Photo 16: January 27, 2009

Oh. My. Goodness. I am terrible at this whole picture-a-day thing. TERRIBLE. Seriously.

Wow. My last post is from 10 days ago. I'm ashamed. I guess this has officially turned into a 365-photos-but-not-necessarily-in-365-days blog. So welcome to my new blog! Ha! (I will try to do better, I promise!)

Now I'll give my defense for the huge time gap in blog postings. I think I left off my last post with a wish for a picture of the new baby in our lives, Eli. We went to Natalie and Ben's last week, but between him being holed away for his feedings and holding him for Natalie to grab a shower, I just plain forgot to get a picture with him. So when I got home that night, I didn't have the picture that I wanted; instead of just photographing something random around the house, I procrastinated. (If you stick with this blog for long, you'll soon realize that the only real skill I have is procrastination.) That day turned into the next day, and somehow I didn't post then either. Oh yeah, I remember why.

Kevin woke up the morning after our visit with Eli in a foul mood. He immediately declared that he'd left something in the car and stormed out the door to go get it. I didn't pay much attention to his return, but he remained in a foul mood most of the morning. He finally sat me down after lunch to inform me that he'd lost his wedding band. (Close friends will know that Kevin has had quite a time keeping up with his wedding band since September. He's already lost it once under a display in TJ Maxx and forgot it at home when we headed on our honeymoon.) In light of his earlier wedding band fiascoes, I couldn't do anything but laugh at him this time. Anyway, after fretting about it most of the afternoon, I finally went down to his car and found it in about 5 minutes. Yes, I am the best wife ever.

So anyway, that took up most of Sunday, and by then I wasn't even thinking about posting on here. Monday was a holiday, and I guess I figured if I was already behind, why worry about it on a holiday! ;) Tuesday is when my real set of excuses kicks in. School started back on Tuesday, and this semester is super-busy. Kevin and I are both teaching courses, we're both taking a course together, and we're both in the process of writing huge theoretical papers that have to be defended to our committees before the end of the semester. Phew. Please, please let May arrive soon. My proposal of said paper was scheduled for this past Monday (yesterday), so I've been consumed throughout this entire week with making sure that I was ready to explain my plan/ideas. Add to that the fact that I'm teaching MWF at 9 am and have bootcamp MWTh at 5 am, and my butt has been dragging.

So there. That's it. That's what I've been up to and the reason for my delinquent posting. What you see below is a tiny portion of the evidence of my distractions. It's about a third of the books and articles that I'm reading for my paper, along with my folders, handouts, lectures, and textbooks for the course I'm teaching. Sigh.


I hope you enjoyed my pity party. I'll try to be better about posting regularly in the future--I promise! G'night!

Photo 15: January 17, 2009

Ooops. I'm not very good at remembering to post on the weekends! I'm posting this on Sunday, January 18, but it's really my post for Saturday, the 17th.

Last summer, Kevin's younger sister got married; her new husband already had 3 children, so Kevin and I gained one new niece and two new nephews! I hadn't met any of them, though, until this Christmas (when we also met his sister's brand new baby--another niece!). The kids are cute as buttons, and we had a great time watching them tear through their gifts on Christmas eve. Anyway, the eldest of those kids, Dakota, is turning 10 this week, so we went shopping yesterday for her birthday gifts.

In case you can't see them very well (for some reason our camera is not catching very clear pictures lately), we got her the first Harry Potter book, Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone, cute little socks with the days of the week written on them, and an awesome t-shirt that says "Little Miss Sunshine." A ten-year-old girl would like those things, right? I hope so. Heck, I'd like to get those things for my birthday! Anyway, our goal is to become a bigger part of all 4 of the kids' lives, so we're hoping this is a good first step. Now we just have to find out when Elijah's and Timmy's (her brothers) birthdays are!

Today's real post will come later. I have my fingers crossed that I can snag a picture of our friends Natalie and Ben's new baby, Eli! We're visiting them this afternoon, so I'll try not to forget my camera!

