Party Time...

Last weekend was my birthday party... it was so much freaking fun. I haven't had a chance to be around all of our friends at one time in quite awhile, so it was great that this weekend just happened to work for like everyone. I was totally excited... I even invited a new friend from work.

People came and we totally rocked out... I got to mingle with a lot of people and become closer with others... I got to play beer pong and flip cup and dance with some girls. I also finally bought a bottle of Absolut Pears which I've been wanting to try since forever. I got pretty drunk all of a sudden and pasted out on the bedroom floor, but it was all in good fun. I cannot wait to do it again!! Here are some pictures!!

Chad's outfit before we changed


Katie acting crazy haha
Rachel and Me
Family Photo
Geoff and Me
Me and my sweetie
My new friend Carrie and Me
Liz, Sam, and Me
Drew and Me
And the morning after... it was a great night!!

Remember When...

... You were young and it was time for your birthday party and you were sitting around for the time when people were suppose to start showing up... and that time just felt like it took forever?

Well that's what I'm feeling right now... it's nearly 4 and the party doesn't officially start until 9... I'm really to par-tay it up yo.

Oh well I guess it's shower time

Happy Birthday to Me!!

Today is my 25th birthday... I've already had two great celebrations with 3 more to come... I cannot believe that I'm 25 today... a quarter of a century... man I'm getting old...

I was acting depressed last night to joke with Chad... but he thought I was being serious... I think I have accomplished a lot for only being 25...

Here are some highlights:

I got married :)

I own a house

I graduated college

I got a job

Then I got a better job :)

I witnessed a birth

I left the country

I made new friends

I became more comfortable with myself

I have 4 wonderful babies

I am in love with my life

I think that I'm doing pretty good with my life... I'm happy and that's what matters... I cannot wait for the next 25 years and more :)

Pet Peeve (almost literally)

Yesterday/Today I noticed a new pet peeve I have... People who have something against cats... FOR NO REASON WHATSOEVER... I understand if you are allergic (like my friend Liz, I saw her face swell up fast due to cats) but if you are not allergic and just think of yourself as a "dog person" I cannot stand it.

I guess this all comes from a person having a bad experience with cats, or no experience at all... My mom has a cat that is a grumpy grumpy cat... you can't get within 5 feet of that cat without it hissing at you (unless you are my sister) I guess if this is your only experience with a cat you may be tainted... but this is not how most cats are!!

I love my two cats... Pretty and Stitch have very different personalities yet they are both extrememly loving, and are people cats... people come around and they don't hide. They are great great cats, and most cats are like this.

Cats have the some of the same benefits as dogs... they are loving, they love attention, they are adorable, they will play with you, but they have some added benefits like can be on their own, and can take care of themselves.

I can understand if you like dogs more than cats... but saying you're "not a cat person" bothers me... chances are if you went out and got a cat you would fall in love and realize that you were way wrong about cats... I've heard MANY people say this...

So in the end, I get sick of people who are closed minded about cats... so stupid.

For some reason...

For some reason today I really noticed spring... the trees are in bloom, the daffodils are springing up, the weather is getting warmer... oh how nice it is when spring comes around... I love the white dogwoods and our tree in the backyard is blooming something purple which is also pretty...

And what really made me think about spring was all the neighbors outside... especially the kids, two girls up the street were riding bikes together, and a group of boys were playing soccer... I'm not sure what it is about kids playing that makes me think of spring... I guess it makes me remember a time when I would play outside.

I love Spring!!

1/2 of an anniversary

Today Chad and I have been married for 6 whole months. I can't believe that six months ago today we became man and wife... mr. and mrs.... one instead of two... okay I'm running out of those...

Chad I love you more today than I did that day... as I will love you more tomorrow than today. (that was mushy I understand but really just get over it!!) Everyday I know that we are great together... He is still my best friend!! I look forward to all the things we will experience together. I love so many things about you... and someday I will write out some of these reasons... but right now please enjoy some pictures.

We Are Family

I know... I know... I'm way late with this post, but it's something I've been meaning to write about since this past weekend. Last weekend was a family weekend... and it was SO MUCH FUN.

