Firsts!

So, you're probably going to get tired of these...but I'm going to try and remember some of our firsts in the new house. I want to start with...

Our first card :) From our sweet friend Amanda

It's not every day you wake up to know your friend's mom is a hero

If you are my facebook friend I know you've seen me blowing up my facebook feed with news clips. If you aren't my facebook friend, here is what I'm talking about:

Local man receives kidney donation from nurse - WTVM-TV: News, Weather and Sports for Columbus, GA

The nurse in the story happens to be our friend's mom. The young man is someone local. It was just a touching story- something that you'd almost expect to find in a Grey's Anatomy episode. Except this is real. It's real life. It's a real human being, caring about another human being.

It really has me thinking, what more can I do to help those around me?

Month of Thanks- Day 5 and 6

Yes, I'm a slacker but I'm still trying my best! This weekend (5+6) I'm thankful for friends- old, new and somewhere in between.

Saturday I went to a baby shower for Baby H (Melinda and Matt's little one). Melinda is an old friend from childhood- actually she started out as one of my first ever enemies :) Some young girls (and sadly some adult women) feel like they can only have one best/close friend and Melinda and I had the same one. We were pretty competitive with each other until we finally started being friends somewhere around 6th grade and middle school. Anywho, she means a lot to me and I'm really excited for her upcoming mommyhood. It was great to spend time with her and my other friends from childhood (especially my oldest friend Katie). I'm so thankful to still have connection to these gals.

Also on Saturday, I spent time with new friends from work. I had fun at a Pampered Chef party at a coworker's house. Lots of sweet women and I enjoy getting to know new people. Work has really given me some of the best new friends ever and I'm really thankful.

And of course there is my soulmate Mel. Anytime I get to spend with Mel and Chris I am happy. Especially when football is involved. I still to this day cannot believe Mel and I grew up in the same town and never crossed official paths until we went to Auburn for graduate school. For that I am REALLY thankful.

100th post celebration: 100 things I love about life right now

I know it has been a bit since I last updated. Part of it is because I've been super busy between my 10 hour work days and TWO additional part-time jobs for summer (yes, you read that correctly). The other part of the reason is because I wanted to think of something kind of neat for the 100th post. So here it is, I give to you a list of 100 things I'm loving about life.