Photo 14: January 16, 2009

Hiya! Well, I did it. I successfully didn't set foot outside my door today. Not exactly something I'd normally brag about, but since it's currently 18 degrees (but really feels like 12, according to weather.com), I'm glad I was a homebody today! It was definitely a pretty lazy day, but I did manage to get some work done somewhere in there. Now Kevin and I are cuddled on the couch, where we've been watching Season 2 of How I met your mother. If you don't watch this show, you totally should--some of the funniest writing on TV. (Kevin says I'm going to get sued for posting this picture...) Off to watch the next episode!

Photo 13: January 15, 2009

This little guy is definitely appropriate for today....brrrrrr! I leave him out all winter, because he's just so darn cute. I know a high around 30 isn't so cold to some of you, but I live in North Carolina--central North Carolina, in fact--and it just doesn't get this cold here very often! This is the south, dag-gone-it! (I just realized that I have no idea how to spell that.) The cold spell that has overtaken most of the country is crazy. The high is supposed to be in the 20s tomorrow, with wind chill making it feel like single digits. I'm going to do everything I can to avoid going outside!

Stay warm, everyone!

Photo 12: January 14, 2009

Well, today's post was supposed to have a picture of Kevin and me...but somehow it's ended up as clementines.

We both got our hair cut today, and I got mine re-colored/highlighted, so I thought that a nice, smiley self-portrait would make for a nice post. For some reason, though, I couldn't manage to take a picture of us that didn't make at least one of us look sickly, pale (mostly me), or a little chubby. I generally like to think that we're none of those things (except for me being pale, because, well, I just am), but our camera wasn't cooperating. So instead I took a picture of our clementines. Kevin brought these home tonight, along with $.98 cartons of blueberries--Fresh Market is the bomb lately for great fruit! I haven't actually broken into them yet, but I'm definitely going to be hitting them up in the morning. They look delicious, and clementines are definitely one of my favorite fruits. Yum yum!

Good night! I'm off to sleep until my devil of an alarm goes off at 5 am. That is just an unreasonable hour--what was I thinking? *yawn*

Photo 11: January 13, 2009

Finally, I'm caught up on my blog!

This is a picture of my first foray into crockpot cooking. Our friends Josh and Tina got us this crockpot for Christmas. I totally cracked up when I opened it and saw the roosters on it; I've since given it a colorful nickname that I'm not about to post online, but let's just say that it combines the idea of a crockpot and a rooster. Ha! I crack myself up.

When they came to stay with us this past weekend, Josh and Tina also brought us the handy-dandy slow cooker cookbook that you see in the background; I had to try one of the recipes right away. I put it all together this morning, and tonight we had a HUGE pot of Cajun red beans and rice. It was yummy, but we will definitely tweak it when we make it again. Fewer beans, more peppers, and maybe a little more salt. Overall, though, a good first crockpotting experience!

Yay for being caught up on my blog! Off to do some real work now...at least theoretically.

Photo 10: January 12, 2009

Phew, I'm almost caught up on these posts!

As you can see, these are my running/aerobics shoes. This picture is sort of boring, but I'm posting it in commemoration of the start of my second week of bootcamp. One week down, only five to go! Our regular instructor wasn't there on Monday, so she sent someone in her place. We ended up doing a lot of self-paced stuff, and I'm feeling it today. It's nice to know that I pushed myself, but it's not so nice that I have to hold on to things to sit down and stand up! Oh, my hamstrings and quads!

Photo 9: January 11, 2009

This day is my sister's birthday! She turned 30 on January 11, 2009!!! Whoa!! I'm officially the only kid in my family still in her 20s! Haha. So anyway...Happy Birthday Joshlyn!!

