I'm a little late, but better late than never, right?

March marks quite a lot of anniversaries for me (and D) this year.  It's really surreal looking back on this past year.  D and I were talking about friends we know who are on the "baby track" and making predictions as to when certain couples would have a baby.  He made a prediction for a year for a particular couple we know.  It got me thinking, and I mentioned to him, about how different a year is when you get older.  Thinking back to middle school (and seeing my middle school students) and high school, a year was an eternity!  It was impossible that we could quickly get to that next summer break.  Even as a college student, I had a little concept of a year as I preoccupied my mind with drinking, drama, and boyfriends (shudder a bit here).  Now, at almost 26 (which in itself feels surreal), a year can quickly and easily fly by.  I know having children make the process feel like it flies even quicker.  I know I just did a reflection on my past year for New Years, but I want to take another step back and look specifically at March one year ago.

March 6, 2008
We arrived in Aruba for our elopement/honeymoon.  And to think, we weren't even engaged a year before.

March 8, 2010
Our wedding day.  Perfect.  I would never change it for anything.

March 14, 2010
Return from Aruba.  We immediately pack up my car and I head from Athens, GA to Raleigh, NC, cats in tow but husband not.

March 15, 2010
My first day in North Carolina AND as a teacher.

March 15-March 30, 2010
The cats and I spend a lonely and hectic time in Raleigh.  We have no furniture, expect an ottoman and air mattress.  We have cable and internet.  We have no D or doggies.  I'm trying to continue to plan our wedding party and drive 5+ hours back to Athens every weekend.

March 27, 2010
Our wedding party back in Athens.

March 2011 marks my one year wedding anniversary, my one year anniversary in Raleigh, and my one year anniversary teaching.  A year really can fly by...

Blazers and busy-ness!

How do you spell busy-ness?  Because if you substitute an "i," you get business...hmmm.

Anyway!  Sorry it's been a week since I posted :(  As usual, life is just not slowing down for me.  The nights that I don't have lesson planning, grading, or school-related work, I just want to plop down and catch up on tv.  Now that we've actually moved, we're busy unpacking!  I promise moved in pictures will be coming soon.  This will hopefully be a year of decorating and updating our home decor :)  I may need to get some tips from Britney on restoring furniture! 

This weekend, I have grading that I haven't gotten a chance to do.  Yesterday was spent sleeping in (yay!  and much needed), eating breakfast and gchatting with my friend, KD, hitting up a couple thrift stores (I'm on the hunt for some oxfords), heading to the gym (about freaking time), cleaning the old house so we can be officially moved out, and finally heading to Target to pick up some necessities.  I did come back and read all my students free-writing journals.  Now the plans for today are to finish up this post, finish my coffee, completely finish cleaning and getting stuff out of the old house, hit up the gym, come back and meet D, hopefully get in some grading (ahhhh!  I have to!), and then have a stay-in date night with D.  I bought some stuff to make homemade lasagna, side salads, and red wine.  I hope he can wind down after a busy week/weekend of traveling and beer.

A note of excitement before I go!  I've been unlucky on the front of find some oxfords period - let alone in my size - in the thrift stores around here.  I think maybe I need to check out Etsy or something.  I did find a blazer yesterday that I fell in love with.  No lie, it is almost exactly like this:

[Softwashed wool blazer from JCrew, $198!]

Mine (and I promise I'll share pictures soon) doesn't have the flaps over the pockets and the buttons are a weird color.  I am considering replacing the buttons with something darker.  This blazer does not have shoulder pads (unlike my first find) and has a splendid fit!  I can't wait to start wearing it for the chillier months coming up!  I've been dying to shop...so the next best (and cheapest) thing is thrifting.  In the upcoming weeks, D is going to be out of town a lot.  I may start browsing some surrounding thrift stores outside of just the Salvation Armys.

Hope you've had a fabulous fall weekend!

Ah ah ah ah stayin' alive, stayin' alive.

