii and i completed a number of word finds that kept me occupied.

after a short couple of days back, we plan to drive back down and spend new years at jonathan's parents' as is tradition (this will be my fourth new years there!) and we'll spend a couple more days at my parents' house again. busy busy! i guess thats how we'll be working this time of the year out for quite a few years!

west coast adventure

2008-12-05T12:41:00.033-05:00

so jonathan and i spent our first major holiday as a married couple not in georgia, in our beloved home state with either of our parents, but actually almost as far away as you could get from it.

we spent turkey day in oregon. that state seems to be popping into my life a lot lately. i had previously not been conscious of anyone in my sphere of existence having any connection to that northwest corner of the states. but within the past year, i've met two people who grew up in oregon and now know two couples who have made the cross country move from the peach state to the...beaver state? funny how that is.

of course, one of those couples is my sister-in-law, jessica, and her husband, brandon. since they have planned to return to georgia over christmas and couldn't make it for thanksgiving (plane tickets aren't cheap as we all know), jonathan and i decided to make use of the flying priveledges we have and purchase some discounted tickets for a thanksgiving vacation in oregon.

of course, travelling on standby isn't the least stressful way to travel, so we had made plans to fly out well before the influx of holiday travellers descended upon the airports. we booked our flight for tuesday morning at 6:40 am. we arrived at the airport well ahead of time, groggy of course. i won't go into all the details as i have in the past with all the drama standby travling causes, but as usual, we almost didn't get on and as late-comers kept making their way to the desk AFTER last call it was looking pretty hopeless until we finally got our seat assignments.

we made our way outside to board our tiny jet plane that would carry us from greensboro to atlanta. we settled in our seats and waited. but, of course, things can't go that smoothly. we wait and wait. then the pilot notifies us that there is something wrong with the cockpit chair and we must deboard the plane. already 25 minutes after scheduled departure, we were realizing that we very well may not make our 8:55 flight out of atlanta to portland.

after they wasted another 20 minutes or so, we all boarded the plane again and ended up making it to atlanta just as our connecting flight was taking off. of course, i wasn't suprised. we looked at a number of options, but in the end we decided to just take the next direct flight to Portland...8 hours later.

lucky for us, my parents were spending the day in atlanta anyway, so they picked us up from the airport and we spend the majority of the wait with them. eventually we made it to portland.
our first full day in oregon, we spent exploring the coast. i love sight seeing and seeing waves crash against big cliffs was at the top of my to see list. we had an unexpectedly sunny day. unfortunately on the way up the winding mountainous roads, a suv that was trying to pass us skidded across some black ice, swerved and srieked across the road and took a nose dive into the ditch and up the hill slightly into some trees. it was quite scary, being the only serious accident i've ever seen (hopefully the last) and the fact that none of us had a cell phone signal to call 911. jessica and i wanted to make sure they were alright and attempted to cross the road...we both slipped and fell on our butts in the middle of the road on the same black ice. some locals told us told us we should get back in the car and move on since it wasn't safe...they took care of it from there i guess. i think the driver was okay because i saw them open their car door and get out.

aside from that, we enjoyed the scenery...lots of green mossy trees and light shining though the trunks and branches. very pretty.

our first official stop was at the tillamook cheese factory. we indlulged ourselves in samples, tried to educate ourselves in the cheesemaking process, and guessed at what exactly the factory workers were doing down there. i'll tell you what, though. they make a heck of a lot of cheese!

after enjoying some delicious ice cream at tillamook, we continued our drive to the coast. We stopped at cape meares and i got to cross the whole waves crashing against cliffs thing off my to see list! it was quite spectacular and, of course, gorgeous. we were so happy to have a sunny day to get such a lovely view of everything! there isn't much more to say...pictures can do the rest for me.

next, we hit the beach. but not in the bikinis and flip flop kind of style. on our drive along the coast, we stopped at a couple of beaches to look at the scenery. rocky beaches are definately not what you see in your florida and southern beaches. but its a cool element to add to the scene for sure. this is our album cover for our next cd....
these next few are from canon beach...

jonathan claims this as his first true opportunity to watch a sunset. i'm a little skeptic to believe this, but its a romantic statement ;). of course, it was really amazing, as you can see. it seemed like everyone on the beach owned a dog. we enjoyed watching the dogs chase the seagulls...and eachother. we came across and adorable little dog that reminded me a lot of my childhood dog, maggie. he was a havanese, which is related to the bichon frise. i want one. :)

the true challenge of the trip was thanksgiving day. this was mine and jessica's first thanksgiving without our mom preparing all the yumminess we remember from years past. our first time preparing the huge meal by ourselves. now, i've been cooking some pretty simple things, but this was truly the first trial for that. jessica, with the aid of her mom on the phone all day, and i prepared the turkey, struggling with it as you would expect. it was heavy, huge, and akward to move. we didn't know where the giblets were, we didn't know how to insert the thermometer correctly, we didn't know a lot of things. but we certainly learned and all turned out okay. we made pies, sweet potatoes, cornbread, stuffing...you know, all the typical fixings. it turned out a success. since jonathan was in bed all day sick, i had to carve the turkey, too!

on friday we explored the river region. multnomah falls was by far the most intriguing of the falls we saw...it looked like it was straight out of a lord of the rings scene or something. a little further down the road we went onto a trail and hiked about 5 miles round trip to see about five other falls along the way. we packed a picnic lunch of turkey sandwiches and chips and enjoyed it while watching the water rush down the biggest of the falls.

on saturday we just spent the day relaxing and hanging out around portland. we checked out a mansion on top of a hill that overlooked the city of portland. it was a bit drizzly, so no such luck on seeing a view of mt. hood. but we were able to see a rainbow at least!

we took monday to drive up to seattle and check it out...we were on the west coast anyway, right? we ended up leaving pretty late...so we didn't arrive in seattle until about 4 pm or so. it was fun to check out a city you've always heard about...of course, we made it to the space needle (didn't go up because even though you couldn't see anything because of fog, they had no discounts on the $30 ticket). but it was a great chance to wander around and see the fish market and the bay.
and that pretty much sums up our west coast adventure! we had high hopes of skiing on mt. hood, but since the weather was mostly 60 degrees and drizzly, it didn't work out for us. hopefully one day we'll be able to make it back up there.

a new beginning...

2008-11-12T23:15:00.000-05:00

i'm a tad late on marking the start of my new beginning, but at least i've gotten around to it. if you are one of the few who had visited my blog in the past, you'll notice that my lovely blog has gotten a facelift, as well as a new name.

"snippets of my college life" was good while it lasted. i had intended to keep a record of the day to day events of my experiences in college. this was all well and good, as I had some extra time on my hands. however, after meeting my husband (through this blog, true story) the extra time seemed to escape me and i indulged myself in other activities, such as spending hours into the night talking to him on the phone, starting my very involved interior design program, and scrap booking instead. so, obviously, as i've confessed many times before, my blog sat on the back burner for the last two years of my college life. it has been pretty pathetic.

but, new resolutions are not just for the new year. after graduating from the university of georgia in may, getting married in june, moving to winston-salem, and starting a job at a design firm, i've finally made myself sit down and do the tedious update. and i hope to, seriously now, at least do a post once or twice a month.

i figured since i had named my previous blog "snippets of my college life", i'd allude to it by posting my thoughts henceforth as "the grown up life". so, dear friends and loved ones, if you would like an update on my life as a newlywed, feel free to check in every once in awhile.

hello, i'd like a job.

