A farewell bid

3 days until we bid farewell to this year.  I can honestly say I have grown up a lot in 2011.  Which is surprising cause I am 28, so really how much more can I mature?  I have seen the blessings in life this year and know that my life is not about meaningless things, but about the family, friends, and faith that make me the person I am.  I am excited to see what is in store for 2012!  I will be bringing in the New Year with many of my closest friends and am blessed beyond measure that I have people to share this Holiday with.  


So my New Years Resolutions?  Finally to get in better shape?  I have been trying to hit the gym and eat better, but 2012 is going to be the year, I think.  With a combination of sickness, migraines, and a number of other outside forces, I am really ready to see what eating well and exercising regularly can do to improve my overall health (read: sickness free, migraine free New Year).  


I am also looking forward to a number of exciting trips in 2012, including but not limited to: a week long trip to Atlantis, Bahamas, a tour of the mid-west, a long weekend in Hilton Head, and at least a few beach and Lake trips.  Have no fear, I will continue to update and engage you all in my trips and excursions.  Stay tuned for the events of 2012....

4 days

4 days?  Are you freakin kidding me?  I have even still yet to complete my Christmas shopping.  WHOOPS!  Oh well, turns out Christmas happens whether there are gifts or not, how cool is that?


So I have been running at full throttle here recently and low and behold what happens?  I wake up this morning with a sore throat.  This winter is certainly trying my patience with germs and sickness.  I am probably going to cancel my plans for tonight so I can go home and rest a bitty!  Only 2 more work days between me and a 4 day weekend with lots of fun, family, and food!  Get excited!


This season has been particularly meaningful to me for some reason.  I am way less held up on presents and gifts and really trying to be thankful to being with friends and family.  Life is way too precious to waste on being ungrateful for the "things" I did not get.  I am blessed beyond imagine and only hope I can continue this spirit in the years to come!

And let the Christmas parties begin....

Well well, what a season it has been.  I feel like it was summer and now its Christmas!  What the heck?  Anyway, we now enter the time of Christmas parties and I LOVE IT!  Last weekend I had a cocktail party Saturday night, a party with the youth group I help lead on Sunday, a Christmas celebration on Tuesday night and this weekend is my annual Christmas Potluck on Saturday where me and my 50 closest friends get together and celebrate.  (No I do not really have 50 close friends, but its one of my favorite traditions to invite everyone I know and their friends in hopes to gain a better sense of community and to meet new people, so I generally have a turn out around 50-60 people!  YAY!  Then on a much smaller scale, I will be having my annual cookie exchange on Sunday.  Work Christmas luncheon the following week and then Christmas breakfast and white elephant with the whole extended family before heading to my sisters for yet another Christmas celebration.  Throw one more get together with my dad's side of the family in there and the Christmas festivities will wrap up!  I do love this time of year, all the quality time with friends and family all the while celebrating the birth of our Savior, Jesus!  What a wonderful season to be alive!  I wish everyone the best of Christmas cheer and lots of Merriness!

11 days

In 10 very short days, i will be heading to bed at night, knowing that Santa will make his most wonderful appearance that night and bring all sorts of goodies our way.  And do not try to convince me otherwise.....I was a Polar Express kid, so I know the "true" story!  What is better than all that?  I am feeling much better, totally re-energized and have about a million things happening over the next 2 weeks to get me excited about Christmas--a work party, a potluck, a cocktail party, last Advent lunch, a cookie exchange, a tacky lights tour, and a dinner with my girlfriends to celebrate our Christmas season (this year we are trading gifts for a nice dinner and I like it).  But even during this season of life of giving and getting...lets not forget the most precious gift every given....the gift of JESUS!  I know, I am all too guilty of going through the commercial season with the gifts, the Christmas music, then paper chains, and the "holiday" spirit--none of which are bad in themselves, but I also need to remember that I am so very blessed to be able to be free because of the very FIRST Christmas gift--the gift of our Savior!  So enjoy the kindness of strangers, the time with family, the Christmas ham, and those crazy parties, but remember that there is one who loves you more than any humanly person can and that is our Lord Jesus Christ!

Blah! Blah! Blah!