1. I love that I spent the last three weeks with my brother and his family.
2. I love that despite the crazy crampedness of stuffing 6 adults, 2 kids, and 3 cats in one house actually worked.
3. I love coming home and hearing "Aunt Kelly's home" in a jubilant tone from Kylie and Scooter.
4. I love counting all the ways in which Kylie is just.like.me. Ahhhhhh!
5. I love how hysterical Scooter is when he dances to Michael Jackson's beat it.
6. I love the warm weather (just as long as the air doesn't die at work).
7. I love the three day weekends at work for summer.
8. I love lunch time conversations at work where I get to know just a little bit more about my work peers.
9. I love how supportive many of my coworkers are when I'm feeling a little down or discouraged about something completely nonwork related.
10. I love listening to NPR on the way home from work.
11. I love listening to a mix CD I made for the beach trip to Amelia Island.
12. I love thinking about planning our next vacation.
13. I love mini road trips with Tim.
14. I love singing in the car at the top of my lungs!
15. I love how Tim laughs at me and tells me I'm cute.
16. I love summer movies.
17. I LOVE the new X men movie!
18. I love Marvel Comics.
19. I love that Tim and I are total nerds for comic books (ok, so he's a bigger nerd...)...
20. I love Tosh.0 even though I know I shouldn't.
21. I love blogging, and hope I will keep it up. It's really relaxing and fun.
22. I love reading other people's blogs, so share a link!
23. I love watching the news in the morning, even if it is only a few minutes.
24. I love watching the cats in the morning as they go nuts over their daily dose of wet food.
25. I love my cats. Period.
26. I love to wake up on a Saturday morning in bed with Tim, Jackson and Elliot.
27. I love LIBRARIANS and LIBRARIES (and their spouses). They are often neglected, even though they work so hard.
28. I love coupons and the savings I've incurred.
29. I love swagbucks and mycokerewards.
30. I love using those rewards to make photobooks.
31. I love taking photos.
32. I love Claire's photos!
33. I love Auburn (always) WAR EAGLE!
34. I love baseball again. I'm playing fantasy baseball online and killing it!
35. I love when my mom hugs me good bye and sometimes kisses my cheek.
36. I love to watch my dad and Jackson interact. He treats him like an actual grandchild.
37. I love to make jewelry and want to make some now.
38. I love Diet Dr. Pepper.
39. I love thrift stores.
40. I love garage sales.
41. I love TV shows that make me laugh (Community and HIMYM)!
42. I love thank you notes.
43. I love that my husband has employment.
44. I love that I see my parents everyday, even if sometimes I wish everyone would let me have space!!!
45. I love to listen.
46. I love to talk.
47. I love to share.
48. I love to teach (most days). Even though it is incredibly exhausting, sometimes you really do make a difference to someone. And some days, they make a difference to you.
49. I love office supplies.
50. I love organization.
51. I love chaos.
52. I love Motion City Soundtrack on my ipod.
53. I love to veg out in front of youtube.
54. I love to watch movies.
55. I love to hold hands.
56. I love to eat dessert.
57. I love to watch my garden grow.
58. I love to measure my hair...soon I'll have enough to donate to Locks of Love.
59. I love to shop online.
60. I love to shop with Tim in stores.
61. I love Sour Patch Kids.
62. I love to grill out with the family.
63. I love swimming pools.
64. I love video games.
65. I love old friends.
66. I love new friends.
67. I love picnic baskets, even though I've never used one.
68. I love when Tim tries to do something romantic, like eating at the lake.
69. I love to sleep.
70. I love to exercise (when I'm actually doing it...sometimes it takes a ton of energy to get up and just go to the gym).
71. I love making lists.
72. I love setting goals.
73. I love making charts and excel sheets that plan out my life.
74. I love Bingo!
75. I love board games.
76. I love watching my husband sleep.
77. I love going a long time without talking to a friend, but when we do talk, we pick right up where we left off and it is as if time didn't matter at all.
78. I love crafting new crafty ideas.
79. I love thinking about the future and all the possibilities.
80. I love educational documentaries and other nerdy programming.
81. I love to fall asleep reading a book, and know that it is ok because Tim will mark my place.
82. I love softball! I want to play.
83. I love watching Katie play, and I'm praying she lands a scholarship at her favorite school (or mine). 
84. I love hearing crazy roommate stories from Sarah, and being thankful those stories are no longer about me being her crazy roommate ha! :)
85. I love hot showers.
86. I love cold sheets.
87. I love getting to know new people.
88. I love Jilly *wink*
89. I love checking email and facebook.
90. I love to study the web.
91. I love bright colors.
92. I love big t-shirts.
93. I love the smell of Tim's pillow.
94. I love hugs and kisses.
95. I love Columbus! (shocking I know)
96. I love volunteering.
97. I love talking to the Big Man Upstairs.
98. I love the peace you get from learning when to just let go of an issue and let Him handle it.
99. I love so much much much more than just these 98 other things...
100. I love LOVE!

And there you have it. A list of 100 things I'm loving about life right now. Maybe a few of those can give you a little insight on what's been going on during this absence from the blog. I promise I'll do better. :)

Eleven in 11: Evaluating May

Where is this year going so quickly? Each day seems to zoom by! May was an incredibly busy month for us and I hardly had time to blog. But, let's see how we did.

The breakdown:
1. Volunteer opportunity- Check! I am now an advocate. I am also interested in volunteering for the libraries in town. A dear friend of mine is a librarian and I know he busts his for his patrons. I'm a little saddened by what I've read recently about the funding for the libraries in town, so my philosophy is to always be part of the solution, and not just someone who complains. We'll see.
2. The weight loss one- Ugggg. I have hit a plateau, however, I'm not gaining. Which is good. I'm maintaining the net loss of 33 lbs. Part of the problem is that I'm no longer tracking points as strictly. But, also, I've slacked up on the gym. We have a good incentive though for me to press on and finish my ultimate goal. This fall we are going to NY for a family member's engagement party! 
3. Plan and take honeymoon- We went to Amelia Island. Collectively, Tim and I decided that we simply didn't ever have a honeymoon. While the trip was a FABULOUS trip, it just wan't a honeymoon. We missed the boat 3 years ago, and it isn't something you can just have 3 years late. It's ok though, we still loved vacationing! You can see our recent trip photos from here and here.
4. Trying four new recipes- I think we managed to do it this time:

• Parmesan Parsley Chicken
• Roasted Red Ranch Potatoes
• Cube Steak Rollups
• and another roasted red potatoes recipe, only this time tried a French Onion mix

5. Blog three times a week- Only had 12 posts, but again...we were kind of swamped.

6. Student loan- Check!

7. Savings!- Check! 

8. Read 52 books- I bought another book, this time Chelsea Handler's newest release...but I've still only made it through the introduction...

9. Facebook birthdays- I really am reconnecting with some folks because of this!

10. Visit 12 new restaurants- Koreana was soooo yum! I highly recommend!

11. Etsy- I think I'm going to use Fridays as a crafting day. Did I mention I now work 4 days a week? Yay! 10 hours is a little rough M-Th...but having 3 day weekends is a blast!

I hope many of you are getting to take some time off this summer to do fun things. I want to go to six flags at least once. Any takers?

Restaurant Review: Koreana

It has been a while but this month we did try a new place in town. We went to Koreana. It is fairly new in town; before it was an amazing Japanese restaurant called Tokyo. Side note: my sister-in-law is half Japanese so she always gave us the 411 on which "Japanese" restaurants in town were the closest to the real thing. She liked Tokyo best.

Anyways, I had never had Korean food before so it was a totally new experience for me. We went with our new friends Johnson and his wife Crystal (I absolutely LOVE them by the way) and it was very nice. We all ordered off the menu a big feast of a special they had so we literally got to try a bit of everything they had to offer. Everything comes out on tiny little plates and you share a lot of what they bring out. It made eating a community experience and I enjoyed the quiet setting. If you want to try something new and different, I highly recommend it.

Weekend Fun: Modern Skirts

This weekend was a blast! I wish it had been longer. I went out Saturday night with my favorites: Tim, Mel, Chris & Eric (Mo is a punk! Just kidding). We went to The Loft downtown to see the Modern Skirts play.
Here is a snippet of the evening:

Yay!

Two of the people I love most- Mel + Chris!

And another one I love- Eric!

Tim in deep thought...

Me + hubs.

Shades, because the sun never sets on a....

Mel took this one haha, we are so married...

I LOVE THIS ROCKSTAR!!!

Whole gang!

Modern Skirts!

More Modern Skirts!

Rock out

BFF

Kisses

Annnnd on the way to our car...we ran into buddy Ryan!

I really love this band. I got to hang out with them years ago in Auburn and was surprised to know one of them had a Speech Communication degree- woohoo 'comm'ies! I'm going to post one of this songs below for you to take a listen. It's a slower one, but it is beautiful:

The Art of Couponing: BIG Deal Update

So, I just had to check in for a minute and tell you about an amazing deal at CVS right now. I just bought TWO bottles of clean and clear brand body wash for 99 cents + tax! Yes, that is over 92% off. I think I'm converting to purchasing more household products at CVS...

Here is how I did it:
This week at CVS (until April 2), I bought 3 pepsi 12-packs for $10 and got $2 Extra Care Bucks back to use on another purchase.
Tonight, I walked in with that $2 ECB & a coupon from the Sunday paper (you can probably track it down online) that was for Buy 1 Get 1 Free clean and clear body wash.
Until April 2, CVS has clean and clear body wash on sale for 2.99.
When you combine the 2.99 price, B1G1 free, and $2 off you end up with .99 plus tax.

So instead of paying 11.98 plus tax, I paid .99 plus tax.

Sophie is 2

Yesterday, Tim and I went to visit the birthday girl Sophie. Sophie's parents are good friends from undergrad (and actually, some of high school too). Here are a selected few photos I took of the day:

Sophie playing with the Kinex we bought Jacob

She is very precise.

Jacob and his Kinex.

He's going to be an awesome engineer or something similar one day.

Tim got a call on the pink phone.

PRESENT! Notice the crazy green and purple ones...

Tim helped build the pony.

Sophie is waiting...

Jeez Tim! Get it together already!!

Finished!

Sophie opening our gift #1...