2008-02-18T18:19:00.002-05:00

beginning to write this post reminds me of one i wrote a couple of years ago in regards to finding a summer job at a camp.

with that job and a few more under my belt, i've been able to fill up the resume to be a little more presentable to prospective employers. i'm currently interning with a wonderful woman and helping her out with designing various spaces, picking out materials, filling out finish schedules...all the good things interns could want to do. sadly, i don't get paid.

but now is the time in life where i must find a job that pays. and not just one that gives me a little extra cash on top of my monthly allowance. that piggy bank hits the road when the wedding bells chime. well, actually the month before that when i ring the chapel bell on north campus for graduation. yes. i'm about to enter the big bad world of reality and that reality requires starting a career.

last semester, i spent hours working on developing my digital portfolio, refining it to present my best work. i worked on different layouts for my resume and generated a quality cover letter. i had high hopes to get the job search underway over christmas break. wedding planning kinda took over that. i reset the goal for the beginning of january. then school started and brought the business with it.

so february comes along and i begin to get stressed for my lack of diligence. i frantically begin critiquing my portfolio and resume, sure that it isn't good enough. after a few weeks of that, i finally had a great coordinated portfolio and it all written onto a cd and packaged complete with a ribbon. of course, this is a very expensive process, so i decided to give prospective candidates to receive my portfolio a call. i figured it would ensure that information i got online was up to date and give me a bit more of a feeling for what kind of company it is.

it was a brilliant idea. turns out, over half of the business phone numbers i had on my list had been disconnected. a good number of the others had moved locations and changed their number. and to my embarrassment, at least three of them had passed away. yes.

i had the pleasure of contacting my first deceased business owner and having a rather awkward conversation with a relative about it. i would always greet the person on the phone and tell them i am an interior design student searching for a job and that i would like to submit my portfolio. well, the poor man had to stop me in mid speal and inform me that ms. gibson had passed away about three years ago and, therefore, she is no longer in business. oh, i felt terrible. i apologized, he wished me luck, and i hung up the phone with the knowledge that my information is indeed quite out of date.

that was the only personal contact i had with anyone. but another company i called had their number disconnected. i found that a couple of other companies this occurred with had relocated and changed their number. so i searched the company name, which happened to have the person's name in it. i did not find another number. however, i did find the man's obituary dating back to 2001. it was then i really understood how old this information was.

but in the end, i got my resume out to about 20 businesses and i now sit on pins and needles as i await a phone call or e-mail from someone. hopefully before the end of the week.

parking isn't free

2008-01-15T10:21:00.000-05:00

its my first and only year at school with a car and it has pretty much been the best thing of my four years here. a bit exaggerated, but not really. as soon as i knew that i would have my very own car to take to school with me, i signed myself up on the parking waitlist.

the only problem is that before i had my car at school, i was barely breaking even with my living expenses. toss another $75 a month for gas in the mix and my bank account is dwindling. i was able to select five lots to be put on the list for. i started off around 250 for about all of them and waited it out. of course, the first ones to be assigned (3 months later) to me were the $30 a month. obviously from my previous statement, i couldn't stretch my bank account that far. and the waitlist was a joke as well. i'd be as low as 12 one week, and the next i'd fall down to 78 or something ridiculous. its much like how georgia got cheated out of the national championship by the bcs this year.

so i made do. i would leave 45-50 minutes before class every morning to ensure that i could snag one of the last parking spaces at a church off lumpkin. 10 minutes to drive, 15 minutes of walking until i got to my class. i couldn't complain much because, hey, it was free. but that certainly does not make things easy.

it especially made things difficult when i had to get myself over to the intramural fields for my ultimate frisbee class. i know, i know. its like my favorite thing ever and yes, its a class. its impossible to get over there on foot in the 15 minute window we have. its impossible to get there by bus because basically all the lazy people on campus get on at one stop just to get off at the next. plus i'm not a fan of being shoved up against people i don't know...especially sweaty ones that need a shower. so, i've been trying to find the solution to my transportation problem. i've tried quickly trotting to my car (cut it down to about 11 minutes) and then driving to the back of the IM fields...i was late. i attempted the bus. no good. but finally, things went in my favor.

last friday i was notified via e-mail that i had won. i finally was assigned a parking pass. yes, it was $20 a month, but i've got four months of parking left and i've already saved all that parking money from last semester. its glorious. i drive 6 minutes. walk 4. it takes like no time at all. i actually arrived at my frisbee class early yesterday.

so all this to say, i have a parking permit. yay for me!

wanted: stolen tulip side table

2008-01-09T14:59:00.000-05:00

the walls are seafoam and buttermilk and the air is filled that distinguished smell of fresh paint. the txmi department has finally, after many promises of "next semester", moved into our very own building. well, floor at least. since the beginning of my days as a furnishings and interiors major, we've had to share our studio with the messy drawing I class that gets charcoal everywhere, had professors prohibit us from completing our projects on time because we couldn't use the plotter, and have to climb up and down flights of stairs to leave the building. i know, they seem like major problems to you. please note the sarcasm. but even so, only half of my classes have moved to the new buildings and neither one of the CAD labs are fully functioning yet. yes, some construction is still taking place. but for some reason, the hall has not been properly locked after hours.

mrs. scheuneman came into class today rather flustered. she went on to tell us a story of the morning's events. our department owns a eero saarinen tulip dining room set. if that doesn't mean anything to you, just know that its true 1960s icon furniture. since the building has not been properly locked as of late, one of the side tables disappeared between thursday and monday. after realizing that it had indeed completely disappeared and had not just been relocated to a different part of the building, she filed a police report. they had come in this morning and began to ask questions about the said tulip end table.

"what exactly does this table look like?" questioned the officer, who had clearly, like you, never heard of such a thing as a tulip side table. scheuneman tried to articulate the wide base, smoothly transitioning to a narrow stem and then curving gracefully out again into a flat surface, but he could not imagine it. so she decided to pull up a visual via ebay, entering "tulip side table" into the search engine. she clicked on the first image that popped up to enlarge the image and realized that the table was listed for pickup only at a town about 10 miles from the university.

yup. it sounded suspicious to her, too. so later on, playing investigator, she called up the number listed to slyly question the seller. after all, they aren't all that common.

"hi, i live in the area and was thinking about coming by to see the tulip side table you have listed. do you mind me asking when you got the table in?"

