weekend recap

Wow! I had a great weekend! It started off with Friday...it was our organizational day at work so we played softball all morning and had a delicious BBQ picnic for lunch. It was so fun to meet everyone's significant others, who were all brought to this lovely event! It was so much fun to see everyone having a blast and not worrying about the stresses of work.

Kyle and I made plans with my dad to cook him dinner Friday night since my mom was out of town. He invited our neighbors out there we ate an amazing dinner. Kyle cooked up some yummy pork chops with our favorite Carolina Treat and I cooked a casserole and other yummy food! It was fun to catch up with my dad and neighbors!

Since I was heading out to my parents house, I loaded up the car with as much stuff as I could so I could start moving stuff in. The car was packed with lots of stuff that I had planned on moving with the addition of sweet Lily, my friend's dog who I got to dog-sit Friday night! She's the sweetest pup and was easy-going, especailly with all the boxes she had to be hauled around with!

Lily's such a sweetheart!

Saturday morning, my dad put Kyle and me to work...washing the jet-skis and hanging three outdoor ceiling fans for him! It was fun for us to work together to get something done. It was a race against the clock because we had plans to go out to "Lockamy Farm" with our friends later to shoot skeet...so we had to hurry....

Kyle hanging fan #2 (I was just his assistant)

Finished Product

I think they turned out great! And my parents greatly appreciated our hard work! It was a great surprise for my mom to come home to from her week away with the youth of our church. We made it out just in time to go out to our friend, Tony's farm to shoot skeet, grill hotdogs, ride the four-wheeler and catch up with great friends:

Kerry and me watching the boys shoot from the sidelines!

**More pictures to come, soon, from this fun night at the farm!**

Two other big things happened this weekend: 

1). My cat, Wasabi, came back after being gone for almost 2 months. She is a skinny mini, but is otherwise completely normal. Such a blessing! Now her sister, Ginger, has her buddy back, and they will be able to live together in my parents shed when I move out there. Dont' worry, it is a big shed and they love it! I can't have them inside because my parents' cat, Summer, gets really stressed out and we do not want to disrupt her day-to-day. Fortunately daddy's shed has lots of fun things to climb on so lots of exploring will be done. I know the kitties are so excited!

2). Our air conditioner leaked and flooded our basement--found an inch of water (not an "enchilada", Amanda haha) down there on Friday and as of this morning, the air conditioner has completely stopped working. I am glad to be leaving the old problems that this house has in about a month...no more mold, mildew, or broken appliances...thank goodness! But I will miss the times Amanda and I have shared there. I will never forget the memories of living in our little Haymont house and all the silliness that occurred! Stories to come in the future....

pack rat

Packing is going well! I have packed up all of my winter clothes and shoes (as well as created a bag of these items I know longer use to give away) and have started packing up decorations. I am trying to use lots of small boxes to make loading/unloading easier.

Here is my goal list of things to pack and when:

• finish decorations (including Christmas and all other household decorations) -- tonight
• all bedding not being currently used -- tonight
• all school books -- tonight
• go through t-shirts -- tonight
• office stuff and junk in office closet -- Saturday
• anything else in the basement -- Saturday

That just about sums up everything that I can pack up now that will not be needed for the rest of my time at the house. I am heading out to my parent's house tomorrow night with Kyle to cook dinner for my dad wihle my mom is out of town. I plan on hauling all of the above mentioned packed things and unloading them in my new (old) room!

Kyle is my wonderful boyfriend. I have been with him for a little while now and he is just the best ever. HE makes me be the best person I can be and always makes me laugh. That boy is always smiling...I sometimes call him "Smilin' Kyle" for that very reason. He's so smart and caring and so darn good-looking!! He is a country boy through and through and we always find something fun to do. One of our favorites is to ride his four-wheeler down in the "pit" by his house. He's always teaching me new things about cars, hunting, and sports....all three being things I'm not very knowledgeable of. Kyle is himself in any situation that he is put in and around any people, strangers or not. That's one of the many many reasons I am so in love with him. He does not have to be a certain way to certain people...he is himself. And I love that. And everyone else loves him, too. I thank God everyday for putting him in my life --I'm a lucky girl!

Kyle and me at Triangle Beach Music Festival April 2011.

That's it for now guys! Off to do more packing as soon as I get home from work! Cross your fingers that I will actually stick to the plan.........

moving, again!?!