Because I AM still alive!  I've been so busy catching up on all of your blogs, I almost forgot to update mine!  Well thanks for all your sweet comments on my last posting.  I did make it through the storm even with an additional kink.  I told you I was heading back to GA for my friend CAP's - now CAPM - wedding.  Well we made it down and back alright.  I'll even provide proof with a picture...

[Image stolen from KD since I can't upload my pics at the moment...or obv I would have included myself actually looking at the camera]

The wedding was beautiful and CAPM was gorgeous (and she's celebrating her honeymoon in Mexico as I type!!)!  I hope it was everything she wanted!  And I got to catch up with lots of old friends.  But we jetted out of there so soon to get back to NC.  I had the tingling of a sore throat coming on that Sunday which manifested itself into a big, ole, ugly cold by Monday morning after 4 hours of sleep.  Fml.  I made it through school ok only to find out that the only day D could find someone to help him move our furniture to the new house was Tuesday!  So my week turned into one long, sick, sleepless, stressful, nonstop, body aching week. 

On a positive note, we are practically all moved into our new house!  Mad props go to D, who is amazing, for doing 95% of the moving himself while I was at work and sick (which I couldn't even take a fucking day off work).  We also had like zero boxes, so D had to pack, move, unpack, and go back (got that?).  We still have to clean up at the old place, but it's nice to be sleeping in our new house so soon :)  I love it there.  I can't wait to actually start getting settled in, unpacking, and putting things in their proper places. 

Point being...I made it.  I'm currently in the NC mountains for a beginning teachers retreat.  Hopefully normal life with semi-resume next week when I return.  My goals are to 1) make it to the gym at least twice (good considering I've been once within the past month probably), 2)clean the old house and be DONE there, and 3)keeping my head above water trying to juggle everything school-related and personal life.

Work it.

It's about time!  I finally lost 2 pounds :)  I have to celebrate the small successes here.  I think it can be contributed to a couple of things.  1) Drinking more water.  This often slacks while I am here at home because I am not consciously thinking about it.  2) I cut out drinking during the week.  I think this was assisted by that fact that D was out of town for a bit and I didn't have beer events to accompany him.  I haven't changed my workout routine so I think those two factors helped.  Oh D and I have been cooking more this week too.

I am worried about potentially gaining it back this weekend.  Why this weekend you ask?  Because...

IT'S MY 25TH BIRTHDAY!

 [image via Google]

My birthday is on Saturday.  Since I have work training all day Thursday and Friday, I'm meeting D in Virginia after my training on tonight.  I assume  there will be lots of eating and drinking.  Since pre-planning gets back in full force (which equals 9-4 work days) on Tuesday, it'll be harder to devote 2 hours/day to the gym to work off what is gained.  I'm going to try to make semi-healthy eating choices (hello, include veggies!) and drink lots of water.  We'll see what happens...a girl only turns 25 once ;)  Except those pounds don't go away forever.  

 Ps. Is anyone else as excited as I am about Eat Pray Love opening today?  I was to go see it!  I read the book a couple or few years ago and absolutely loved it.  And hello...Julia Roberts and James Franco...I die.

Both images via Google.

When it rains, it pours.

Well I've been unusually busy in the past week.  I showed you guys a picture of our unpacked house last week.  As of Wednesday our plan was to return our Budget truck after school and do some organization shopping.  Well I monumentally fucked up the remainder of that evening and week by getting in a car accident. Fast forward to time being spent remeding that situation and getting a new car (since my previous was a hand me down that wasn't worth much anymore).  That took a whole day (which I admit was probably exponentially made harder by us not having been in Raleigh very long).  I got a little Kia, which was by no means the car I had been holding out for.  It's growing on me though ;). Gets good mileage, we'll boost our credit, and hopefully be closer to buying a house.  We felt like we were finally "real, married" adults.  So as you can imagine, we've had quite the expensive start to marriage...paying for elopement, wedding party, moving out of state, then purchasing a car.

Well then my cat, Bailey, got hurt jumping off the counter.  We noticed he was limping on Friday night but held off taking him to an emergency clinic.  One, we couldn't afford that; and two, he wasn't yelping when we touched his leg or when he limped around.  I took him to a new vet on Saturday and came out of there with a ridic $240 bill including x-rays.  He's ok....probably just a sprain but he got some awesome meds and up to date immunizations. Yet again, when it rains it pours.  Can I please also note, I am supposed to be saving money since I don't get paid for the two months I have off for summer break.

