Patience

God is teaching me a lot this morning. I tend to want to get everything together and planned out all at the same time, and not everyone is like that. I am trying to learn to take everything one step at a time. I need to be more patient, more loving, more understanding, more communicative, more sensitive and more unselfish. That's not too much to ask, is it?=) Well everyone can pray for me that I can be all those things and more with God's help. I can't do it on my own!

Houses and Pictures, Etc.

Here are some pictures from Chicago: one of me looking happier than I'm sure I was at the time in the heat, one of Eric looking very upset because they took his candy away from him (we went to the Hershey store and then they wouldn't let us take food into the festival), one from the ferris wheel that I took while Eric was trying to propose, and one of us they took before we got on it at Navy Pier. We didn't have any good ones of us after the fact, and our camera doesn't appear to want to take a clear picture of my ring, so everyone will just have to see it in person! Other than that, we still haven't made any wedding plans yet, but we'll be setting the date soon and I'll update everyone. We've been looking at houses, which has been a blast, and we're actually thinking about making an offer on one we really love. It's kind of out of the way, south of where I live now, which is already south of everything else in the city. So we'll see. Not much else to report at the moment. My parents just sold their house and I'll be helping pack while I'm home for Labor Day, but if anyone wants to get together, I'll be in Charlotte! I'll probably drive there on Friday and leave Tuesday.

Updates

Well, the girl I was talking about 2 posts ago finally got fired, yay!!!! We will be shorthanded for a while and that might make us a bit crazed, but it's better than having to fix someone's mistakes, right? It took a lot of effort and documentation to get her out of here, but at least they listened to us. Maybe it's not so bad here after all. I am attaching some pictures from Lolla......I don't have all of them yet, but these are just a few of us. The ones on the Ferris Wheel looked horrible, so I will scan in the one they took of us before we got on it. More to come........these are after 3 days in the sun, so if I look a little red to you, you're not imagining it. I was burnt and very hot!!!! Forgive my brother for being shirtless, but that's his style as often as he can get away with it. I hadn't seen him in 10 months!! And the one of me was self-taken, thank you very much.=) Well enjoy and I'll be posting more in the next week or so. Thank you to everyone who gave us their congratulations. We're so excited!

We're Engaged!!!!!

Anyone who knows me knows I've been waiting for this day for quite a while! I first of all would like to say I sincerely apologize for not being able to tell everyone this over the phone or in person, but that takes a lot of time I unfortunately do not have. So if this is new news to you, I am sorry I didn't call you to tell you personally.=(=( Eric and I went to Chicago this weekend for Lollapalooza and also got to see my brother, who should be getting his orders any day now. Lollapalooza was about 3 times bigger than it was last year, felt like Woodstock or something, so we didn't spend all day every day there...........that would have made us insane!!! We did a few museums and the Sears Tower, etc. to get a break from all that and to do some touristy stuff. Saturday we walked to the Navy Pier, which is a really cool place and Eric proposed on the Ferris Wheel. I was of course trying to take pictures and not paying attention, so when I looked over at him, he was down on one knee (this wasn't a rickety ferris wheel or anything, it was a sturdy cart, so don't worry), LOL, with the ring in his hand. He had been carrying it around all day in his pocket!! I just said "what are you doing?" because I didn't see the ring at first and then I just squealed and hugged him. It took me a while to say yes, HAHA, but I did! And then I cried a little bit once it sank in. I had no idea that was coming, so it was a very nice surprise! The wedding will be in the Spring sometime, but no date yet, no plans yet. Just enjoying the moment right now. Thought you'd all like to know and I'll do another post with some pictures from this past weekend once we get them on the computer. Love all you guys and talk soon!

Scrapbooking and Stupid Jobs

I have been told I start all my blogs the same way. So today I am not doing that! It's been a while, and I'm getting ready to go to Chicago, yay!!!!, so it will probably be a while before I write again. Today I would like to address 2 very different subjects. First of all, I have discovered scrapbooking. Maybe this means I'm getting older, who knows, but I love it! A friend from work, her sister and I get together every Monday, make a mess of all our stuff all over the table, and have so much fun! Of course, my attempts at being artsy and crafty are meager at best, but the love that's going into it will make it look alright! (that's what I tell myself) On a different note, why is it that employers don't fire people they should and fire the people who probably didn't really do much??!!! There is a girl in my department who is totally incompetent, has been working with us for 7 months and doesn't know anything she didn't know before. She is lazy and doesn't even try to learn anything. I thought for sure after we finally got the guts to tell on her for all the stuff she does (or doesn't do), she'd be out of there, but no, they put her on probation! We'll see how that goes, but I think it's time to start looking elsewhere. A company that cannot see when someone needs to go is not a company I want to work for. So to sum up: scrapbooking is fun and work is not. HAHA

Sports

So I was talking this morning about the Predators (Nashville hockey team) with my friend Amanda at work. We were talking about who got traded and who would be playing what position and who the new captain would be. It struck me as absolutely hilarious that two women were having this conversation (especially since all the other women in the room were looking at us like we were crazy). I have become quite the avid sports fan since I started dating Eric. I always liked basketball and soccer, but I've become more knowledgeable about other sports and I really enjoy watching them and going to games now!!! I'm including two pictures of Eric and I, one at a Predators game and one at the Bobcats arena, when they played the Pistons. The one of Sarah and I is that same night, and I just like that picture. You can all see my beautiful grown up sister if you haven't seen her in a while. If anyone wants to talk sports, call me up! I'm not too thrilled about football, though, so try to leave that one out!