"about 6 days ago." gotcha! that fell in perfectly with the time frame. so she called up the police and told them to go investigate...but she didn't seem hopeful when recounting the story to us that any action would be taken. alas, the bid would end in 6 hours and our tulip side table would go to the highest bidder for a price well over $100.

missing years

2008-01-04T22:30:00.000-05:00

i'm afraid i've failed over the past couple of years to document my college life. freshman year i had this idea that i'd provide weekly or even daily updates on my journey through college...i'm not quite sure how much insight i believed i would have over the four years my test run as an independent would provide. i seemed more interested in having something to look back over, stories to laugh about that years from now i would never remember. those are the kind of things i've lost over the past couple of years by not blogging. in ways, its disappointing. i've had a few (and i stress few) people comment to me over the past few months about how they used to enjoy reading my blog.

i hope i could do those few people a favor by taking time out of my facebooking addiction, or evening hours tweaking my projects, or other small bits of time to produce an interesting story or thought every week. maybe people might still be interested to hear what is relevant or exciting in my life. after all, this little blog did play a major role in meeting my future husband :). i should treat it a little more lovingly.

the rainy season

2007-11-11T14:12:00.000-05:00

yes. those of us in the state of georgia are suffering from a historic drought. for about two months now, we've been told to shorten our showers, refrain from running the water while we brush our teeth, and reminded that "every drop counts". i myself have tried my best to be conscious of my water usage and minimize where i tend to waste. you may see no relation whatsoever with this drought and flag football, but i will soon make clear the irony of it all.

in september, i signed up with a flag football team...for the most part, we all know eachother from RUF but were not technically associated with them this year. i wasn't in charge of the team name selection, but when i found out our name was a mouthful "we make it rain", i was a little puzzled. it wasn't quite witty or intimidating or relating to our association with one another like all other team names in our league. i was told it derived from some rap song where "making it rain" references throwing money into the crowd or something. okay. still doesn't make a whole lot of sense. but we went with it.

well, our first game it sprinkled the whole time. our second game it misted. our third game got rained out. our makeup game got rained out. we managed to make that third game up finally, and our fourth game was dry, but we lost that one. we made it through our entire fifth game before a thunderstorm broke out. we only had a little precipitation for the first game of the tournament. it began pouring halfway through our second game and they had to call it quits for the night. our third game of the tournament was the semi-finals, but no rain was to be had. we lost.

maybe you can see the pattern, but i'll make state it a little more matter-of-factly. despite us being in a severe drought, somehow it rained practically every thursday night for us. we thoroughly enjoyed the irony, and though through this post i've basically skipped over the juicy plays of the season, that is probably the best way to summarize. we played well, had some great catches, near misses, knuckles separated, bruises, scrapes and everything else related to a great football game. i somehow managed to rip the shorts off a poor girl in the tournament. that was entertaining.

jonathan came to almost all of our games and brought his camcorder, so he's planning on making a clip of the season and all. perhaps i'll be able to post it on here. anyway, all in all it was an awesome season of rain.

the postponed interview

2007-09-05T10:07:00.000-04:00

so i spent my final precious days at home before classes started researching places to send my resume so i can get some experience before graduation. i worked on my resume, printed out cover letters, addressed and mailed them to about 10 different companies in the athens area.

turns out, only one really responded to me, which is still in itself exciting because it has potential. she got my resume the second day of classes and i called her for a follow-up. she seemed very friendly and wanted to set up a lunch interview...and me to pick the place. now i wasn't sure if she was leaning towards expensive italian or over-priced fast food mexican, so i went with the in-between sandwichy-lunch place called trans met. of course, she had never heard of it, so i tried to explain where it was without knowing exactly what the street names downtown are. i'm sure that looked great on my behalf. anyway, we got that nailed down and it was supposed to be august 27.

well, i spent the week trying to prepare and get things in order so that i would have something to impress her with. a portfolio of sorts. though i didn't have a trendy little folder or bound graphically designed booklet with my work in it. i went out shopping for a button-up shirt to wear to my interview. i got home sunday night before my interview and played model for the roommates as they tried to get my as professionally-trendy-and-grown-up looking as possible. we finally decided on an outfit and i was off to bed to get some rest.

i had a 9 am class and my interview wasn't until 11:30 am, so i had plans to go to class and then come home to get prettied up for my interview. but while in the midst of burning my tongue on some freshly nuked instant oatmeal, my phone began the annoying random i'm-not-sure-why ring of "hello moto" (i never even selected that as a ring tone) around 8:30 am. it was an unknown number, so i tried to pretend my tongue was less burned and like i didn't just spring accross the kitchen to my bookbag and dig through colored pencils, umbrella, wallet and ipod to get to my phone as i picked up to casually say "hello?"

well, it was the woman who i had my lunch interview with and she sounded a little distraught.

"i'm sorry, Jeannine, but i'm going to have to postpone our interview for today..." she kind of trailed off.

of course, i'm a little stunned...at first i thought of "postponed" as meaning "cancelled" which are two separate words, and when i came to that realization, i was able to tune back into the phone call. i quickly said that it wouldn't be a problem at all, curiosity most likely oozing from my tone. well, it was soon satisfied, but was certainly bad news. i could tell it was painful to tell me that her father had passed away unexpectedly over the weekend and that she needed time to take care of things. my previously curtious "no problem at all" was then replaced with a sympathetic one.

i guess at first, i may have been thinking that the last minute phone call was due to a double-booking or business issue...something that would push me back because there were more important things to do. but the fact that she had suffered a great loss made me wish that it was the reason...it would be better for me to get my feelings hurt than for someone to lose a father. i really felt sorry for her and told her she should take all the time she needed.

we re-scheduled for two weeks later. so, i sent out my resume in mid-august and don't get an interview until mid-september. i guess that gives me more time to get my outfit in order, more time to organize a portfolio, more time to practice my interviewing skills. of course, i haven't gotten much of that done, even though it is now less than a week away. i'm hoping this interview goes well...it looks like a really great place to work and get experience, she seems like a friendly lady, i just don't know if on an interview you should ask how someone is doing since they lost someone two weeks prior.

anyway, my interview is on monday. hopefully it will go well and she will see how much i want to work at an interior design firm.

the second era of summer

2007-08-14T11:40:00.000-04:00

yet another month passes by with no word on the blog.

this past month has been crazy as far as life goes...and it has been the greatest summer ever by far. not only did i get to travel abroad in greece and italy and see so many awesome things, but now i'm engaged to the love of my life! when i was abroad, it felt like i was gone forever and i was so ready to get home. its funny now because now it seems so long ago, as if i've had two completely different summers.

well, to give you an update on things, jonathan and i have selected June 14th for our wedding. we hit the ground running trying to select a place for the reception and find a photographer, etc. it was pretty stressful trying to find a place, as june weddings are in high demand. i already knew that i was going to have the ceremony at my home church, which i'm a member of and have grown up in. a photographer was also an easy choice, since i worked at a photography studio last summer and they're great...though expensive. And for a reception, we were looking for somewhere that had a big room with a dance floor and was affordable. its really amazing how expensive it is to have a reception. jonathan and i have agreed to limit our guest list to 90 people each, which is quite difficult when you want so many people you love to be there and celebrate with you. but i guess everyone has to make cuts somewhere.

