September/October Happenings.

I know we've been busy lately, but I have a hard time of remembering with what, lol.

Labor Day weekend we were able to fly to Baton Rouge for my cousin Jacob's wedding. The trip started out a little crazy.... So on Thursday of that long weekend we meet up at the airport with Keri, Austin, and the kids. We all board, get comfortable, pass Ada back and forth, Ada has an accident and soaks my shorts with pee (thanks for changing her before we left Keri!), and as we're about to land the pilot comes over the intercom saying that a plane landed belly up right before us, and they closed the runway. At this point it's about 5:45pm and all of our family is waiting on us to eat supper. We then find out we're being diverted to New Orleans.. we all get off the plane.. and then wait about 45 minutes for them to tell us they are shuttling us by bus to BR.. which is an hour away. We're all starving, ready to see family, it's raining, so we head to where the "bus" is supposed to be. When we get there we see it's a freaking limo party bus decked with flat screen tvs, mini bar, lighted up, crazy seats, and all for our entire plane of strangers to enjoy it with. Of course Keri and I are cracking up, and were saying, "Is this really happening?" Needless to say it was an interesting ride to BR, but memorable :) Of course we came to BR the weekend of a tropical storm, so it poured the ENTIRE time, but Jacob and Aimee's wedding was beautiful, and we were so glad we were able to make it!! While we were there we showed Justin around LSU, visited Mike the tiger, ate Raising Cane's, and Justin finally got to try crawfish, boudin balls, crawfish etouffee... the whole shabang. Time ended much too soon, and we can't wait to plan another trip back!

                                                Keri, Taylor, & Carmen

                                                Me & the gorgeous bride Aimee

                                                 Where the adventure began :)

                                                  Cousins at the wedding reception

                                                            Crazy cousins

                                                    One of my bests

                                                    The boys are weird.

Mom & Carms

Once we got back we've had something planned EVERY weekend!! We've had concerts, bridal showers, company coming in, more weddings, out of town, NASCAR races, birthday parties, etc. Our last wedding this year is Nov. 12! Our good friends Jenna and Nathan are "tying the knot." We're so excited to be apart of their special day! The boys are heading to the mountains the weekend before for a bachelor party, while us girls hit uptown Charlotte Friday night, and a low key dinner/movie night Saturday. I'll post pics of our crazy fun after the wedding.

Before we know it Thanksgiving will be here. I can't believe another year is almost over. It's making me sad! I feel so old now, and more sentimental! What's happnening?! We're staying in Charlotte this year for Thanksgiving, and my dad, sister, and sister's boyfriend are coming up! I'm super thrilled to see them, and of course take dad shopping on Black Friday ;) Justin's parents and his mom's side of the family do a huge Thanksgiving meal together at Justin's parent's house, so it's always a good time, and LOTS of laughs! We'll be in Jacksonville for Christmas this year, but I'm not sure how I feel about a warm Christmas!! We had snow last year for Christmas, and I'm starting to like the cold weather for the holidays!!

Hope everyone is well, and I'll try to post sooner next time :)

*This blog is dedicated to Emily Mastronicola :P

Exhausted.

Since the last time I posted, I feel like we've been so very busy. Justin was traveling for work throughout July to Hilton Head, SC, and Chicago, IL. I stayed at home all by myself!! I was pretty proud of myself, seeing as how I don't like to be at the house alone. I actually enjoyed the quiet for those couple of days :P 

The first week in August we drove home to Florida (my home... my parent's home now), for a long weekend. It was so.good.to.be.home!!!! We finally got to meet Harper Elizabeth Pope :) One of my best friend's from high school had just had her newborn baby girl, and she was a little over a week old once I got to hold her. She's so precious, and we're so excited for Victoria and Jordan! While we were in Florida, we also celebrated Justin's 25th birthday with friends, and later with family. It was so good to catch up with everyone! I definitely miss my Florida friends :(

