Our Mountain(s) Getaway

John and I spent the end of last week and weekend in the beautiful mountains of Asheville, NC and Chattanooga, TN. In our true non-planner style, we both by complete accident had the same days off from work. Originally, John had taken off the end of last week to go on a guy trip that ended up being held on a different weekend, and I just happened to be off work those same days because my family that I nanny for was going to the beach for that entire week. Well after we both realized we had all the same days off, we decided that it would be the perfect time to celebrate our 1 year anniversary and visit his family that he hasn't seen since our move to Winston-Salem in May.

I had known we were going to Chattanooga, but our detour to Asheville came as a complete surprise. Without telling me, John had planned for us to stay at this adorable bed and breakfast in Asheville called the Sweet Biscuit Inn. I definitely recommend it to anyone who loves a cozy big house, charming people, and a delicious warm breakfast served with some of the best coffee in America.

After our time in Asheville we headed to Chattanooga where we spent our first night downtown staying at the Stone Fort Inn. Personally I think downtown Chattanooga is one of the best cities in America with the beautiful mountains and the Tennessee River as your backdrop, so needless to say I was very excited about staying there. Although our night began with us eating at a mediocre seafood restaurant that we got suckered into going to because we had been given a free appetizer coupon by the place where we were staying, it ended with us being treated like rockstars.

After dinner we decided to go the the movies. The place where we had chosen to see our movie just happened to have these special VIP theatres that you could watch your movie in if you were a member to their VIP club. Well let me just say these special "VIP theatres" look JUST like the ones where us regular people go to watch movies. So by a complete awesome accident John and I ended up in the VIP theatre where we not only got to sit in leather recliners but we also had a waiter, and oh its gets better, got served complimentary popcorn!!!! hahah Seriously though it was an awesome way to watch the new Wall Street Movie.

On Friday we finally got to meet up with John's sister Emily and her family. That night we went to the Baylor vs. McCallie high school football game. John is a Baylor alum and I can't even describe how excited he was to see Baylor win. He even got to see and catch up with his childhood/lifetime best friend, Michael.

Spending time with John's family was the best way to end the long weekend. On Saturday John and I got to go to a special luncheon held at Baylor in honor of his brother-in-law, Kurt, who was inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame at the school. After that we all just hung out, ate fabulous Japanese takeout, and watched football. We couldn't have planned this weekend any better if we tried : )

Cash in his Titan Uniform with John

The Original 4

September Shower Season

Last time I posted about my friend Jessi, she had just gotten engaged. Now she's experiencing almost every brides top time during the engagement: Shower Season. As a bride, they're the best parties you have ever been to. When else in life do you get the opportunity to have a party thrown in your honor where everyone is extremely complimentary, brings you incredible gifts, and the occasion has nothing to do with you aging? Like I said, it's amazing.

Well, two weekends ago I got the privilege of going to Nashville and attending these awesome parties for Jessi. Needless to say I had the best time! It was so wonderful getting to be with my best friends from college, especially since these precious times together are few and far between now that everyone has to try to be a grown up. (key word try) Here are some pics of the fun weekend courtesy of my fabulous photographer friend, Lauren McCaslin:

At Jessi's "Around the House" Shower

I suppose that the "Sorority Train" picture pose just won't ever go out of style

At Jessi's Lingerie Shower

Fall Facelift

In the process of giving my blog a Fall Facelift.....

Baby Sister's Birthday

On September 5th, 1989 God gave Elizabeth and me our baby sister, Erin. 21 years later she is still our same little Poochie that we love more than anything.

The older we have gotten the more of a best friend she has become....

....therefore when she turned 21 I knew I had to get to Birmingham.

Looking back I cannot believe I pulled it off but I was able to surprise her with the help of my sweet sister-in- laws, M'Leigh and Amy. I had so much fun getting to spend time with her and all of her friends!

Getting ready to go to her Birthday Dinner at Cocina

Her Friends eating ice cream outside of Mt. Brook Creamery

I could have not asked for a better weekend and am so glad I got to go visit her!

Welcome Back

Last time I blogged Summer was just beginning, John wasn't a practicing physician just yet, I was 100% jobless, oh and I had a tan. My how things have changed : ). I know this Summer I have really slacked on my blogging (and picture taking), but as of now I plan on being more prompt with my posting(s). Let me catch you up a little bit...

1. John is now a first year intern and loving every minute of it (well most minutes). He loves the people in his program and gets to work with some really great doctors. One of the most exciting things about his year so far is the opportunity he has been given to be a team doctor to a local high school football team. He and two other guys from his program cover an awesome team who is actually really good this year. The games are a lot of fun even for me because I get to stand on the sidelines with him. Although this sounds kind of gross to me, last week he got to pop a player's shoulder back in place.....apparently this is something very cool to do. With all his busyness this year he has still managed to pickup a new hobby: cooking. He made jumbylya the other night which was really good, however probably the best thing he made were these chocolate chip cookies. I mean they were so good I had to take pictures...

2. I now have a job! I am a full time nanny to two precious children named Ben and Naia. Ben is 5 years old and is a kindergartner this year, and his little sister Naia is 17 months old. Their parents are so kind and great people to work for! I'll try to post some pictures soon of the kids.

Overall both of us have been very blessed to have such a great transition to Winston-Salem and are excited about our year ahead of us : )

Family Lake Weekend/Father's Day

For the past week John and I have not been living in reality. We have been living at the Lake. We were fortunate enough to spend a week before he begins life as an Intern with members from both of our families. Since not everyone is jobless like me and John right now (which hopefully for me will be changing sooner than later) not everyone was able to be there. So naturally we were only able to have a good time, because a great time can only had if everyone is present : ).

Reese and Allie Rainbow

Merrell, Reese, Emmy, and Jack eating pizza

It's really sad how Allie gets NO attention from her Aunt....

Merrell was surprisingly one of the bravest children! She even loved being pulled on the Tube!

Push Pops seem to be for children of all ages

All the kids together

Father's Day

Erin was really sneaky and drove up on Friday night after work to surprise my Dad for Father's Day. When I asked her what she got him, she typically replied, "Um..I thought me driving up here could be his gift." She just happened to be right because luckily for our Dad there is no new Alan Jackson CD or ipod case that is better than just having all his girls home.

Touch is not really Poochie's Love Language...

Jackson LOVED riding on the pontoon boat every night. I guess it's the wind in his face that he loves because we could never get him to look at the camera...i.e. the picture below.

Settling In

After all the unpacking and unloading we are finally settling in to our little house on the corner. On Saturday night we went to the neighborhood block party where we met a lot of nice people. There were about 40 or so families there, and the majority were either young couples with little children or elderly people. Everyone was extremely welcoming and friendly so it was a lot of fun. There was even a band! However since I am in no position to scare potential friends away I didn't break out my dancing skills just yet. I did make my Mom's Chocolate Chip Pound Cake though, and that seemed to be a big hit since there was none left over to bring home.

The past couple of days we have just tried to get our house fixed like we like it. It has been a lot of fun and almost kind of like a second honeymoon in a way. We've never really had time like this where we were both off of work and had nothing to do but whatever we wanted. We're trying to not take it for granted either because come July the party is over. John starts his intern year July 1st, and from what I hear he's not going to be around much. Good thing we brought Jackson with us : ).

Here are some pictures of what we have done to the house so far:

Patriotic John made sure we had our flag up for Memorial Day

The Living Room

This is right beside the backdoor in the Kitchen