This photo is of the Christmas gifts that we got from our friends Lynn and Marc. We didn't get to see them over the holidays, so our gift exchange got a little delayed. Honestly, I kind of like that! Christmas goes on forever! They got us an awesome Obama commemorative puzzle. We've never put together a puzzle, so this will be a fun first. They also got us a cookbook from The Lady & Sons, Paula Deen's restaurant in Savannah! We went on our honeymoon in Savannah back in October, and we ate delicious food at her restaurant, so this was a very thoughtful gift. I can't wait to try some of the yummy Southern recipes. (Just in case you're wondering, we got them a cheese-making kit. We've never met two people who love cheese more than Lynn and Marc--seriously--so we thought they'd enjoy making some cheese at home!)

Photo 8: January 10, 2009

I'm relatively sure that this photo was taken sometime after midnight, so it becomes my Saturday post! Somehow we all decided that wearing Melissa's boyfriend Brandon's coats would be hilarious, so we were all prancing around the house in them. Of course we had to take a picture! Front, L to R: Josh, Tina, me, Melissa; Back: Jonathan, Jason, Kevin, owner of all the coats--Brandon.

We slept most of the day on Saturday, but did end up going downtown pretty late that night. We had some drinks with some other friends of ours, Marc and Lynn, and generally just had a good time catching up.

Photo 7: January 9, 2008

Oh my goodness! I am so far behind! This weekend was very exciting, and somehow I never found the time to hop on here and post my pictures.

On Thursday (the day of my last accurate post) my friend Tam and I drove a couple of hours up to VA to pick up our bed. (Kevin was out of town until Friday night, so I wanted to get it home/together to surprise him!) We finally got home around 7 pm, and because I didn't want to steal anymore of his day, I took Tam straight home. I was supposed to pick our friends Josh and Tina (who were coming down to visit from NY this weekend) up from the airport at 10 pm, so I thought I'd use the time in between to put the bed together. It can't be that hard, right? Right.

Ugh. Beds are NOT designed to be assembled by only one person! I was balancing the ends of the sideboards on knocked over laundry baskets to get everything to fit, and then I realized I was missing a part. I had to pick my way out of my mess and go to Home Depot. I finally got back home with the part and got everything together...just in time to find out that Josh and Tina had been so delayed in their first flight that they were going to miss their connection and were going to have to fly into Raleigh instead of Greensboro. Then they had to drive 1 1/2 hours at midnight. Yikes. So I posted the photo of the bed on here and then crashed into it, only to get up at 2 am to welcome them in! I was so glad they made it safely!

Friday was quite the day. We started at a bar at 5:30 pm, and didn't make it back to my place until 3 am! Can you see why no picture was posted on Friday?! The picture below is from sometime that night; I'm guessing it was taken before midnight! Left to right are Josh, another friend Melissa, Tina, me, and Kevin. We had a blast hanging out at Melissa's house, playing drinking games and poker. Our butts were dragging the next day, but it was totally worth it!



To be continued in the next post...

Photo 6: January 8, 2009

Too tired to do a real post tonight, but the main thing is that I got our bed and set it up--all by myself!! It's HUGE! Seriously, lots bigger than I thought. All the better for me to go crash into, I guess...

Photo 5: January 7, 2009

Hey there! Today's photo is going up a little late, but I've been busy cleaning and getting ready for some friends to visit. Our friends Josh and Tina are coming down from Tully, NY (near Syracuse) to visit all their old NC friends. I've been washing sheets and vacuuming and just generally getting the apartment in shape.

This shot is of our bedroom right now; it looks great, right? We're actually getting a new bed tomorrow, and I went ahead and got the room ready to set it up. I'm borrowing my sweet friend Logan's truck and another friend, Tam, is riding with me to VA to pick it up. Kevin and I bought the bed while we were visiting family last week, but we didn't have a way to get it to NC. Kevin's out of town for the next couple of nights, so I want to have it all set up for him when he gets back!

You can see our mattresses leaned against the wall, and the vacuum in the middle of the floor. This shot makes our bedroom look super narrow; there's actually a little more room to the right of the photo, but it's currently covered in all the stuff that came out from under our old set-up (humidifier, clothing storage thingies, random empty shoeboxes)! Hopefully tomorrow's shot will be of our new bed all set up, cozy and comfy!

