Change

First of all, here is the only picture Eric and I took in Detroit over July 4. This is at the zoo. I'll have to post some pictures of the donkey there, too, it was so funny! Many of you probably know about my fascination with donkeys, others not so much. I just think they are so cute and I pass 3 every day on my way to and from work. They make me smile! HAHA Anywho, on to the point of this post.................I have been dealing with a lot of change lately. I've started hanging out with a few different people than normal, which has been great, and not spending near as much time with others. I have a couple of friends who are pregnant, and one in particular is so different now. At first, everything was about her pregnancy. She would even cancel on me every single time we made plans, always having something to do with that. I have talked to her about how I feel like we're not even friends anymore, and she is making an effort, but it just opened my eyes to the inevitable: that life changes. And good for her, I'm very happy for her! I think part of it is that I got married a lot later than most of my friends and they've all already moved on to having kids. I'm just now getting to enjoy being married, and somehow feel behind. I'm not, and we're definitely not in any hurry to have children, but I just hate that your relationships with friends have to change because of things like that. I think the best time for friendship is high school and college, when you're all in the same lifestage and can relate to one another 100%. You have all the same issues and concerns. After that we all separate and go all kinds of different ways. You still have friends, but not at that same depth. You talk about more shallow things, or try really hard to put yourself in the other person's position, but when you've never been there yourself, it's difficult to do that. Of course, I've encountered the same thing on the other side of the spectrum. I have some single friends who think I can't relate to them because I'm now married. But hey, it wasn't that long ago that I wasn't and I can certainly relate to being lonely and ready to settle down. I'm blabbing on, but the moral of the story is just try to maintain your friendships, even if it's harder when you get older and everything starts changing. I hope all my friends know how much I care about them, wherever they are. Eric and I don't have too many good friends here, so we are very glad to have each other. He has been such a comfort to me lately when I've been upset about this. I thank the Lord every day that I have a husband and a friend all wrapped up in one. Ok, well quit reading this and go call someone you haven't talked to in a while!=)

RUDE people

I am currently at work and just completely miffed by this speaker right now. We got his lead a long time ago and this girl who doesn't work anymore started asking him what subject he wanted to speak on, got his resume, etc., but never told him we definitely wanted to bring him on. He called me to follow up, so I took a look at his file and he is not licensed or certified. He does have a Ph.D., but it's in a field that doesn't really apply to what we do and we have certain qualifications you must meet, like being licensed or certified. Well he told me that was ridiculous because he's spoken for so many years for all these other companies and I said other companies have different qualifications. He emailed me again wanting my supervisor's phone number and asked me how long I'd been doing this. Hello, buddy! This is a job application and this is how you're talking to a potential employer?! I cannot believe that. So my supervisor, Jennifer, said she is going to have fun emailing him. He'll probably call her, too, but she said she's going to put him in his place. Makes me feel better, but people never cease to amaze me. This guy's from Michigan, too, so I really wanted to like him, but hey, not everyone from MI is cool, obviously. I am so worked up and need to calm down! Don't you wish you could just cuss somebody out, but you can't, because that's not "professional?" I hate having to be professional sometimes, HAHA. Whew! I feel better already now that I've vented.................

MIA

I'm so bad, not updating this.......no new pictures. What can I say? I got a promotion at work at the beginning of July, so that's been taking a lot of my time and then just doing stuff around the house, etc. Time seems to have been flying by! I do admit that I update my Myspace page a bit more than this. I had initially started this because I didn't want to do Myspace, but then I decided I wanted to try to find some friends from high school. So if you want a little more info on me or want to see a few more wedding pictures, you can go to www.myspace.com/aj51280. Or if you search by name, make sure you search by Amanda Williams, not Hazlegrove. Since I wrote last time, Eric and I went to Detroit over July 4th and that was a lot of fun. Hopefully my parents and possibly my sister are coming out here for Labor Day, so we'll have our first official houseguests! I'm really excited. In other news, I just have to share this story. We had a cat that was always hanging around the construction sites on our street. We both wanted to feed him, but we knew if we did, he would never leave, so we chose not to. Eric even said if we weren't allergic to cats, we could take him in, which cracks me up, because neither of us are really cat people. But it was black and white and so cute. Well I woke up Sunday morning and looked out in the backyard, and there was something black and white lying on the grass and a wild turkey was pecking at it. Yes, sure enough, the poor little cat chose to die in our backyard! It didn't look like it had been attacked or anything, so maybe it ate something toxic at one of the contruction sites. We had to pick it up and get rid of it since it was in our yard, which wasn't fun, but at least it hadn't been there a long time. We both were sad, though, that maybe we could've helped him and didn't, but I guess that's the nature of things, right? Anyway, just a little glimpse of our day-to-day lives lately, HA!

I'm the Woman!