On Saturday we went over to my aunt Ruth's house to celebrate my mom's birthday yet again. It was a really nice day. We decided to bring the dogs with us too. It was pretty funny... my aunt has 3 dogs living with her, and we brought two more, and then Ashley (my cousin) brought her dog as well. So there was 6 dogs in their backyard (which is big BTW) and they were ALL BLACK... craziness.

Anyway on Saturday we had breakfast food (delicious) and played a couple of board games. We played a trivia game about food and then we also played Apples to Apples which is a very fun game. All in all it was a very fun day. I really love spending time with my family... they are great and a lot of fun. I'm hoping to have everyone over to our house some night for another game night. I was telling Chad that I could spend a lot more time with my family and be very happy.

On Sunday, we had another family affair to attend... Chad's family has a traditional St. Patrick's Day dinner each year. So we went over to his grandparents house and had corn beef and cabbage... except I don't like cabbage so it was corn beef, potatoes, and carrots for me. Chad's grandma makes very delicious food... mmmm.... I enjoy seeing his side of the family. It's always fun to catch up and talk... although I think I do more listening, but really I like to listen too... I really enjoy learning more about his family. We took Rowdy with us... he's such a good dog... I'm a proud mama. We did miss Chad's parents though...

It was a really great weekend... lots of family time, but that's one of my favorite things to do. I just wanted to tell everyone out there in blog land of the extremely enjoyable family weekend we had.

Old Friends

Last night I hung out with some of my high school friends. This reminds me of a Gilmore Girls episode when Jess comes back and Rory's boyfriend Logan show up and she introduces Jess as her 'old friend' and then says something to the fact that she can't believe she's old enough to have an 'old friend' or something like this...

It's times like these when I hang out with these friends that makes me think of that and just how old we are all getting. I mean at one point in time we were talking about how close our 10 year high school reunion would be... 3 years away... wow... where did all that time go?

Either way when sitting around the table with 4 other people I've known for a very long time it's just interesting to see how different we have all become. True 3 of the 5 are married and one will be joining that stat in just a few short weeks... but just completely different how we spend our time and where we have all ended up.

I enjoy these get togethers... we always have a good time catching up and talking. I'm not really sure where I'm going with this post at all... but I enjoyed the evening.

I also got to see one of my friend's son. He is freaking adorable (as I understand most babies are but still...) I'm glad I was able to see him and feel a little bad that I hadn't made the time before now.

Either was it was a very nice night... now on to the rest of the weekend... when should I wake Chad up? I'm not sure... but I want to get into the shower and I know that will wake him up, so I don't want to be rude.

**I may have another 'old friends' post in awhile... or at least a story, but that's for another time enjoy you're Saturday everyone!!**

Better late than never

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!

My wonderful mom's birthday was last Monday the 9th. I just wanted to say that I have the most wonderful mother in the world... she is seriously one of my best friends and means the world to me. The older we both get the closer we become. She is very creative, knowledgeable, and thoughtful. She is my hero and role-model. I love hanging out with her while we do something or nothing. She is always there for me... and will always tell me the truth even if it's not the easiest thing for her to do. I can always count on her for support or a smile. I am very lucky and proud to be her daughter. There are about a million other things I could say about my mom... but I'll save that for another time :) I love you mom very very much.

Gas

I just wanted to say that I filled up my gas tank when I first started at the VA... well... I went 3 full weeks before I had to fill up again... and the crazy thing about all of this is I think I could have gone another week at the very least if it wasn't for Chad's accident and my need to drive (round-trip) to Barnes twice...

I mean... that's just crazy... when I was driving to Wachovia each day I filled up about once a week... Think of all the money we are saving there!!

Oh... and this past weekend I reaped the benefit of my first 3-day weekend (okay last weekend was a four day weekend due to Chad's injury) but I have a feeling I'm really going to love this schedule!!

You'd Never Expect It

It's amazing what can happen... I mean you get up and go to work in the morning, expecting to come home from work and watch Survivor with your adorable husband... and then on your way home from work everything changes...