On a positive note, we did some hardcore unpacking and have gotten things arranged.  I do realize that the "unpacked" picture above looks a bit cluttered.  Bear in mind, we are fitting items from a 3 bedroom house w a large living room, dining room, and kitchen into a tiny 2 bedroom living room/dining room/kitchen combo house.  It's tough.  We feel TONS better having things in their places.  I still have to work on the guest bedroom.  We'll get there.

Oh and we have been drinking beer and discovering Raleigh ;)

Sent from my iPhone

We're here.....

We are finally (although I guess only officially after we get
licenses) Raleighans...Raleighites? Whichever we are. This is this
ridiculousness that sits in store for me next week while I'm on spring
break...and that's only part of one room.

Mrs. W

Well that's now me. We got offiially married and spent a wonderul
honeymoon week in Aruba. Now to the troubles of airports and flight
delays. We've been in an airport and/or on a plane since 12:30p
yesterday. Now we're still waiting because what are the chances that
our new flight from Baltimore to Atlanta is delayed with mechanical
stuff. Delta is letting me down...seriously. I really don't want to
use them again. I obviously have LOTS to catch up on and update.
Whenever we finally get back from Atlanta to Athens, I have to pack up
my car and the kitties and drive a wonderful 5 & a half more hours to
Raleigh. And sleep on an air mattress tonight. And start my new job
EARLY in the am. And I've been up since 5:15 this morning. Glorious
way to end my honeymoon. Regardless, it was wonderful. The elopement
was (almost) exactly what I wanted. I'll be alone in Raleigh for
almost a week so I should have plenty of free time to provide some
pics and dets!
Sent from my iPhone

Top 5 reasons.

I'm not going to lie...after our recent trip to Raleigh, I am getting SUPER EXCITED about the move there.  Seriously, I have only heard great things about the area (although don't misunderstand that to mean that I am welcoming negatives about the area).  We signed a lease on a little (and I mean little) house in a really cool area.  We're so close to everything...downtown, the Y, Whole Foods, the mall, etc. etc.  Now the house is totally a downgrade (in luxuries and size) from where we are now, but we figure it'll do for a bit while we save up money for a house (ahem...did I actually just say that?!).  Some of the items in the house that sold us on it...gas stove, washer and dryer (which he threw in with our discounted rent), fenced in yard, driveway, eliminated pet deposit!  It doesn't sound like much but those are major ticket items for us.  Considering that continuing to pay rent on our Athens house and planning a wedding party and tripping it to Aruba, a security deposit, pet deposit, and first month's rent is a shit ton of money to come up with quickly (thank you government for tax returns?).  I'm not sure where we are going to fit all of our stuff from our three bedroom in Athens (with a huge living room/dining area and tons of storage) to a two bedroom with a much smaller living room and very little storage.  Considering the fact that within the next year or so we want to upgrade back to a larger house of our own, I don't necessarily want to throw away/donate all of our stuff.  Ugh things to do and think about!  Anyway, I'm happy that we got the NC housing marked off our list!

So I wanted to do a list of the top 5 things I am looking forward to about living in Raleigh.  They're pretty general things, but after growing up in Athens all of my life, they're amazing novelties to me. 

 

5.  BBQ.  Now Georgia has some good BBQ, but NC is where the BBQ is.  I promise you, this whole vegetarian thing will be left on the doorstep at least once/month for some barbeque.  I don't know what it is about barbeque that make me love it.  I love some vinegary sauce (not sure if that's the "NC style") and top it with some coleslaw and a sweet tea on the side.  Ugh...I guess I am really southern at heart.