anyway, one place we considered was a golf course clubhouse that has an antebellum feel, a winding staircase, crystal chandeliers, and a big ballroom upstairs. this is a year in advance and yet two of the four weekends in june 2008 were already booked earlier that week. we had our appointment toward the end of the day and left thinking about it as we went to our next appointment. we drove for a good 20 minutes and the person who was to show us around never showed up. we then decided that the price at the other place was very reasonable and went back to make the deposit and sign stuff. of course, on a friday, people dip out as early as possible. i had to leave a message with the woman in charge telling her that we wanted the place and that we would drop off the deposit as soon as we could the next day.

well, my mom went in to drop off the check after she got off work. turns out, another bride had called that morning requesting our date and willing to come by right then. thankfully, the coordinator told them we were coming in and they couldn't have it until the next tuesday. if they couldn't get that date, then they wanted the last one in june. of course, we put down our deposit and secured the date, but its crazy how in just one week's time, june 2008 was booked up.

so that was God's blessing there. since then, i haven't made too many big decisions. i selected my bridesmaids! my maid of honor will be my twin sister, rebecca. my other bridesmaids will be my sister, kaitlin, future sister-in-law, jessica, two of my best friends from high school/roommates now, anna and colette, and my best friend from college/roommate now, amy. so i will have a total of six, which is a little big, but certainly do-able.

colors are still unknown to me. its an important decision and i just have no idea what i really want. i've been wedding dress shopping a couple of times and found a bunch that i really like. i really have to make a good decision because with everything i've already done so far (church, reception, photographer), i've already spent almost 3/4 of my budget.

so aside from all the wedding stuff, i've still been pretty busy. my girls and moved into our sweet new house on july 29 and we got settled in pretty quickly. i've been trying to find design businesses to send my resume to so i can get a job this year. i've also been back and forth to the lake with jonathan a few times. but, summer is dwindling to an end and i start classes first thing on thursday morning.

so long sweet summer.

the question

2007-07-11T20:05:00.000-04:00

there are many stories to still be told of my two month travels abroad in greece and italy. but the story i have now trumps by far any of those which i have been intending to post when i got the chance.

jonathan had told me about a week or two before that he had a big welcome home date planned out for us when i got back home. of course, it made me very happy to know that he was already putting so much thought into a special date. he planned to pick me up at 8 a.m. on saturday and had tossed around some different ideas of going on a hike in north georgia or going to athens and sorts.

i was up for 24 hours traveling on friday and didn't crawl my jet lagged self into bed until about 1 a.m. so i called him up as i was going to bed and asked him to push it back one more hour so i could get some extra rest. i still didn't sleep well, anxious to see my boyfriend after not seeing him for months. when i finally got to hug him again on my driveway, he was just as handsome as i had left him, but 17 lbs lighter :).

we swung by chick-fil-a for some chicken biscuits...so much better than the rolls with chocolate spread i've been having for 50-something days in a row! we got on the road by 10 and started driving up i-85 north. i had no idea where we were going, so i just settled into my passenger seat and we talked the entire way. talking in person is so much better than over the phone. i had really missed that. we pulled of the interstate in north georgia and stopped at a publix to get some of our traditional picnic food: turkey subs, snapples, and chips.

as our drive continued, i realized we were heading for chattanooga. it was kind of drizzly, so jonathan casually asked me whether i wanted to go to ruby falls because it was in a cave out of the rain, or rock city on lookout mountian and hope it doesn't rain. i thought my indecisiveness just lead him to choose rock city so we didn't push our luck with the weather holding up, but it turns out that was the plan all along. we pulled into the parking lot and jonathan seemed pretty upset because there were a lot of cars there, meaning there were a lot of people there as well. i just couldn't understand why this would make him so annoyed when it was a tourist attraction on a saturday in the middle of the summer.

we bought tickets to both places and then began exploring rock city. it was adorable, with all the trails paved with stone and the paths leading between walls of rocks that you had to suck in and shimmy through sideways to get through. jonathan had a backpack on, so it didn't seem much easier for him. we wandered and took some pictures along the way-i was happy because i love being outside and doing these kinds of things. he knows me well :). our destination for our picnic was lover's leap, the place where theres an overlook where you can see 7 states: georgia, south carolina, north carolina, tennessee, virginia, kentucky, and alabama. the view up there is amazing, even on a cloudy day.

i was carrying some umbrellas in case the sky decided to break loose and jonathan carried the cooler and his backpack. we found a nice picnic table with an umbrella that could keep us out of the light drizzle and sat down to eat our turkey sandwiches. as we were eating, jonathan kept watching the overlook and complaining when groups of people would trickle in and crowd up the place. he had taken about 3 bites of his sandwich before declaring that he was full, while i was just taking my time enjoying the wonderful date we were having and being happy to be with him again. i believe i have picked up a bit of a european habit of taking forever to eat lately.

meanwhile, jonathan is telling me about how excited he is to give me my welcome home presents and is trying to jump at every opportunity for us to go over there as soon as people leave. he also keeps telling me that he is excited about it because one of the gifts he made himself and it was really special to him-its nothing really expensive or anything. because he was so anxious, he had me open a card he had written for me while i was still eating. finally, i decide that i guess i could be done and just wrapped up the rest of my sandwich and we walked over to the ledge. he had me put everything down, including my camera, and opened up his little shopping back that held my gifts.

he first gave me a t-shirt that he had designed for his youth group. he had mentioned it a while ago and i was excited to finally have gotten it. he had me close my eyes for the next gift. i did so gladly because this is how jonathan likes to give gifts. its more fun than wrapping paper anyway :). when opened my eyes, he had placed a car charger for my phone in my hands. he told me he wanted me to have it because, since i'll finally have a car at school, he wants to be able to be there for me and protect me any time i need him. again, he had me close my eyes and placed a journal in my hands. i flipped it open as he was telling me that it was a collection of his thoughts and prayers for me while i was gone. he prayed for me everyday while i was gone and was going to pray for me for the rest of my life. i loved it and gave him a huge hug and told him how i couldn't wait to read it. i thought that was it. i thought that was the big gift he was excited about.

but then he said "and the next gift i have for you" and went on to explain how much he missed me over the two months while we were apart and how he loves me and never wants us to be apart again, how he wants to spend the rest of his life with me, as he lowers himself to one knee and asks me to marry him!!! i was so overwhelmed and it was all such a blur after that- all i remember is that i immediately blurt out "YES!" as i lunged on him to give him a big hug...of course, the white bling of a sparkling diamond in the box he was holding caught my eye on the way! i gave him a good squeeze for about a minute, hanging on his neck mumbling who knows what along with "oh my gosh's" and all. after awhile, i heard jonathan say "can i put the ring on you now?"

it is absolutely gorgeous! he picked it out all by himself and there couldn't possibly be a more perfect ring for me out there! my hand was shaking from adrenaline i guess when he put it on...i was in shock and it was so surreal. i hardly remember what all went on in the minutes following, but i made sure i had someone take a picture of us right away and then we wandered around the park on cloud 9 just talking about everything.