So we are a few days out of my last post and although my head, nasal, etc. has all cleared out, no fever, and a little more energy.  I have still had a hard time getting my appetite back.  I have been having nausea on and off for the better part of the week, which has not been fun.  I am not hungry most of the time, but if I can try to eat something I have been but then it seems that just makes me feel worse.  So as I am coming out of this sickness, I am trying to regain strength and the best way to do that is the nutrients in food, but I am lucky these days if I can manage 2 pieces of toast.  I am looking forward to a somewhat low key weekend.  I am still not sleeping too great (that is in some thanks to my lovely dog, who seems to think its a fantastic idea to wake up at 5am!).  So although things are improving, I am still not 100%.  On a few fun notes, my friend Allison is going to be in town briefly tonight and tomorrow from Hilton Head :)  Also, I am getting together with some friends tomorrow for some bowling.  And the best news of all...16 days til Christmas!  :)  Enjoy the season everyone!

Germs are ICKY!

So I have been battling with the flu for about 10 days now.  I say battling because I thought I was getting better for like two days somewhere in there.  Now the days are just running together as I am trying to actual get some sleep and manage work and other commitments too.  How do people that have kids do this?  I cannot imagine trying to care for another human being in my less than stellar state.  All in all, I took about two days off of work, but now I am back to the grind and trying to wrap up stuff before the year end.  Which leaves me totally worn out by the time I get home.  I still have some of my Christmas decorations in a box to get put up, but I keep thinking I will have more energy one of these days.  I am currently dreaming of the day when I will feel all better....it has to happen sometime, right?


My vacationing has started dwindling as it always does around this time of year.  I did however go to Christmastown this past weekend with my friend CJ.  It was quite cute, I wish we had a little more time to spend there but we were rushing to try to get back for the big ACC championship game.  However, after further review, I wish we had spent more time at Christmastown and less watching the Hokies get killed by the Clemson tigers.  :(  But at least we still managed to swing a bid to the Sugar Bowl (who the heck knows how that happened).  On our quick drive to Williamsburg and back, CJ and I started talking about 2012 vacation and we may have decided to do what I determine will be an amazing adventure.  We are thinking about doing a 7 states in 7 days vacation tour of the mid-west.  Stay tuned to see if this idea comes to fruition :)

Skydiving 101

Okay okay, so I FINALLY got to go Skydiving.  After only 3 failed attempts (too much wind, raining, and a flooded runway), I felt that i had heard ever excuse in the book, but yesterday, Monday, November 14th, I made my first ever jump out of an airplane.  And it will likely be my last.  I was not super impressed with skydiving!  First thing, you get harnessed in--man that mess is uncomfortable.  Then you go hop in a tiny plane and get a quick briefing before you reach the height where you jump out.  Three simple steps and success, right?  WRONG!  I felt very out of control and did not feel things went as smoothly as they should.  As it turned out when we had a semi-crash landing on the ground--OUCH!  We were told that it was windier than they thought and we probably should not have actually gone today.  WHOOPS!  But all in all, aside from my sore back and bottom from where we landed (I think I made out waaaaaaay better than my tandem guy), the view was beautiful and the experience was definitely once in a lifetime.  Do I suggest you do it?  Maybe, if you are up for the challenge.  But I cannot say I am one of those people that walked away with the mentality of being in love with the experience!  It was not my favorite thing and I do think I am a little bit of a thrill seeker...I love roller coasters, like climbing walls, and love those canopy tours/ziplines, but it is definitely an experience I will NEVER forget!

The happiest place on Earth???

So I was having dinner at a girlfriend's house on Sunday night and she was saying how she had never been to Disneyworld.  My jaw about dropped.  How it is that anyone can make it to their middle 20s without having visited the Happiest Place on earth!  I grew up in a fantastic family where we learned a LOT about budgeting and the value of spending time with each other.  My parents were big savers, but knew when it was important to spend money too.  So we would take a family vacation about every 3-4 years.  I went to Disney twice in my youth and LOVED it!  We never got the mickey mouse ears or stayed at the "cool" hotels.  It was Holiday Inns and McDonalds, but we got to experience the gift of spending time together and spending 1-2 FULL days at the parks (we are talking sun up to sun down...we were going to get our money's worth!).  


So since my friend has never been to Disneyworld, we are going to make things right and plan a long weekend trip down there.  So I need help from you, blog family.  Do you have any tips or great resources for getting deals on tickets to the parks?  We are aiming to do this trip in the most cost-effective way possible, but still to make the most of our short time there.  Disney as an adult...should be interesting.  We joked about the need to borrow a kid so we would "fit in" but I am confident we will find fun things to do there for our adult selves, it wont be VEGAS (which I think may be the Adult version of Disney) but it should be some great PG fun :)

Fail....again

So Saturday was supposed to be the big skydive reschedule, but it was raining so they cancelled and pushed us back to Sunday.  Woke up Sunday, it was a beautiful sunshiney day--a perfect day to jump out of a plane.  Left my house, went by to pick up my friend CJ and started our trip up to DC.  30 minutes into the car ride, I got a call...dun dun dun.  CANCELLED AGAIN!  This time the "runway was flooded"  I am really beginning to wonder if this place actually exists.  So we are no rescheduled to go on November 14th, and I am taking a day off of work, so fingers crossed that it wont be rainy for days before or the day of, that it wont be windy and that it will be above 50 degrees (just so I don't freeze)!!!