IT'S A TEA CUP PIGGIE!!!

AHHH PIGS!

Gift #2...

Still working on it..

Almost...it's a Paris Hilton style teacup piggie tote bag!

Win. She is carrying the pig. Never mind the babydoll.

Cakey cake indeed.

Had to throw this one in...

Overall, a fun day. My goal was to win the birthday (minus competing with the parents). I thought combing her interests of girly+princess+pigs = win with the teacup piggie and princess tote. Seriously, the pig is named princess...time will tell if tea cup pig wins out over babydoll and buzz.


Oh, and I only have slight baby fever for those wondering. It comes and goes. But, we still have the priority of house then kids.

UWG Media Day 2011

Mass Comm Alumni Social AFTER Media Day 2011

This past Wednesday I took the day off from work and headed up to my alma mater, University of West Georgia. For the FIRST time, I was actually on the other side of an event called Media Day. Media Day is the premiere event for the Mass Communication DEPARTMENT (it used to be a program when I was there, but now it is its own department).

In the past, I was a student (obviously) and I attended to network with professionals. One year, when I was in my Intro to PR class with Ms. Reid, I helped plan the first ever internship fair at Media Day. Last year, I taught public speaking in the department, thus I was able to work more behind the scenes at Media Day both on the committee and as the Student Volunteer Coordinator for Media Day. Finally, this year I was on the other side. I really liked coming as a "professional."

It was nice to meet the students coming through the program. I enjoyed their questions. I thought I'd write a short bit about that in case someone in their shoes stumbles across this post. I found myself saying this a lot:

*To work in public relations you have to be more than simply "a people person." While being social seems like an obvious job requirement, it isn't the only one. You have to know how to talk to people, know how to LISTEN to people, have a good memory or system for remembering people and their preferences...and about a million other skills and traits.
*Event planning is more challenging than Samantha Jones, or any other TV personality, makes it out to be on TV. For good or for worse, having a simple catered lunch can sometimes be a political ordeal. Which refers back to my first tip of knowing people and their history/preferences etc.
*Never think you are too important to do something like make a pot of coffee, you have to stay humble and gracious.
*Of course I stressed the value of good writing, but I feel like they hear that one a lot. But, I reminded them that their professors aren't just saying that to say it. Learn to write!
*Intern, intern, intern, or volunteer, volunteer, volunteer! I regret not doing any internships in college. Sure I did a lot of volunteer work that also had elements of public relations in it, but it would have helped if I actually had done more internships.
*And of course I stressed the value of working in the nonprofit sector or education fields. Sometimes when you look for jobs you only look for the titles of "public relations practitioner" or "communication specialist" when really jobs have some creative and interesting titles. You really need to explore the job descriptions out there. I also recommended higheredjobs.com and opportunityknocks.org for finding jobs in education and nonprofit work.

Of course, the disclaimer is this, I'm by no means an expert. I only know what I know. But, I am truly blessed right now with an amazing job that I love, a great boss, and some co-workers that I feel have become some of my dearest friends.

In addition to the actual event, there was the alumni event that I posted a photo of up above. I truly love these people. UWG Mass Comm is like a mini-family and seeing these folks felt like a family reunion. So I'll leave you with the few photos I took:

Nichole and her husband. She's so cute when she's emotional- actually, I think she sneezed...

Here she is. She's so beautiful! If you need encouragement for WW, she's is your gal. She was definitely part of my motivation and inspiration to get it in gear.

This is what happens when Matt Kent and I try to take pictures...

This is what happens when someone else does it for us.

I love all of you!!! See you next year at the 31st annual Media Day!

Restaurant Review: The Black Cow

The Black Cow storefront. It is pretty cute.

So, as part of our/my Eleven in 11 we tried a new place out last night. We went out for a date night with our good friends Mel and Chris to a restaurant in downtown (Uptown- whichever) Columbus. The Black Cow is, to my knowledge, a fairly new place. Maybe under a year or right at a year old. Anywho, I hate to be a Negative Nancy, but I don't think it lived up to some of the fanfare I had heard about.