I have been very horrible about posting on here lately, and I promise to soon get pictures up here from the wedding and honeymoon! I am attaching one of Eric and I in front of the castle at Magic Kingdom, but I'm afraid that's all I have for now. We've been very busy at home trying to get the house looking nice, and while Eric's been out of town, I've been trying to hang pictures and put flowers out, etc. I have to brag that I put together this 6 foot bookshelf yesterday all by myself. That may not sound like a big feat to anyone else, but it was much harder than you would think. It took Eric and I half of Saturday to figure out the first one (we have 3 altogether), so I never thought I'd be able to get the whole thing done alone. I'll have to post a picture of them when we've finished the third one. Well I promise to try and be better about writing. Hope everyone is well!

Married!!!!

Well, I can honestly say, I'm breathing easier these days, HAHA! The wedding went very well, a few snags here and there, but nothing that ruined the day or anything. It was wonderful to see old friends and family, and I wish I could have spent more time with them! I have only seen a few pictures from the wedding/reception, thanks to Kristen, so if you'd like to view them, check out http://www.enorivermusings.blogspot.com/. She's on the same blogger website as I am. Thanks, Kristen! Great pictures! Thanks to everyone who came and everyone who was so supportive throughout the engagement, etc. I can't believe it's over. But now the fun begins! Eric and I had a lot of fun at Disney World (pictures to come soon) and are now hard at work getting our house in order. We can't wait for everyone to visit! We have plenty of room for you! I'll post more pictures this weekend, so check back for more!

Tomorrow

15 days until the wedding and we close on our house tomorrow! Can you believe it? Eric and I are still pinching ourselves, and when a lot of you see the house, there won't be much in it, but we will be! We are so excited, we left this morning thinking, "it's so beautiful!" I'm definitely not trying to brag, just saying that it's still kind of crazy to think of us getting married and having our own house! Whew! We can't wait to show it to you all.........hopefully we can get some more pictures on here soon. See some of you in a couple weeks!=)

More House Pictures

We went by the house again this morning and it's actually going to be ready to close on in the next several weeks. The cabinets go in today, so I didn't get any pictures of those, but here is the front of the house completely bricked minus the shutters, the front yard from the 2nd floor (they are digging the gas stuff today), the fireplace, the eat-in area in the kitchen and the bonus room windows. It's looking more and more like a house now! 29 days until the wedding, and Eric and I are very ready to be on the plane to Disney World! HAHA Thanks to everyone for their support through this engagement, it has been much appreciated! Can't wait to have everybody over to our new house!=)

Ollie

Just thought I'd throw some pictures of Ollie up here. I like seeing him as much as I like seeing my parents when I go to Charlotte. He's going deaf, though, I don't know what we'll all do when he goes.=(=( He's such a good dog!

The Countdown Continues......36 days!!!!!

Just wanted to post some current pictures of the house (one is of the front and the other is the garage), it might be done before the wedding, yay! I had a shower last weekend, given by Dotsie, it was so much fun! I saw a lot of people I haven't seen in a long time and some dear friends as well. I love how weddings bring all kinds together! I'm driving up to Michigan with Eric's mom this weekend for another shower, so lots of driving lately! Hopefully I can get some pictures of both of those on here, too. Hope everyone is well and hope to see you all soon!

52 Days........

.....to go before the wedding! Yay! It is approaching fast, which I am totally fine with. I've been working like a dog on invitations lately, so you should be receiving them soon. I have my bridal portraits this weekend, the following weekend is a shower in Charlotte and the weekend after that is a shower in Detroit. Whew! It does make it all seem real, though! This is our house right now......obviously the picture without the windows was taken about a week and a half ago, and about 3 days later, I took the one with the windows and door. They are hustling on it, so hopefully it will be done soon. I'll keep everyone updated! And excuse the images, they were taken with my cell phone, HAHA. Well hope to talk to everyone or see you soon!

Where does the time go?

I haven't written in forever! Considering my life right now, though, hopefully you'll forgive me.=) We did start building a house, but it's not very far along, so let's all pray we have a place to live once we get married! It will stink if it's not done by then. Mom and Dad came to visit me this weekend and we did lots of wedding stuff, it's coming up on us fast. I'm trying not to be stressed, since that's not good for someone who already has anxiety problems, but I figure this is just natural stress, right?=) About as natural as a wedding can be, I suppose. So many people have really been a big help or have been willing to help, and haven't had a chance to do so yet. But they will! Other than that, just work going on. I'll be doing some traveling to MI and NC for showers in early March, so I hope to see some of you then! And since I haven't written since my last blog, I am still trying to lose my medication weight.....I haven't been too serious about it until last week, though. I already feel better, but I doubt I'll lose as much as I want to before April. I'm trying! Well drop me a line or pick up the phone and call me if you get a chance. I'll try to post some pictures next time, I haven't been very good about taking any lately. Hope everyone has a good end of January!

Updates

Not much going on with me right now, as you can probably tell by how long it's been since I've posted anything. We're finally getting more into the wedding planning, so everyone who talks to me between now and beginning of January needs to hold me accountable for what I'm eating..........my fitting is Jan. 6th! If you talk to me, ask me what I've eaten that day, HAHA, maybe then I won't stuff my face. I gained 10 pounds on some medication I was taking while I was sick a couple months back, and it's not coming off very easily! I'm attaching some pictures where I think that's quite obvious.=) We're also trying to find a house again, even thinking of building, which if we did that, we have to get a move on! Only 4 months to go!! Richmond for Thanksgiving was a lot of fun, saw all the relatives I hadn't seen in a year, so that was good. I'm excited for Christmas to get here and hopefully my brother will be here for it this year. This might even be the last Christmas where it's just the 5 of us on Christmas morning. Next year could be more or less! Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and if you're in Charlotte from Dec. 21-26, call me!