In other news, I promised a recap of Footloose.  I LOVED IT!  Albeit, it was a chick flick and there were some corny parts but the dancing was fantastic and the general story was great.  If you don't catch it in the theaters, no doubt it will be at a Redbox near you in a few  short months!


This weekend I am kicking it in town and spending a lot of the weekend at church.  I was nominated to be a deacon at my church and as such, I have training and teaching this weekend for that.  Next weekend I am headed to Norfolk to see the cutest little boy in the whole world...my awesome nephew!  Then the weekend after that who knows what.  I can hardly believe we are already in the month of November.  Just 51 days until Christmas, isn't that unbelievable?  However, do not think you will catch me decorating or listening to Christmas music until the day after Thanksgiving.  I am keeping with tradition and just celebrating the ONE holiday at a time. 


Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend :)

Another Day, another Dollar!

So after three intense weeks of work, I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  This week I am playing catch up on all the work that was not "important enough" the last 3 weeks, which is always good for me.  To eliminate the many piles on my desk is a good thing!  This past weekend in Blacksburg was fantastic!!!  Beautiful weather....fun friends....delicious food...and tons of alcohol...what more could a person want!  We hit up the alumni tailgate for all the free swag--I scored a Hokie cup, Hokie watch, Hokie pens, and even a Hokie colored doughnut!!!  Then we went to the game, it was an uneventful first half but the Hokies came back after halftime and kicked B.C.'s butt!  We celebrated with some friends then went home to chat and get to bed--it was an exhausting day of cheering and drinking...LOL!  

Tonight after work I am heading out with a bunch of girlfriends for dinner at a local Richmond restaurant (Kitchen 64) and then hitting up the movie "Footloose."  How much more girlie could we get?  I am pretty pumped about it, as someone who LOVES to dance, I just about love any movie that has to do with dancing!!!  So a review to follow...

In other news, this weekend is the big skydiving reschedule!  I am quite nervous just thinking about it, but so excited too!  It will be a fantastic fall weekend, Friday night I am having a costume party for Halloween, then Skydiving bright and early Saturday morning, then we are doing "Trunk or Treat" at my church on Sunday afternoon for the kids.  Then hopefully a little time to relax on Sunday (I am optimistic)!!!  More updates to come soon, but for now I must be off to meet the ladies for dinner!

An Extra Long Weekend :)

Work has been insane lately, like crazy insane.  I seem to have been going non-stop for the past 4 weeks...so my philosophy: when it starts to feel like too much, take a break.  And that is exactly what I am doing.  I took tomorrow off of work, so I get an extra long weekend!  Don't worry though, by the time I leave work this evening I will already have worked 45+ hours this week, so it is not like this will be a shortened work week.  Anyway, tomorrow, I leave for Blacksburg, Virginia to see my lovely Hokies kick the booties of Boston College.  It has been almost 11 months since I have been to the beautiful town of Blacksburg and I long for it every football season, but alas, I rarely make it back for more than a game or two a year.  (But do not fear, I watch with great commitment, each game on TV).  So as I head out for yet another work event, I leave you with one of the greatest mascots of all time....

Just a little scured...

Tomorrow (weather permitting), my friend CJ and I are heading up to the DC area to go skydiving.  When I signed up for this, I was excited and overwhelmed with what a new adventure this would be.  But now that we are just 28 hours away from the jump, my nerves are starting to surface.  EEK!  But I am sure, it will be an experience of a lifetime and I am getting the DVD, so one day, waaaaaaay down the road, I can prove to my grand kids that I at least used to be cool!  So if everyone out there in blog world could be praying for me tonight and tomorrow, that would be just fantastic :)

Splash!

Today marks my splash into the world of blogging.  I have long been an avid blog reader, but I figured it was time to be on the other end of the spectrum.  I am not sure what my exact goals are through this new media outlet, but I am sure over time I will figure that out.  In the meantime, this will provide me with an arena to share my stories and trips with whoever has free time at work to stumble across my blog!  Enjoy :)