but oh, the story continues! we later leave for ruby falls and enjoy that together. i was amazed that my ring could still sparkle in a dark cave! anyway, we finished wandering around and finally got in the car and started heading back. we stopped at olive garden along the way and picked up some chicken parmesan to go, i had no idea why it was to go. we had gone to olive garden for our first date. we end up at his sister jessica and brother in law's place where jonathan had them set up tea candles and 4 dozen roses everywhere with romantic music playing and everything. it was so beautiful. so we had a private romantic dinner. jonathan tried moving the vase of roses over a bit because he thought they were getting burned and accidentally spilled the water, but it was kind of funny in a way and it didn't spoil anything (just so jonathan knows).

we finally got back to my place and i had to drag my mom downstairs after she changed out of her pjs to tell her the news! becca and her date michael came home some time after that and she flipped out...it was the best reaction ever. the next day i had to keep it a secret at church so i could get together with the girls later that night and tell them the good news!

its been crazy the past few days trying to call everyone and let them know. we're working on a date and already checking out reception venues and everything. its funny how new this is all to me. i don't know how to be engaged. its one of those things you can only learn by doing i guess. as for now, its still sinking in. i can't believe that i am engaged to such a loving, wonderful man who makes me laugh and couldn't make me happier.

when bush is in rome...

2007-06-10T07:02:00.000-04:00

i knew studying abroad this semester would provide me with many new experiences and stories to tell. but oh the stories i have to tell.

its been a busy week running around through ancient roman ruins, exploring cryptaporticos/underground dark tunnels (and being frightened by "bats") and seeing temples that were converted to churches, and so on. so after a week of this, we get the weekend off to enjoy all to ourselves. of course, we want to shop after wearing the same clothes over and over. plus, i was in desparate need of a pair of jeans...they'd be perfect for cool nights and going out.

first thing in the morning, becca and i woke up to head up to her church that she has to research for her presentation. there are typically a lot of cops, but this was just insane. i mean, there was quite an assortment of different branches of police, from the swat team, to army looking officials, to the snazzily dressed cops that always roam the streets. the streets were lined with armored vehicles parked one after the other, huge charter buses all in a row with cops on board, and guys standing in the street. basically, we were overwhelmed with it all and i don't think a description could quite describe it well enough. so anyway, we're walking along, knowing that president bush is in town and figuring that was the reason behind the madness. we soon ran into a photojournalist who chatted with us for a bit after offering us help when we looked like the confused tourists we are. he pointed us further up the road..."where bush is coming from". so indeed, it was confirmed, we were following the same route that bush would be coming down in a few minutes.

we continued on our mile and a half walk, in disbelief of the crowds and cops and protestors. anyway, long story short, we got to becca's building to find the walk was all in vain. we had stupidly worn shorts and tank tops which is a sure way to be denied to a church here. we sat around the gorgeous fountain out front waiting to see if bush would go by with no success. becca grew weary of waiting and we were anxious to get to shopping. we arrived back to the hotel around lunch time and reported to everyone how intense the atmosphere was out there.

we went out for our afternoon spree and soon we came to a road lined with pedestrians and cops yelling at anyone who dared to step off the curb. no one could pass. we knew something was about to happen, so i whipped out my camera and turned it to video mode. within a minute or so, motercycles and black suburbans with tinted windows and flashing lights were speeding by. we were trying to figure out which one he would have been in when we saw a black limo go by and a shadow in the window waving to those he passed by. everyone's conclusion as it went by was that it was indeed, president bush! we were all pretty excited about the casual run-in.

the shopping continued, though dampered a bit by the HIGHLY expensive shopping district by the spanish steps. on our way back, we thought we might get another chance to see bush. waiting again, we gave up and headed back. becca and i headed out again together nearby our hotel and i finally purchased a pair of jeans for a great deal of 15 euros. we continued around, and decided it was time to head back. we stepped out of the last store to hear tons of music and crowds yelling and saw flags marching by that consisted of communist red flags, cuban flags, italian flags, anti-bush banners, and a man on a megaphone yelling something about america quite often. needless to say, becca and i felt a little uneasy about the hostility towards our president and americans in general.

"if something goes wrong, jeannnine, we're speaking in french" were the words of becca as we walked on the sidewalk next to the chaos. i felt like we stuck out like blond hair, blue eye,d american twins amongst the punk, dred locked, baggy clothed, haven't bathed in a few days protestors. we are a block away from the hotel when becca squeezes my hand to tell me its time to move off the main road with all the protestors. then i see the group of girls we're always with sitting no more than 30 feet from the road just sitting down for dinner. we ran over to them and questioned their coolness about the atmosphere.

"these are just peaceful protestors!" carina reassures us. "plus we have front row seats!" we should have listened to our gut instict, but we did need to eat dinner and it would be interesting to watch. so we had a seat and placed an order. as i always do for security measures while eating out, i wrap the straps of my purse around my leg so it doesn't get stolen. not so good in light of what happened next.

within five minutes of sitting down, i suddenly see a look of fear on carina's face and jump up in a split second, and then i turned around to see literally a stampede of people pouring into the alleyway towards us. it all happened so fast. i try to grab my purse, but its tangled around my leg, caught on the chair, i'm reaching for my shopping bag, i'm hopping on one leg trying to get my purse, pushing through chairs to get to the restaurant doors, people are screaming, i'm shoving chairs into other people, i see carina standing at the door, the owners trying to shut the doors and roll down screens, i finally get inside and the doors close. i looked around and didnt' see becca anywhere, so i was freaking out yelling "where's becca??" over and over and very emotionally shaken at this point that i started tearing up and so forth.

then i see becca, sarah, and katie come bursting through the doors. apparently they had hit the ground when they saw us jump up, thinking there was gunfire or something and were hiding under the table laying on the cobblestone for a good minute. we were all scared and the waiters were telling us we're fine and seated us inside to have our meals. our apetite had left and we were ready to go within 15 minutes, but still worried about what was happening outside.

we try to walk casually back to the hotel, which was literally around the corner. it concerned me that protestors had made their way off the main road, but we hurried as much as possible. we reached the hotel doors when we heard loud banging, realizing it was the police on the next street lined up with their sheilds and banging on them with their batons. we ran upstairs to our room to see what was going on. we could see the protestors on the main road marching, the cops through the two buildings in front of the plaza lined up with their blue helments and sheilds, things were exploding, and sirens wailing. it was really scary. then we'd see people run up our alley from the main road. becca and i spotted our photojournalist friend from our window...he was right below us with his cameras and all. there were suspicious individuals who we tried to keep an eye on...of course, i got the majority of this on film.

after about an hour back in the hotel room, the police broke up the protest and things slowly went back to normal. the sun had set, people were sitting down to eat a candlight dinner, couples strolled by holding hands, and a man played a clarinet for change just below our window.