I had heard from a friend on facebook that it was really famous for the Pressed Turkey Sandwich. A turkey sandwich that uses goat cheese and fig preserve. This of course interested me because back in Auburn there was a place that had an amazing turkey wrap that I loved. Needless to say, I've wanted to try this place for a while. Mel and Chris got interested when they had a mailer from The Black Cow, so we all decided to find a time to go.

We decided to go last night on a double date night to The Black Cow and to see a movie. I'm notorious for looking up menu items online so I can try and decide before I get to the restaurant what I want (or in some cases I look up the nutrition information so I can calculate WW point combinations so I don't feel as bad for eating out).

I was a little troubled when I found some of the reviews for The Black Cow on websites. I know that rating sites are generally frequented by people who A- have a really really good experience or B- a really really bad experience. And that is what we found- a mix of great experiences and bad experiences. I was even more disturbed by the ones on facebook. Somewhat tangent note: If you have a facebook page, you need to monitor it. If you have bad feedback- address it. Bottom line.

Basically, we had similar issues to the negative feedback posters. Tim and I arrived first, put our names in and were told we would have a ten minute wait- no big deal there. We waited and got our seat pretty quick, but then that is when the wait began. Mel and Chris arrived only a minute or so after we were seated. The four of us waited at least 10 minutes to even be greeted by our server. Now, I recognize that it was a Saturday and that is a busy night. However, why would you seat people and not even greet them and say 'hey, its a busy night I'll be back...blah blah blah whatever." Or at least grab the drinks. If you get young adults (or really any drinking adult) started on beer and wine they are more likely to drink more during their long wait (hey, that's an idea!). When he finally came by (which I think he only showed up because Mel channeled him with her awesome nonverbal skills) we went ahead and ordered our drinks and food.

Mel ordered the chicken and grits, Tim ordered a burger, and Chris & I both dared to try the Pressed Turkey Sandwich. I think Mel's dish was ok, but her first bite did burn her mouth pretty badly from the reaction she had. Tim said it was pretty hard to mess up a burger and that he enjoyed his. I think Chris liked the sandwich. I thought it was pretty good. I did not think I would like the fig preserve because I am not a jelly or jam kind of gal. But in the end I think the sweet preserve complimented the salty goat cheese. It did seem like the bread was a bit greasy, and my second sandwich half fell apart while eating it. Oh I forgot: Mel and I both had salads. If you do not like what my dad calls "weed" salad, then don't order the side salad. I can take the different kinds you find in a spring mix- so long as it is green. When it's that dark purple stuff I can't handle it. I feel like I'm eating a flowerbed. On the plus, I loved their balsamic vinaigrette. Very yum.

With all that said, the final summation is this: I probably won't ever go there again unless it is with someone who really wants to go. Or, if it is possible to call in an order to pick up. I may or may not crave the turkey sandwich. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't as memorable for me.

Pressed Turkey Sandwich and Smashed Red Potatoes.

Tim's burger and fries.

The Chick-fil-A Cow is busted for working on a Sunday!

That's right! Busted:

Exhibit A: Cow at Auburn Basketball game.

I thought Chick-fil-A took this Sunday non-work day seriously. Well, must not be too seriously. We totally watched the cow perform alongside Aubie at a women's basketball game versus Tennessee on Sunday. We also ate Chick-fil-A fries at the game. Granted, they were not in a Chick-fil-A box...but they were in fact those famous waffle potato fries.

Anywho, that wasn't the main point of tonight's entry. I just wanted to share some fun shots from the game. Our dearest pals Mel and Chris hooked us up with faculty seating at the game and it was sooooo cool to watch from the floor (even if we lost).

Wooo! Cheerleaders. I wish I could do that!

Aubie

Aubie again.

Check out Tim's green sweater! 

Auburn women's basketball. And Tennessee women's basketball.

Did she not get the memo that orange AND blue are our colors too? I thought this was the Auburn coach  for the longest while...

AUBIE!

More players.

Get 'em Tiger!

I went to school there 3 years (ish) and never noticed this sign.

I LOVE BO JACKSON!

Auburn: National Champions!

I also have some videos for your entertainment pleasures. The first one is of me doing the arena Tiger Walk:

And this other is really crazy. It was the halftime show at the game...he was a tight rope gymnast or something. The ending is pretty epic so if you get bored fast forward to the end (though the commentary from Mel, Chris and Tim makes me giggle):