The next weekend was our one year wedding anniversary <3 It's so hard to believe it's gone by so fast!! We left that Friday after work, and headed up to the mountains. Thanks to my lovely "Uncle Steve & Aunt Deb," we got to stay the weekend at their mountain house. The view was absolutely gorgeous.... the drive up to the house.... was scary. We took my little Scion TC up these unbelievably steep mountain sides, with no real road, just gravel/dirt with major trenches running across the "road." I really don't know how my car made it - the view definitely made up for it. We wined-and-dined at some unbelievably good restaurants, shopped of course, and toured the Highland Brewery in Asheville. J got me the Pandora bracelet I've been wanting, along with some of the charms, and the new, white iPhone :)

We are now in the process of getting ready to leave for Baton Rouge, Louisiana next week! We're sooooo excited, especially because J has never been! We're going to my cousin Jacob's wedding, and we can't wait to meet his future bride, Aimee :)  We also are getting things together for both of our friends, Nathan and Jenna's, wedding in November! The bridesmaid dresses and suits are in... and we're in "honeymoon shower/bachelor/bachelorette party" mode. Bring on the fun.

So obviously I guess one could see why I feel completely exhuasted lately. We've been going, going, going and on top of just those couple of events, we have work, church, laundry, house cleaning, car washing, yard up-keeping, meeting with these friends, meeting with those friends, planning to meet with the other friends, etc, but I know everyone else is just as busy. Lately I feel like I'm losing my mind... the buzzer for the dryer will go off.. why is the dryer going off? is there something in the dryer? when did I put that load in the dryer? I wonder if there are clothes in the washer? There are. Oh no.. how long have those been there? --Does anyone else feel like this.. or are we just too busy?!

First Blog...ever

So we're new to this whole "blog" thing, but we have so many friends & family members that we don't get to see, or talk to often, so we thought this would be a fun way to let everyone know what's going on!

Let's see.... so much has happened in the past 11 months of our married lives! Justin and I will be married for one year on August 14! I can't believe time has flown by so fast! Our wedding was definitely more beautiful than I could have ever imagined (Thanks to our awesome wedding decorator, Linda Hulett). As much as I can remember about that day, I know it was the most calm I had been in the whole process of wedding planning. Whoever said, "...wedding planning is the best time of your life..." lied. It was one of the more stressful things in life! It was definitely worth it though :) That day could not have been more perfect for us. Thank you to all of those that were there, and involved that day! Here are some pictures from the reception at Birkdale Country Club.

After an almost 5 hour reception, dancing the night away, and blisters on my feet from my four inch heels, we were on our way to Jamaica the next morning. We stayed at the Sandals Whitehouse resort right on the beach. We absolutely loved Sandals, and would definitely recommend it for a honeymoon! The staff was excellent, the limitless food and drinks were delicious, and the everyday naps while it poured rain around 2pm. We both agree that the Jamaican Jerk chicken is to die for... especially if you like spicy food. We met some really cool couples, and some that we still keep in touch with today. If you haven't heard, Justin lost his wedding band the second day we were there. He was snorkeling, right after he thoroughly loaded on sunscreen, and his band slipped right off.. so he is now on his second ring :)

We closed on our house September 10th, and moved in that weekend. We live right outside of Charlotte, in a small town, and we love it so far! As of now, we are still decorating our house, and finding out furniture is really expensive!! We've had a lot of fun putting together our new house, and of course a lot of responsibility. As some of you know, our air conditioning/heating has given us a run for our money!! We've had someone out here at least six times since we've moved in, and just this past weekend we had our compressor replaced.. thank goodness for home warranty, or our bill would've been over $1800.00, and thank goodness for AC!! We were without AC for about nine days, but Justin's parents, and the Rammells, let us stay with them.

We have/had eight weddings this year, so that has kept us plenty busy!! We've been in two, and have another one we're both in, coming up in November! We leave for Baton Rouge, LA, Labor Day weekend for my cousin Jacob's wedding, which we're so excited about!

Justin took a new job in May with the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where he is the Senior Contracts Administrator for the Research/Federal Relations Dept. It's been a huge change from the hospital, but a good change. I am still nannying full time, Monday-Friday, for a family in South Charlotte, and loving every minute of it!

This post is really long, but just trying to catch everyone up on our first year :) Stay tuned.