the tales of the tb man

2007-06-04T13:25:00.000-04:00

so i'm sure y'all are awaiting updates of my travels throughout the greek isles and the stops leading up to my arrival here in rome (we arrived yesterday). but i have an interesting story to tell.
we've been island hopping for the past week and a half, enjoying the beautiful landscapes despite the dampening rain. that has been quite a tragedy. but not the point. once we finished with our travels throughout the isles, we took an overnight cruise on a ship to southern italy. however, once we arrived in itlay, we were out of connection with the world. this is becuase for three nights, both of the hotels we stayed at had 1. no internet connection and 2. no phone lines availible to us 3. in the middle of nowhere. they did have some nice views/ close proximity to ruins, but we felt a bit removed from society. we had to pay to have air turned on, our tvs didn't work, and so on. okay so enough complaining. i know, i'm in europe for goodness sake.
so anyway, point being that when we arrived here in rome yesterday, we were desparate for both laundry and contact with loved ones. becca and i hit the ground running and were first to locate the nearest laundry facility and get it going. when we finally got back, we walked into carina and katie's room to be in the middle of a story that confused me.
she was talking about a man who had tuberculosis that traveled on like 7 flights or something. it didn't really make sense to me at first why she was so animated about the story or why this mattered so much. i don't know if you have heard the news about the atlanta man who flew to athens, greece for his wedding and had a severe/rare case of tb, but it turns out that this same man flew on the same flight from paris to athens that carina and jamie had been on. jamie and i have been roommates the whole trip and carina, jamie, me, becca, sarah, and katie have been hanging out the entire trip.
so basically, this all broke out on our last night in greece and school officials, parents, etc. have been trying to get in contact with us because they knew they had been on that flight with him. we find all this out last night and they would have to use their first free day in rome to get tests in the hospital. fun, huh?
but this is not the end of the coincidental story. as we gathered more information about the circumstances surrounding the events of tb man, how he was from atlanta, how he just got married in athens, we make a very sudden and ironic connection. a random and rather unimportant conversation with an older atlanta man who shared a breakfast buffet with us at our hotel (which pretty much only housed our group of 30 and maybe 3 additional rooms) popped out of our blur of memories from the past 3 weeks. we had finished our week in athens, had enjoyed our stay in mykonos, and were wrapping up our stay in santorini when this man told us he too was from atlanta and he and his wife and the other couple had come to greece for their son's wedding which was that past weekend. the wedding was in athens, greece. so basically, not only did jamie and carina fly on the same airplane as tb man, but we ate breakfast with his parents a week and a half later! its just too strange to comprehend.
as for the testing today, their chest xray scans came up negative and they are still awaiting the tb test prick in the arm which they'll go back for on wednesday. so i think we're safe. we'll see...if you hear of an outbreak of tb amongst a group of georgia students, think of me.

a different sort of athens...

2007-05-20T10:23:00.000-04:00

internet access here is not so easy...either i dish out about $1.50 for 15 minutes on the computer, or i sit and wait for the opportunity to borrow one from one of the lovely people on study abroad that had the guts to bring one along. one has finally fallen into my hands.
becca and i left about 9 days ago and headed for greece. the flight alone was interesting enough, but i'll just get to the part where we got to baggage claim and had no bags to claim. yes. becca and i in our heels and dress clothes (being "non-revs") after they were our pjs a few hours before, would have to remain in them for an additional 28 hours or so.
apparently, delta decided that the weight of the airplane couldn't hold an additional 84 pounds of luggage and decided to hold it in atlanta. we figure that after finding becca's bag had been searched by the asa, they simply missed the plane or something. so in a haze, we wandered around athens trying to find our hotel and later some flip flops to escape the pain of walking on cobblestone in heels. but of course, every plastic flip flop turns outto be at least $30.
instead, we had to use that money to go back to the airport the next day to pick up our beloved baggage. it was a one hour trip both ways, but so worth getting out of those clothes!
becca and i spent the rest of that second day getting acquainted with our next hotel's location. we mastered the metro with no problem and haven't gotten lost yet. we surprised some of our study abroad buddies by showing up at the hotel and explored the area. those extra two days really helped us get our bearings.
on monday we all headed to the beach. the mediterranean is a bit colder than we all anticipated and quite rocky. like most european countries, they don't seem to like swimsuits over here. we had some rather akward moments as topless girls in thongs decided to occupy the sand adjacent to us. it was even worse when a perverted man busted out his camera phone, as you can imagine.
we were bombarded with men trying to sell us a wide variety of items, from bouncing, light up sea urchins to magazines about jesus in greek to bikinis those girls don't want to wear anyway. theres a lot of that around here. but aside from that and not having any towels to lay out on, the view was beautiful.
later we met up with all the study abroad group that made it to the hotel on time. thanos, our professor, lead us to the top of a mountain right next the the acropolis that had the most amazing view of the city. there are buildings sprawling out just about as far as the eye can see...we could see the mediterranean in the distance, the acropolis, and a number of other significant mountains and landmarks. the view was amazing at the top. it wasn't so great on the way down.
becca, kaite, sarah, and i all stayed back to take more pictures and admire the view. the group was only about 5 minutes ahead of us. but somehow i guess we took the wrong path. we were just chatting and watching our footing on our way down the mountain path that was lined with trees and brush. suddenly from the corner of my eye, i saw more to a male figure than i wanted to see. we all quickly passed by this man, trying to continue our conversation that was being held moments ago, but words were mostly lost into studders. i don't know why a man in a blue collared dress shirt and dress socks would be standing on the side of a mountain without any pants, but it definitly wasn't what any of us were expecting or wanted to see.
tuesday kicked off our week of intense sight seeing. we took a long bus ride to mycenae to see the ruins of one of the most ancient pre-grecain civilizations. it involved a lot of hiking and beautiful views, like most of the days, but i think my favorite part was where we stopped for lunch. we stopped in the beautiful city of nafpoli, which used to be the captial of greece. it was right by a blue sea, with some sort of castle that appeared to be floating in the middle. the streets were packed with vedors of souveniers, but what i admired most were the flowering vines of pink flowers that crawled over the walkway from one balcony to the other. there were two mountains there, the tallest with a huge mideaval fortress on top and the other with an older one. we got some delicious gelato...it was a great way to start the trip!
the next day we began our tour of classical athens, visiting the agora and, of course, the acropolis. at the acropolis, the cheif architect gave us a behind the scenes tour of the reconstruction...we got to see how they are carving the new marble to fit with the ruins. its amazing how many pieces of various buildings they have and they pretty much know how it all fits together! so that was pretty cool.
our hotel is right next to the acropolis, literally a 5 minute walk to the gates. we're in the heart of the touristy district, which has its ups and downs. we always have a fabulous view of the city and the acropolis from our hotel's roof garden. the bad part is that whenever you step outside the hotel, the restaurant people are enticing you to "come! eat here! we have best food in athens" and "pretty girls, would you like something sweet? drinks? coffee?" and so on. i hate that as much as i hate the men trying to sell those bouncy sea urchins.
so on with the trip. thursday we did some more hiking around athens. THE longest day ever. we probably walked about 6 or 7 miles and i took about 15 pages of notes (which means pretty much the whole time). it was very hot. but despite the length, it was great.j
one fun story is when we were about to cross the street at the beginning of the day, a fat lazy dog awoke from his slumber on the sidewalk. well, when a group of about 30 people walked up, he woke up and decided to cross the street with us. its funny how all the dogs here know to wait for the people to start crossing. anyway, the lights are retarded, and only a few people make it barely two steps beyond the median before the light changes red for us to cross. so they turn back and all 30 of us squeeze onto a 3 foot wide median. but the dog was unaware of this, so when he got to the other side, he realized his new pack was not with him. he barked and howled at the cars and motercycles as they whizzed by, as if he were angry with them. it was pretty funny to watch and he did this the whole time we waited. when we all finally crossed, he was satisfied, but would bark at the stragers that passed by. so this dog followed us for a solid hour and a half...he waddled through the town, up the streets, didn't give a ticket to get through the gates to the acropolis, sat with us through lecture, climbed up the rocky slopes, you name it. he was our pet for the day.
we took a break for lunch and the most exciting thing about that was becca got pooped on by a bird. well, maybe not exciting, but it was pretty darn funny. but my bad event came later when we finally ended our day and we were all walking back from the other side of town. i was exhausted and weary, walking along the road when suddenly my vision turned sideways and i was catching myself on the ground and my ankle popped. i had stepped in a massive 4 inch deep pothole in thev middle of the freaking road! it hurt painfully bad and becca was kind enough to let me hobble home with her assistance. it was swollen pretty bad until about sunday (which is today).
friday was a fabulous break from the excessive walking of the day before. it was a 3 hour bus ride to delphi, where the gods were said to have lived. apparently, theres some kind of chemical in the water there that made people high, causing them to hallucinate and stuff like that. if you smelled too much of the fumes or drank too much of the water, you would die. anyway, it was gorgeous up there, the mountains were incredibly high.
i spent a lot of the time after the excursions rewriting my notes into a final journal. its very exhausting. but anyway, the past two days have been pretty low key. we went to the national museum yesterday and then dished out a lot of money for laundry. its been rainy, of course, on our days off, which sucks. but oh well.
we're leaving tomorrow morning at 6 am for mykonos. more updates to come!