Okay, I'm off to finish sniffling and try to fall asleep on the couch. Somehow I've managed to catch the last hour or so of The Notebook on TV, and I can't manage to quit crying long enough to even finish this post. The part at the end where they're dancing and she remembers him...but then she forgets him again in the middle of dancing. Sheesh! That'll rip your heart right out. Sniff...sniff...

Photo 4: January 6, 2008

Hello! Today's post is going to be pretty short, because I'm tired and have to be up for bootcamp at 5 am.

The picture is of my FANTASTIC new rainboots! I got them as a Christmas gift from my Aunt Susan and Uncle Tom. When I said I wanted rainboots, I was thinking a $20 pair from Target, but she definitely went all out on these. I'm not sure where she got them, but apparently they're recyclable! (You know, just in case I decide that I want wet feet again.) Anyway, they're super comfy and well-made; the footbed is padded and nice, and the outsoles have great traction. I just love them. I find myself actually hoping for rain...and trust me, that's not something I did before these boots!

Okay, off to bed for me. Night night.

Photo 3: January 5, 2008

Today's post is inspired by the soreness I'm feeling in my hamstrings right now! This morning I started a bootcamp at my gym. I'm going three mornings a week at 5:30 am for the next six weeks...eek! That's definitely early, early morning for me. Unfortunately (or fortunately? Isn't it the point?), I'm sore already. That almost never happens. Usually if I do get sore I don't feel it until a day or two later, but I knew this morning when we were moving quickly through our circuits that my butt was going to be dragging tonight--and I was right! I love being sore, though, because it makes me feel like I actually did something. I know I'll feel better at the end of this six weeks!

This photo is of my exercise ball (in front of the filled bookcase--it's a two-fer! Haha.). On this first day of bootcamp we repeated three 30-second intervals: a specific muscle group, cardio-burst, core work. We used a ball for a few of the core exercises as well as for stretching afterwards. My exercise ball usually lives out in the rumpus room beside the bikes, but it got to come out for a little photo shoot tonight!

Photo 2: January 4, 2008

Oops. Hehe. I kind of forgot to post. Already. Oh well. I had planned to take a picture last night when we had dinner with our friends Mike and Marcia, but I forgot to take the camera with me. And to be honest, by the time we got home I'd totally forgotten about my poor blog. So my second post will just have to be a day late!

This is a picture of what I've been eating the last two days: apple butter and blackberries. Yum yum!! The apple butter is courtesy of one of my friends from high school. We visited her over the holiday break, and she gifted us this jar of yumminess that she made back in the fall. We've been eating biscuits slathered in apple butter almost every morning since we've gotten home! (Healthy? Probably not. Delicious? No doubt.) The blackberries are courtesy of my fantastic husband who can't pass up a deal! Fresh Market had them on sale for $.98 a container, so we've been eating them like crazy!





I promise I'll try to do a better job on tomorrow's (today's?) post!

Photo 1: January 3, 2008

I saw some other blogs that were based on the idea of posting a photo a day for the next year, and I thought that would make for an interesting catalog of my life for a year...so here I am. I'm a little behind on the 365 thing (as most people started on the first day of the year), but that just means I'll run this a little into next year.

So here we go! Photo number one is probably a little boring to you, but it makes me very, very happy! It's a bookshelf that we spent the afternoon putting together. My Mom got it for us for Christmas, and I can't wait to fill it up. I love to read and have lots of books. Currently they're on cheapo bookcases (we're talking <$15) in our "rumpus room." (You can see the curtain that leads to the rumpus room to the left of the bookcase. My husband likes to call it the rumpus room, but really it only holds our bikes, crappy bookshelves, and a recliner. Not enough room for rumpus-ing!) I can't wait to unload the cheapo bookcases onto this much more adult-looking bookcase! If you're lucky I'll post an "after" pic! Haha.