  

4. Crabtree Valley Mall.  Don't get me wrong, this mall is nothing amazingly spectacular.  Trust me, when Georgia Square Mall is the closet "good" shopping center within 30 minutes, Crabtree Valley is like a dream come true.  I've never been a huge mall shopper, but I would certainly guess this could be attributed to my crappy experience with my hometown mall.  D and I ventured in Crabtree Valley before we headed out of Raleigh, and I about fainted.  J Crew.  Omfg...H&M is coming this spring.  Wow.  Banana Republic. Dippin Dots. Forever 21 (um, I need some cheap deals in my life).  Bobbi Brown. Sephora. PF Changs.  Dying.

 

3.  WHOLE FUCKING FOODS.  I am not even kidding...this could possibly #1 on the list.  Whole Foods is actually like a thing of fiction...a celebrity...to me...something I've only ever seen on Top Chef and on TV.  I can't wait to just go in there and soak it in.  The isles of organic goodness.  Perusing the isles of Whole Food branded goods.  I almost feel high just thinking about it.  I just signed up for their newsletter.  I am officially obsessed.  Let's just hope this poor girl and her husband can afford the Whole Food luxuries. 

 

2. YMCA.  That's right.  The YMCA is like a freaking block or two from our house.  I'm a dork and checked out their group fitness class list today....it is fucking awesome.  Seriously.  Athens YMCA has the crappiest class list I have ever seen compared to theirs.  My hopes for the YMCA are for 2 things...1) D and I will join together and make working out more of a habit and 2) I can utilize it to make friends in the area (although I hope they aren't all stay at home moms).  My appeal of the Y is that it is not the gym that primarily consists of rich, skinny, blonde college students.  Go YMCA!  I am officially a grown-up.

1. "City Life."  I'm using this phrase very loosely.  We all know Raleigh is no NYC.  We all know Raleigh is no Atlanta (thank goodness).  But Raleigh has some kick-ass restaurants, pubs, and bars.  It has a sweet downtown area.  I'm looking forward to being able to show my Georgia friends around Raleigh.  I'm looking forward to getting to know the different roads and "hip" places to be.  I mean I know I'm not going to be in a big city by any stretch of the imagination.  Coming from Athens though, this is big for me.  I'm moving to a city where I really know no one other than my husband and pets.  I like to think Raleigh is welcoming me with open arms.

My feet are numb.

It's been a long day and a half. For real. We made our way from
Athens to Raleigh last night arriving at about 10:30. I drove the
whole way. I never realized how much longer the trip seems when you
don't read and browse mags and surf on my iPhone the whole way.
Fuck. It felt long. I passed out.
I got up early (ok not that early) this morning to head to my school's
board of Ed to sign paperwork. I'm officially going to be a teacher
on March 15! And have health insurance still and etc. etc. I have a
badge! That must make me official.
Then on to the house search. Ugh, it's been extremely long and
tiring. It's frustrating that we don't have another day here to shop
around a little bit. We have our last viewing at 5:30. We'll be
between that place and another apartment that we found on a whim.
We'll see. We're leaving with something locked in, no doubt.
Ps. it's cold here and again I packed inappropriately. I was trying
to look a little nice to sign my paperwork. I brought some dark jeans
and a nice blouse and cardy. Well I also only brought one pair of
shoes. My Tory Burch flats. FML. My feet have been fucking cold and
numb all day. If we go out tonight, I'm fucked. Where are my uggs
when I need them?!
Sent from my iPhone

Sorry! I'm just overwhelmed at the moment.

So my wonderful friend, CAP, pointed out that I have been a bad blogger lately.  I realize!  I just feel like I have 5 million things on my plate right now.  Speaking of CAP, she surprised me with a wonderful necklace closely resembling this one:

[Forever 21]

The necklace she actually got me is much cuter though (wtf!  Why wouldn't Forever 21 have it on their website??).  It has little "pearls" on the belly and "diamonds" for eyes.  I love owls :)  But many thanks to CAP for making my day!  Apparently they're really trendy right now because Forever 21 website had like a million of them.  

Anyway, D and I are in the process of apartment/house hunting.  This is really a stressful process in general, but add in our VERY TIGHT timeline (I need to have a secured home by March since we leave March 6 for Aruba and don't return until March 14...um I start my job March 15), along with paying double rent since we don't know when/if we can sublease the Athens house, and limited budget (again, double rent, plus elopement, plus wedding planning).  Ok...just mentioning all this is actually starting to overwhelm me again and bringing on the migraine.  That's just one thing on my plate.  