I mentioned that I was getting ready to move again so I thought I would explain why. Amanda and I moved in together after 4 years of going to seperate colleges--she went to UGA and I went to NCSU. We were best friends in hish school and stayed in-touch as well as we could being 5-6 hours apart. Well in Novemeber 2009 a tragedy occured in our hometown (Fayetteville) and the whole community came together to mourn the loss of some dear friends. Amanda came to town and we stayed at my parents for a whole week. We grew even closer than we already were and decided that it was time for us to try to at least live in the same town again after we graduated in May of 2010.

us at her graduation from UGA May 8, 2010

us at my graduation from NCSU May 15, 2010

We prayed a lot about it and decided to not stress, but see what the Lord's plan was. We would apply to jobs in Fayetteville but also in the respective towns we were currently living in. Months of sending applications went by with no luck. I was given a contact at my current job and after meeting him, interviewing, and lots of rounds of phone tag, I was offered a job--two weeks before graduation! I was so excited that "the plan" was starting to fall into place! I first let Amanda know and she was just as excited as I was! Now all we needed to do was find her a job in Fayetteville and find us a place to live! She kept on applying, and I sought out my mom's help in finding a house, since she and my dad live in Fayetteville. She found several cute houses and would sometimes stop and take pictures and even call the owners to set up a time to see these different houses.

She found one that was just perfect...a cute "Haymont" house close to our church and in our budget. See, I had always lived on the northern "outskirts" of Fayetteville growing up, and really wanted something different--to move IN town. Close to the church. Close to the shopping. Close to all the best reastaurants. Close to everything. This house was perfect so I came into town from Raleigh to go see it with her. I loved it so I called Amanda and sent her pictures and she loved it too! So, I signed the lease then and there and was told I could start moving my stuff in after graduation! I was so excited!!!

Well, my mom came through for us again by finding Amanda a job! She was shopping downtown at a shop that has been around for years. We are friends with the owners so my mom was talking to them while she was in there, explaining our situation about us moving back and Amanda still searching for a job. Just our luck, they were currently looking for an office assistant and offered her the job! We were so excited again that the "plan" (you will here me talk about making plans A LOT--I'm a huge planner...ask anyone who knows me) was working out! She accepted the job and we moved in and started our jobs the middle of June, giving us a little time for our "last free summer" and time to paint, decorate, and organize our new little house!

Ok, so I said all of that to say this:

We are moving out in 39 days. I am devistated that we are moving out but it is definitely the right thing to do. Amanda has decided to go back and get her Masters! Yay for her! She is so excited about this and I couldn't be more proud of her. She's so smart and I just know she will do great! She will be getting her degree online but has decided to move back home to save money. The sad part is...her parents live in SC...3 hours away. We will be back to a long-distance friendship. I'm so completely bummed about this because we have done everything together this past year+ and I will miss her so much!

The good thing is that I, too, will be moving in with my folks, who still live in northern Fayetteville. This will allow me to save money as well, which is never a bad thing! It also helps that I get along wonderfully with my parents and am actually excited to get to spend more time with them. I just hope they don't get sick of me. Also, my whole family is best friends with Amanda and her whole family--she has a brother the same age as mine, 21. We are a family. And will always be. So I know that we will remain best friends. As they say: "absense makes the heart grow fonder"!

**my next post will be about my move-out PLAN**

well, here goes nothin'!

I have been thinking about starting a blog just to document my ever-changing life, as I am now undergoing yet another change...I'm moving back home to live with my parents for a little while. Also, today marks my one-year anniversary at my current job! I cannot believe how fast time flies, and thougtht it would be great to start writing things down so I can remember life's big accomplishments and changes!

So, what are all these changes that I am talking about? Well, for starters, when I move at the end of July it will be my 6th move in less than 5 years. I graduated from high school in 2006 and went to NC State University in Raleigh, NC and moved into one of the dorms. My sophomore year I lived in a different dorm, junior year lived in an off-campus apartment, and senior year lived in a house. I graduated in May of 2010 and moved back to my hometown of Fayetteville, NC and moved into a house with my best friend, Amanda.

You would think that by now I would have the moving process down-pat and you couldn't be more wrong. See, the thing is, I accumulate so much stuff (read: junk) through the course of just a year, and procrastinate the moving process and end up just throwing everything haphazardly into boxes, taping them up, and throwing them on a truck. Doesn't sound so bad, but it is the unpacking that is the terrible part. None of the boxes are ever organized and I find that I have moved a bunch of stuff that gets thrown away at the new location...what a waste of energy, time, and space!

This time, I vow to be different. I am not the neatest person you've ever met (hence the name of this blog) and would love to change my messy ways. I've been away from my parents house for 5 years and I know that they would not appreciate me being my usual messy self in their otherwise tidy home. I need to prepare myself for when I own a home of my own and am actually an "adult". I feel like being organized, finding a permanent place for things, and learning to throw/give things away will help me feel less stressed in my hectic life!

I'm excited to start journaling my thoughts about all of this. I feel like if I write them down and know there is potential for others to see my goals, there will be more motivation and accountablilty for me to make this change.

There will be a couple more get-to-know-me posts in the next few days, but this seems good for a first post!

Welcome to my blog and check back often!