Alright... I'll start at the beginning.

Thursday night I was on my way home from work when my phone rings with an unknown number. I don't know about you guys, but I rarely ever answer a call from an unknown number... but I did this particular time. It was Chad. He informed me that he was in a motorcycle accident and my mind start to race. I asked him if he was okay and he said no, which freaked me out more... he said that he was sure he broke his collar bone but seemed pretty distracted and said he needed to go. Before he went I was able to gather a general location of where he could be, so I headed that direction.

Soon there after I got another call from a guy he was riding with. He was able to give me a better idea of where the accident had taken place and that they would take care of the bike (which is good b/c I don't know what I would have done) and they informed me that an ambulance would take Chad to the hospital. So I told them I would go ahead and head to the hospital.

I got to Barnes-Jewish shortly after he arrived there... and was taken to his room. He was there on the bed still on a back-board and in a neck brace... they were cutting off all his clothing. I was able to finally talk to him. He seemed to be able to have a good conversation with me... of course I was freaking out but being able to see and talk to him I knew that he was going to be okay.

I was able to hear what happened to him. He was in the right hand lane and a car came over two lanes and almost hit him (we guessed he didn't even see him there) so Chad took the exit ramp, however the ramp made a hard right, and he was going too fast. He hit the brakes and hit the guard-rail... he doesn't remember what happened after that but he woke up on the ground. No one really saw the accident and the car that ran him off the road did not stop...

Over the new few hours he had to get a CAT scan and x-rays of several different places. The ER staff was very thorough... they came back after awhile with the results...

Two doctors came into the room and shut the door. They said that he did have a broken collar bone and nothing else seemed to be wrong with the accident... however during his CAT scan something came up... they found a large mass on the back of his brain. After further review we found out in was a tumor... Chad has a brain tumor.

I was a little freaked out but Chad took the news very well. We found out that he was not cancerous and has probably been there for awhile. Chad has not been experiencing any of the symptoms that come with this type of growth. They wanted Chad to get an MRI so they could look at it more.

They kept Chad all night... and we had to wait most of the day Friday to talk to a neuro-surgeon. He found out the technical name for it: hemangioblastoma. Out of all the brain tumors you could have, this is the one you'd want... however they are wanting to remove it. We are going to meet with a neurosurgeon in the next couple of weeks to get more details.

After our meeting with the doc, Chad was discharged. I was so happy to be taking him home. In the end... It was probably good that we found this, although they say he could have gone his entire life without any problems (but if he did have problems they would be major.)

We're going to take this one step at a time... Chad is in very good spirits. This all could have been so much worse and he is very lucky that he came out like this. His bike actually looks better than expected. His helmet did save his life. He is always very good about wearing his gear and this is exactly why.

So we are okay... I'll keep everyone posted on what's up with my baby... but for now we are just going to handle this as it comes.

I love him very much and something like this makes you realize just how much you can love a person.

Gosh

Gosh... I want to write all the things I'm loving about my new job... but when I sit down to write about it... I just don't know what to say...

I think everyone should ask Chad... I'm so happy when I get home at night... I'm just much happier... I know the time will come when I'm stressed, but mostly I think I'll be happier. Everyone I talk to there raves about how much they love it there and how awesome the people are... Where I came from people complained about everything... so this is quite a change.

Even though I'm still new and getting to know everyone I already have more personal relationships with the people here than I ever did there... I think that says something.

I am slightly nervous for tomorrow since I have to take meeting minutes for the first time ever... I hope I do alright... I'm nervous, but like everything else I know I'll get through...

Alright... I know I've been saying this but I really hope to write more often... I'm really going to try to make a point to write more.

We're Awesome

Last Saturday was my mom's annual trivia night... it's always a good time. In past years we haven't done so hot... it's always harder than you expect.... well this year I had an awesome team~ Me, Chad, Chad's friend Michelle, my bro Keith, his g/f Sarah, and my dad and step-mom.

We won first place... I seriously cannot believe how well we did. I totally rocked out the board games category. I also was able to answer several questions in the Planet Earth.

So I just wanted to do some braggin.