So I neglected to mention that we're moving to Raleigh.  I'm actually REALLY excited about Raleigh.  I'm hearing so many great things about it.  People tell me that it has a "small town" feel with the benefits of living in a city (um, Whole Foods here I come).  I'm just ecstatic to finally be moving out of Athens.  I'm really thrilled about being able to explore and discover a new place...with my new husband ;)  Oh and can I please tell you how happy it made me to go to the Visit Raleigh website and see that they have an entire section on GLBT travel.  OMFG!  They love the gays in Raleigh!  And so do I!  Maybe I can find a fabulous gay, lesbian, or otherwise friend!  Love.  And I'm finally slowly coming to the end of my current job.  Love even more.

Ps. doing a terrible job maintaining my workout regimen.  Let's face it, I have no motivation whatsoever.  I should start rewarding myself.  Ideas & tips that help you stay on the work out track?

Pps.  did actually reward myself for nothing other than a hard, long year at my current job.  With what?

These Hunter boots that I've been longing for.  Got them for almost half price on ebay.  Finally.  I didn't want regular ole black.  Purple wasn't my first choice...but the best I could do for now.  I'm content.  They're cute. Looking forward to rocking them on snowy (haha maybe) and rainy days in Raleigh :)

Weekend Update.

Eh...not too much going on this week.  I've been on call (which entails be keeping the oncall pager from Wed-Tues and being oncall for any child emergencies or other ridiculous things that the police decide to page us over for all hours of each night).  It's been stressful and frustrating actually.  I guess I can't really complain (who am I kidding, I totally can) considering I have typically had fairly easy on call weeks and it's practically only two weeks per year.  On the positive side, it got me out of tailgating ALL DAY and going to a football game tonight.  Don't get me wrong...it sounds like I hate it.  I am just happy to have a break, a relaxing weekend for the first time in what feels like a month.

Yesterday, D and I ate at Big City Bread Cafe for dinner.  It was really delish.  They have some awesome specials...but on our budget we opted for the lower priced sandwiches and a burger.  D loved the burger, and I got an awesome chicken sandwich.  For an app we had some delish mac and cheese.  We definitely plan to go back and split the 14oz pork chop!  Then we cam back and watched a movie.  I've been feeling sick though, so I bailed on D early :(

Today, D's been out tailgating and whatnot.  I've been RELAXING!  I'm still feeling a little sick...at least I woke up being able to breathe.  I still am suffering from a stuffy nose, cough, etc.  I slept in (until Bailey woke me up scratching at the door...grrrrr).  I ate some cinnamon buns D bought for breakfast (yum).  Watched a Law and Order.  Ate a mexican lunch with KayD.  Caught up on some dvr shows with KayD.  Now blogging and watching more L&O.  I'm sure I'll get some fast food later (just to pack on the pounds since I still haven't been working out...grrr...working out is another subject for another day).  I plan to do the same thing tomorrow except hanging out with D a little more. 

As for moving and the job search...I'm currently in the process of applying to some teaching programs.  I'm interviewing in December for Philadelphia Teaching Fellows, in January for Prince George County Teaching Fellows, and TBD for Baltimore Teaching Residency.  I'm considering AmeriCorps as well.  If anyone up north knows about any other teaching programs, non-profits orgs, etc. let me know!  D is being so supportive and flexible with moving locales.  I'm lucky to have him really :)  I suppose I need to start working on cover letters also.  THE HARDCORE JOB SEARCH BEGINS!

PS.  So freaking excited about LADY GAGA in December!

Let's Break It Down.

The weekend has been eventful.  I went to a birthday party for my adorable sister, MGK, who turned 7!

MGK at Christmas 2008.