Books

Ok, so I've read a lot of books lately and felt like sharing, in case anyone wants any recommendations. I get books all the time from co-workers to read, so not all of these are in my typical genre. I read the Charm School, by Nelson DeMille, which was quite interesting. All about the KGB and Russia and the military.......took me a while to get through, but it was really interesting. Of course read Angels and Demons and the DaVinci Code, by Dan Brown, and I loved both of them! I would highly recommend them, especially the illustrated versions. It helps give you visuals of what he's talking about. I by no means believe it to be fact, but it's really interesting as well. Next I read Empire Falls, by Richard Russo. It's about a small town in I think Massachusetts, if I remember correctly. They made it into a movie for HBO, which I haven't seen, but it was a pretty original novel, considering what's been out lately. It's just about how everyone in the town relates to each other and how everyone is impacted by one another and as much as it sounds like it could be really boring, I promise it's not. I loved it! Next was the Devil Wears Prada, a girly, fun read that I had to read before the movie came out. I indulged in some chick lit and it was so funny! Definitely read that one. Oh somewhere in there, too, I read In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote, very interesting. I had never read it for school, and it took me a while to get through that one as well, but as someone who enjoys criminal tv shows.....this was a great book that looked at the criminal mind and the victims. Really great. Then I read the Wonder Spot, by Melissa Bank, she also wrote the Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing. It was good, kind of an all over the place book about an average girl who doesn't know what she wants to be and feels defined by everyone else in her life, not by who she wants to be. A little on the chick lit side, too, but I higly recommend this one. I am currently reading A Million Little Pieces, the controversial James Frey "memoir," which turned out to not be a memoir at all, but I'm reading it like it's fiction. I find it fascinating and very different from what I normally read. Don't know what will be next, but someone at work recommended the Kite Runner. Anyone read that? Sorry so long, but what can I say? I love to read!=)

Vegas, Baby, Vegas!

Ok, so I've been MIA for a week or so......went to Detroit with Eric. Tons of fun! No pics from that as of yet, so I will continue with another trip from the past couple of months. Eric had to go to Vegas for work in May over my birthday week, so I got to go with him as my present. It was so much fun!!! We went to pretty much every casino, just to check out what they looked like, etc. I didn't do a bit of gambling, but Eric lost a little money (which is what always happens when either of us gamble). I'm putting a picture of the strip, taken by yours truly, a picture of the Paris casino at night (I loved that one!) and of me taken in front of the Mirage, which we actually didn't go into. I really liked the Luxor (the Egyptian themed one) and Circus Circus, which was very juvenile, but fun! The Bellagio was by far the nicest and I loved the fountains out front! I'd recommend going to anyone at least once, just to see it, but I'm by no means a fan of going all the time or of the sketchy shows they seem to have there. I just really liked the themes and the feel of the place. Somewhere to see once in your lifetime. We also flew over the Grand Canyon and maybe next time I'll actually go there and maybe the Hoover Dam, too. In early May, it was low 90's and no humidity, so it wasn't too bad yet. You wouldn't want to go now!

Maryland

Ok, so this post is all about Maryland. I have all these pictures I want to share, so I'll do a couple posts about the places I've been lately. Eric and I met up with my parents and sister in Baltimore over Memorial Day to see my mom's side of the family. Mom and Dad have some good family pictures, but of course, I had to share the random ones. The first picture is very ridiculous, according to my mother and Eric, who were quick to point out my bangs blowing straight up in the wind. How dumb do I look? Oh well, just thought everyone would get a kick out of that. And please note my sister's lovely headband thingy..........she spent all day messing with that thing, HAHA. The second is of the coolest Barnes and Noble I've ever seen, and you know me, I've been in quite a few. This was an old power plant, so they actually only use the first 2 stories for the bookstore. This is the Inner Harbor, by the way. And last, but not least, Eric had his first true eating crabs experience, which was a blast! It's a serious process to eat an entire crab, using hammers and everything, and is so much fun! I'm anxious to go back just for some more of those! I'll write more soon about other trips, but this one was so much fun. The only thing missing was my dear brother.=( Until next time!

New Week

So I'm attempting to start a blog, even though the only writing like this I've ever done has been in a private journal, which I just don't have time for anymore. I figured this would be an easy way for everyone to keep up with me (if they so desire). I've been having a tough time lately with my current roommate situation and with work stressing me out, so this past weekend was such a break from that! We saw Nacho Libre, which was very random, and very funny. Just what I needed! We also went to Memphis (did the Zoo and ate some ribs and just walked around) with Glen and Tracy and had a blast there. I'll attempt to attach a picture or two of that, although as I joked with Eric, we're very bad at taking pictures of people when we go to the zoo. In other words, we don't. We only take pictures of the animals, LOL. I could seriously make a scrapbook of zoo animals between the pics from last time and from this one. It is an awesome zoo, though, and I recommend it to everyone! The pandas are my favorite. Well, I promise to be more interesting next time, but just thought I'd introduce my new blog with some fun animals and some random thoughts!