yet another brief update

2007-05-06T17:11:00.000-04:00

so resolutions are no good. i guess you can hope for the best, but that obviously doesn't always happen. of course, this semester has been just as chaotic as the last and at no point did i sit down and say to myself "i have too much time on my hands. i guess i'll blog."

i had a huge semester long project that i'm sure i'll be wanting to post soon. i designed a house for my boyfriend jonathan's parents and did everything from bubble diagrams and programming to picking out finishes and rendering final perspectives (and believe me, theres a lot in between). thats a pretty good summary of the semester.

the girls (anna, amy, and colette) and i are all living in a new house together next year. the plus side is its brand new (we signed the contract within a week of them breaking ground). the downside is its kinda in the ghetto. but we'll make do and have a wonderful final year (well...i might be the only one in my final year).

i guess i just wanted to summarize the semester before i study abroad for two months all over greece and italy. the plan is (as it always is) to keep everyone who wants to be informed on the adventures of the trip. i'm sure there will be some great stories to tell. lets just see if i'll be able to share them while away (may 12-july 7).

stay tuned in the midst of static...

its like riding a bike

2007-02-18T17:31:00.000-05:00

i am not lance armstrong. i am not sweat proof. i am not a mechanical expert.

but after two and a half years of walking up and down the hills of uga's extensive campus, i have gotten my hands on a red "vintage" road bike.

why not until now? refer to line one. plus add that the idea of having a bike at school has always been just that...an idea. but after many occasions last semester when i had to walk a mile home in the dark by the cold moonlight (because i am a car-less junior), i figured it was time to make the dream a reality.

the benefits of having a bike? getting to an fro quickly. perhaps extending the boundaries of how far i can venture. exercise.

the setbacks? i mentioned that i'm not sweat proof. biking uphill for a few hundred feet with giant buses trying to pass on my left doesn't help that. secondly, i haven't ridden a bike in years, let alone having never ridden a road bike.

so the first week of classes i shied away from riding the new mode of transportation for fear of losing balance and falling off in front of a bus to meet my demise. so basically, i had to teach myself how to ride a bike.

side note. wherever the expression "its like riding a bike" came from, it should be scratched out of the cliché handbook. i always took it to mean that once you learn it, it comes right back to you...but no. i wouldn't say that the bike analogy works for me like that.

of course, the last bike i rode was magenta. it was smaller. i sat straight up on the seat...which was comfy. it had the gear shifts ON the handlebars. that was brilliant. those were the days when bike riding was easy.

i think what made this bike so hard to adjust to was the fact that i have to bend over and reach pretty far for the handlebars...plus they're curled. i don't think the seat and i were meant for each other. and i have to take my hands OFF the handlebar in order to shift the gear.

so anyway, the bike and i were just starting to get along. i was getting used to squeezing the crap out of the brakes to slow down and shifting as i'm starting up a hill has become quite a talent of mine. though i have bruises covering both my legs from having to carry my bike up two flights of stairs to my apartment because there are no more spots left on the bike rack, it gives my arms a little exercise. i get to class in the morning a little out of breath and breaking a sweat, but i can deal with it. and aside from the gears deciding to jump around while i'm pushing my way up a steep hill, things had been going just fine.

but like i said, i am no mechanical expert. i guess i should have taken the gears jumping around while i'm pedaling as a symptom of something much worse. last monday i hopped on my bike after a full day of classes and began pedaling my way home. i waited at the stoplight for a green light, and when i began to pedal again, there was no resistance and i was only moving because i was heading downhill.

i pulled over the the side and, embarrassed, climbed off my bike to analyze the problem. it just so happened that the chain had come off the gears completely. i spent the next 15 minutes trying to reattach the chain with no success. the only result was wasting time, getting black grease all over my hands, and having to push my bike all the way home.

in short: not fun.
i have yet to fix it. that would take me googling bike gears or something and trying to guess by looking at pictures. so that is the extent of my biking experience in the past few months. it hasn't been as easy or ideal as my expectations.

the blogging resolution

2007-02-14T23:14:00.000-05:00

if my life only consisted of what was written on my blog, it would be proof that i didn't have much of one (be that a blog or a life). according to my blog, all i've done in the past six months or so is get a speeding ticket, get locked in a bathroom, and drawn a bunch of random things.

its a relief that i'm not required to record my life's events, though they do tend to disappear from my memories when i don't. i guess that was my intention when i began this blog back when college was a fresh beginning. i wanted to keep track of all the funny moments, random trips, and perhaps any insightful thoughts i had...though those are quite rare.

last semester, i figured it would be mundane to write about things that were going on because it felt like all i did was work in the studio. but thinking back now, plenty happened that was interesting...but eventually i won't be able to remember much about it at all. so i'm using this post to say that i need to be better at posting...for me and my future faulty memory a few years down the road and for all those who wish to keep up with the happenings in my life. not that there are many of you out there.

anyway, i guess you can say its like a new years resoultion a few months late...or maybe a valentine's day resolution that is not really associated with love or romance whatsoever.

so here's to being a better blogger...but you know resolutions are hard to keep.