 

MGK, June 2009

Since my camera is broken, I wasn't able to take any pictures of MGK at her birthday this year.  I can probably gank some from my mom after she posts them.  Rest assured, she took PLENTY of pictures.  So we had a combo birthday party for MGK and an ex-aunt whom my mom has reconnected with.  We ate some kick-ass nachos, which were probably the higlight of the evening for me (big surprise it was food?!). 

Saturday we had some friends over and grilled out.  We ate racks of lamb, baked potatoes, cous cous salad, and Terrapin/Left Hand Depth Charge floats.  Yum!  We also played three rounds of Clue.  I forgot how much I miss playing board and card games.  D won two rounds, and yes, I won one round!  BAM!  I can be good at games ;)  Today, we are about to head out to serve Terrapin at some wine festival.  I am hoping to also knock out some grocery shopping afterwards so we can have some freaking healthy food in this house again!

Ok...so I've had some major life changes on my mind.  Recently I've been talking about big changes in my life.  Pretty much everyone, including my current bosses, know that I am searching for another job.  One main reason for this being that D and I are going to be moving soon with his job.  Since I haven't found my passion to be in the work of public social services, I am attempting to pursue teaching.  I really think that teaching is where my heart is.  I want to work with kids to be successful in education.  I am working on some things to try and get a job opportunity in teaching, but there is no guarentee.  D and I have been talking recently about looking for jobs and such.  I attempt explaining to him that I think it will be quite difficult for me to find a job in teaching or even public social services.  Blame the economy, I know.  I mean at my current job, we've been in a hiring freeze for as long as I can remember.  I try to explain to D that it will most likely be quite difficult for me to find a job because there are no jobs out there now.  D says, "there's always jobs.  There's the service industry."  I say that I have no experience in the service industry and people with experience will always get the job over me.  D says, "I could probably get you a job at _____________ in Raleigh."  I obviously have mixed feelings about this.  1) I am grateful that D would help me in getting a job, but 2) I do not want to move to NC to work at another job that I dislike.  The conversation continues as we drive to Kroger.  We pass a person sitting on the side of the road, holding a sign to advertise for the local Halloween store.  D says, "See you could always get a job doing that."  Wow.  No words.  I would go back to school (and inevitably raise my school loan debt) before I would take a job sitting on the side of the street holding a sign.  This whole conversation actually increased my job search though.  I have started putting out applications and feelers for different stuff to get into.  I'm nervous though.  I'm nervous that the potential stuff I am working on will fall through and I will be back to square one.  I am nervous that nothing will work out, that I will be stuck in the south with another job I hate.  I am nervous that I will never be able to pursue/achieve my dream of teaching without incurring endless amounts of more school loans (no one wants to know how much I already have...and keep in mind this was to achieve degrees that I no longer want to utilize).  I guess all I can do it keep trying.  Put in applications and work towards what I really want to do.  It is also way more difficult to apply and interview for jobs when you live out of state.  Sigh.  The thought of it all is stressful and overwhelming.  One thing I do know: I definitely want to move and I definitely want to move with D.  I have to be confident that things will work out for the best (or at least the way they are supposed to).  At least I have D to embark on whatever kind of journey/adventure is in store for us.  I am happy that he has a job he loves.  If nothing else, I know how important it is to do something you love.  It definitely affects quality of life when you don't enjoy the job you work.  Patience is a virtue, right? 

Weekend Update.

 D and I from Halloween last year; Pac Man and Ghost.  

It's the weekend again.  D is out of town in Virginia Beach and I am stuck here in rainy Athens.  I can't complain though.  I had the opportunity to go...but I already had a furlough and holiday from work last week and I would have had to take off Friday and Monday to go to VA.  I also have to take off Wednesday.  I figured we didn't need to deal with finding someone to watch the dogs again.  Anyway...babbling aside, I didn't go.  I've been finding ways to keep myself busy though (even with my limited budget).  Last night, I went to eat at Clocked downtown with CH, whom I went to high school.  We had a really good time catching up and chatting about how people from high school had changed.  It was a nice change of pace to hang out with someone I haven't seen in a while.  On a ranting note, I am so over trying to hang out with people who don't even try.  Please don't tell me that you want to get together if you are not going to exert the effort to actually set up a time.  Anyway, we had a good time.  It was nice to get out of the house for the night.  Ps. I had the hummus sammie at Clocked.  It was pretty yummy!