Bridesmaid Dress

Thought you all might want to see what the bridesmaid dress looks like! I've had it picked out for a while, but finally found it online so I could get an electronic picture of it! Not much else going on, though, getting ready to go to Richmond for Thanskgiving, so maybe I can get some pictures on here of that. Fun times!

And This is Final............

Ok, so here it is: we are still getting married in Nashville at Eric's church. Shocker!!!!!!!!!! Some of you know that we were pretty set on getting married at Disney World here lately. The stress of planning the wedding and trying to please everyone but ourselves had gotten to us and we wanted to just have family go with us and that be that. However, we didn't take into consideration the disappointment of those who really wanted to be there and wouldn't be able to. So with a lot of thought and quite a bit of opinions from others, we have decided to keep it at the church. We will still have it be as simple and cheap as possible, but we do want to be surrounded by those who love us and care about us and want to see us join together. So April 14th, Nashville................be here!!!!!! More to come on other plans, but wanted everyone to know! Love you all!

Siblings

This picture absolutely cracks me up! This is actually a partial of a family picture, and isn't Clint's expression priceless? Of course, mine isn't much better. Talking as always! I just thought it was kind of a funny picture and I like how Clint's the tallest, then Sarah, then me. Seems very obvious in this picture. This was over Labor Day weekend, which was the first time our entire immediate family had been together since last September, so a year! Craziness. I look forward to Christmas, when hopefully we'll all be there again. It's good to get to hang out with your brother and sister every once in a while! Not enough, but I'll take what I can get!

I'm Fine

Hey everyone, I know some of you are worried about me after my last blog. Just wanted to let you know everything is fine and some things have been put in perspective for me. Not sure what's going to happen with the wedding yet, it may be a small one, we may go away, but either way, it's because I just am already sick of planning things. I'd rather have get togethers in our home towns instead of a big reception no one can come to anyway. So stay tuned for what we decide......but I'm not going crazy and it will all work out. In other news......I finally moved out of my apartment with the disrespectful roommates and now live a friend from work and her husband until Eric and I get married. So far it's been a lot of fun and so much more relaxing! Hopefully everyone got my new address. I will write more soon!

Wedding Plans

Does anyone want to plan my wedding for me? I'm evidently not doing it the right way, and I'm going to end up in the crazy house if I continue............someone help!!!!!

House on hold, Pittsburgh

We have decided to not buy a house right this minute, since we have some time to save more money, and Eric's not sure if his job will move him next year or the year after. We obviously don't want to buy a house and then have to move out of it right away. So for now, we are concentrating on wedding stuff. This past weekend, we went to Pittsburgh! I know that sounds random, but Eric had an invite from a co-worker to go to the Michigan State/Univ. of Pitt football game, so we drove up to save some money and stayed with Katie Lambeth! I hadn't seen her in forever, so it was a ton of fun. We went shopping while Eric went to the game and then we all went to the Pirates game that night against the Mets. That was fun, too. It was a lot of driving, but it was worth it. Unfortunately, I did not take any pictures, even though I had the camera with me. I'm stupid, what can I say. I was impressed with the oldness of the city and how beautiful old, historical things can be. I'm used to living in new cities, having grown up in Charlotte and now living in Nashville, so it was a neat experience. That's it for now. If anyone has any good wedding ideas, especially for decorating or flowers, please let me know!

New job, date set, dress

Don't you love the title of this one? I am entirely too creative. I haven't written in a while, so since the last time I did, some things have happened! First of all, I got a new position at Cross Country. I will be moving up to the Program Development department, which is viewed as the "most important" department of the company, since they bring in the speakers and create new seminars. I am now a program and brochure editor, which means I'll be doing a bunch of different things, but will basically be doing something more along the lines of what I want to do. Lots of proofing! I've already technically taken that position, but haven't started doing anything yet, because I am training two new people in my old department. How fun! I think they'll do great, though, so I'm not too worried to leave that in their hands. Secondly, Eric and I have set a date for the wedding! Now the craziness begins! The date is April 14, 2007. So everyone put that on your calendars.......more to come on that. I also went shopping for wedding dresses this weekend with my mom, sister and friend Dawn. I found one I love and will probably go buy it today, so that is so exciting for me! I felt like a princess trying on dresses that were way too nice for me, it was great!=) My sister also tried on bridesmaids dresses, as Dawn is a little too pregnant to help out in that department, and I'm pretty sure I've decided on those, too. It's been a very productive weekend! I didn't have to do all that just yet, but I wanted my family and Dawn to be a part of all of it, and the next time I'll be in town will be Christmas, and I didn't want to wait that long! So if anyone wants to see pictures, I'll try to get them on the computer and I can email them to you, but I won't be posting them on here, or Eric will see! Hope everyone has a great Labor Day weekend!!!

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!