rendering sketchbook

2007-01-03T19:59:00.000-05:00

it was only one of many time consuming classes that i had, but the work from my rendering class is probably more interesting than drafting.

when the semester began, none of us in the program knew how we were going to be able to do what our professors expected of us. its amazing to see how far we came in just one semester.

i've tried to arrange the following pictures in the order i drew them. all of them were done with prismacolor markers and colored pencils.

granite sample

2007-01-03T11:44:00.000-05:00

brick sample

2007-01-03T11:43:00.001-05:00

stone sample

2007-01-03T11:43:00.000-05:00

tile sample

2007-01-03T11:42:00.001-05:00

wood sample

2007-01-03T11:42:00.000-05:00

floral arrangement

2007-01-03T11:41:00.002-05:00

greenery

2007-01-03T11:41:00.001-05:00

marble fireplace

2007-01-03T11:41:00.000-05:00

silver teapot

2007-01-03T11:40:00.001-05:00

glass

2007-01-03T11:40:00.000-05:00

carved object

2007-01-03T11:39:00.001-05:00

wood bench

2007-01-03T11:39:00.000-05:00

wood casement

2007-01-03T11:38:00.001-05:00

four poster bed

2007-01-03T11:38:00.000-05:00

rough wood shelf

2007-01-03T11:37:00.000-05:00

wood table

2007-01-03T11:36:00.000-05:00

solid chair

2007-01-03T11:35:00.000-05:00

patterned chair

2007-01-03T11:34:00.002-05:00

leather chair

2007-01-03T11:34:00.001-05:00

whicker chair

2007-01-03T11:34:00.000-05:00

window treatment- patterned

2007-01-03T11:33:00.000-05:00

window treatment- sheer

2007-01-03T11:32:00.001-05:00

window treatment- trimmings

2007-01-03T11:32:00.000-05:00

master bathroom- elevation 1

2007-01-03T11:31:00.001-05:00

cottage project- floor plan

2007-01-03T11:31:00.000-05:00

master bathroom- elevation 2

2007-01-03T11:29:00.000-05:00

master bathroom- elevation 3

2007-01-03T11:28:00.000-05:00

master bathroom- elevation 4

2007-01-03T11:27:00.000-05:00

2007-01-03T11:26:00.000-05:00

cottage project master bedroom- axon

2007-01-03T11:25:00.000-05:00

cottage project living room- one point perspective

2007-01-03T11:24:00.000-05:00

kitchen- one point perspective

2007-01-03T11:23:00.000-05:00

kitchen perspective (it was too big to scan in, so i had to piece together, thats why the corners of these are missing)

2007-01-03T11:22:00.000-05:00

final project; floor plan

2007-01-03T11:21:00.000-05:00

final project- kitchen

2007-01-03T11:20:00.000-05:00

final project- formal dining room

my, how time flies

2006-12-23T23:17:00.000-05:00

"time flies when you're having fun" is how the saying goes.

"fun" isn't necessarily the descriptive term to sum up last semester. there were a few "funs" sprinkled in on weekends with jonathan, dinners out with the girls, and football (both flag and tackle variations), but by no means did "fun" dominate the experiences of my last four months.

studio ruled my semester. i'll try not to reiterate how much of my social time it consumed. the semester's saying would go "time flies when your having projects without end." i've complained about it and listened to fellow majors complain about it so much that i'm sick of complaining about it. from now on, let the ongoing suffering just be understood. its a given.

but time does fly. every semester seems to go by faster than the preceding one and every time it boggles my mind that its even possible for that to happen. i guess its just part of getting older. memories stick better than in childhood, i suppose.

mentally preparing for time sprinting on by may help me deal with that phenomenon.

its like a full time job...

2006-09-15T14:53:00.000-04:00

i see this past summer as preparation for fall semester.

i may have only worked 4 days a week for about 8 to 9 hours everyday, but i think i become accustomed to being gone from the early morning to early evening, barely having time to pee, and working through the lunch hour. without those kind of summer hours, i think i would have broken down by now.

i now feel for becca. i always knew she worked long and hard hours in studio, but now i have first hand experience. for the 23 hours i sit in a classroom a week (and the additional 5+ hours i spend doing homework each day), i'm only getting 15 hours of credit.

what could i possibly be doing? drafting. measuring. twirling my pencil. coloring. lettering. taking pictures. burning cds.

it might not seem like much, but anyone can attest to the fact that my social hours have dwindled. to put it in perspective, i said this to anna on wednesday:

"i'm so excited, i'm almost finished! i only have like an hour and a half of stuff left to do!"

i basically spend all my time trying to get ahead, and only end up not having to spend the night before a project is due in the studio with the other girls.

but nonetheless, i'm (dare i say it?) enjoying it so far. but i'm praying to God that things slow down soon before i breakdown.

the summer scrapbook

2006-08-15T23:20:00.000-04:00

summer is gone.

i moved into my townhome-style apartment today with the help of my parents, roommate, devoted boyfriend, and helpful friends. after carrying two carloads and a u-hauls worth of furniture and living necessities up three flights of stairs, i think that anna and i are here to stay for the remaining years of college.

but i'll have plenty of time to discuss living situations and classes in the months to come. i intend to use the following space to serve as a narration of summer events that i've ommitted from the three wimpy posts i managed to write over the break. the majority of which to be done through pictures. lots and lots of pictures.

2006-08-15T23:04:00.000-04:00

jelly man

2006-08-15T22:42:00.000-04:00

i see dory...finding nemo

2006-08-15T21:16:00.000-04:00

jonathan and me

2006-08-15T21:15:00.001-04:00

enjoying a warm spring day

2006-08-15T21:15:00.000-04:00

forest fest bluegrass festival in louisville

2006-08-15T21:14:00.001-04:00

waterfront park

2006-08-15T21:14:00.000-04:00

at the waterfront park in louisville

2006-08-15T21:13:00.000-04:00

cheking out the resevoir

2006-08-15T21:12:00.000-04:00

my handsome boyfriend looking all stylish

2006-08-15T21:11:00.000-04:00

braves game!

2006-08-15T21:10:00.000-04:00

the roses jonathan gave me

2006-08-15T21:09:00.000-04:00

picnic at the mill...

2006-08-15T21:08:00.000-04:00

jonathan's first time kneeboarding...he got up :)

2006-08-15T21:07:00.001-04:00

sitting on the back of the boat

2006-08-15T21:07:00.000-04:00

beautiful lake keowee

2006-08-15T21:06:00.000-04:00

july 4th...

2006-08-15T21:05:00.001-04:00

picnicing

2006-08-15T21:05:00.000-04:00

me and my sistas

2006-08-15T21:04:00.001-04:00

visiting anna in athens

2006-08-15T21:04:00.000-04:00

silly girls

2006-08-15T21:03:00.001-04:00

our first visit to the world of coke

2006-08-15T21:03:00.000-04:00

lots of coke junk

2006-08-15T21:02:00.000-04:00

bottoms up!

2006-08-15T21:01:00.001-04:00

outside the world of coke