Let's see today I am hanging out with KayD (my running buddy...although we haven't gotten to run recently because it has been raining like a mofo in Athens).  She got tivo (which I maintain is one of the best inventions EVER), and we're going to watch Melrose Place :)  I can't say that show is anywhere near being good, but it certainly makes us laugh.  Then tomorrow, I'm going shopping with K for her halloween costume, and then ordering pizza with K and CAP.  Busy weekend!  I'm working on project all the while too.  I bought supplies for my project from Michael's yesterday.  My bill came out to a whopping $27, and I think I may have to go back for more supplies.  Yay for weekends!

So I have a few topics that I've been thinking about more in depth:

WEIGHT: Ugh...don't even get me started (although technically I started this).  I haven't weighed myself in weeks because I'm scared.  D and I have been eating absolutely terribly since we really haven't had any good food in the house.  And we really haven't had the money to do substantial grocery shopping.  I am waiting on my travel check from work and plan to do some shopping after that comes.  I have been eating the worst of the worst...fast food, Mexican, ugh all of my weaknesses.  I have got to get out of my funk!  I need some major motivation.  I haven't been going to the gym...which I've been dishing out $32/month.  I haven't been doing anything.  I need to get back into my healthy mindset.  I'm not sure what switched in my brain to make me want to be lazy again.  I mean I have an elopement dress to get smaller for!  And I want a sexy beach body for the elopement itself ;)  Send motivation my way! 

HALLOWEEN: D and I have been trying to figure out what to be this year.  I don't really have the money to do something super creative (ie. Pac Man and Ghost last year) or to buy something.  Hmmm...where does that leave me?  Creative costumes on a dime?  Personally, I'm not the biggest fan of Halloween.  That's why I made it my mission last year to think of something creative for D and myself.  It actually did make me enjoy Halloween because our costumes were awesome, unique, and super cute.  We can't think of anything this year.  Halloween is also on a Saturday, which means we are obligated to do something.  Ideas?  I may do some research today...

MOVING:   So...D talked to a couple of people at Terrapin and we found out that they are pretty flexible as to where we can move next year.  Yeah!  Sort of our three options:

• North Carolina:  Pros: Closer to home, cheaper cost of living/ability to save more money?, warmer; Cons: Still stuck in the south, closer to home, possibly the lack of opportunity to move farther away at another time (I don't want to be stuck in the south for another 5+ years and not have the ability to branch out and experience living in different areas of the US.)
• DC area (DC/Virginia/Maryland):  Pros:  Middle of the road...not too far from home but not super close, possibility of more job opportunities for me, variety of living options (city, rural, suburban); Cons: cost of living, colder
• Philly/NJ:  Pros: City living, not in the south, possibility of more job opportunities, closer to other amazing cities and places (NY, Canada, etc.), variety of areas to live; Cons: cold, long way from home & Athens for D (could be build up our sky miles?!), cost of living, cold

So...who knows.  D is leaning towards NC...maybe because of the distance and the cold.  I'm leaning toward the more northern places.  My thoughts are that there are more opportunities up north for me finding a job (in teaching or social work), and I'm so ready to branch out from the south.  I am afraid if we move to NC, we won't get another opportunity for a while to make another move.  D does say that he can see some pros of living up north.  I have great dreams of exploring and living in new and different places with my soon-to-be husband :)  Of course, we'll have the opportunity to explore a new city together wherever we move.  That's exciting.  I'm exciting to have a variety of choices.  I'm also lucky to have a fiance who is supportive and willing to move for me.  I'm lucky that Terrapin is being flexible with us.  Now, I can only hope that I can have some real job options and opportunities.  Ultimately, I'll be happy wherever we go because I get to embark on a new adventure with D.   Hopefully, we'll have some real answers soon.  We really need to take time to explore the Philly and DC areas.

Ps. There is no Law and Order marathon on today...so I'm watching my faithful standby...BEVERLY HILLS 90210 :)  Love it.