Life and Home improvements

Moving in and getting settled with the new job has kept me pretty busy! I am grateful to my horse network which got me a running start with the business.  The first 3 weeks were very steady and I had my first week last week with no calls. That is unnerving.  But that time allowed me to catch up on wedding preparations- get ready for a post wedding DIY post (don't want to ruin surprises now!!)

Justin has improved so many things around the house. The hallway going down the stairs has probably a 12 foot ceiling and the light went out (go figure). So he had two choices build scaffolding and try and change the light bulb or be handy and re-wire new lights on the side that would be easy to change in the future. With a little encouragement from me he ended up doing the 2nd option - I didn't want him climbing up there!!!!

Monster hallway and the light is all the way at the top!

Aren't the lights beautiful?

Also we now have a fence and on our way to my childhood dream of having horses in the back front yard! Sam my first horse that I started from a baby has been retired to the mountains after a long battle with lameness. He is now going to come back and live close to me again which makes me such a happy little girl! He is a great man and I'm excited to have him close again soon.

This is my favorite picture of Sam and Megan. He has such a great personality!

More to come- I promise to keep updating more regularly!

Blogging hiatus

Sorry for being so MIA in the blogging world. Life has really picked up. The business got a great running start and I have been relishing the last couple slower days to catch up on the business aspect of it!  Cooper is being a great dog and we love having him in the family!  The house is really coming together thanks to Justin's hard work and determination- it only took him 3 weeks and multiple plans to get the outside speakers working :). He is the best! I will detail some of our home improvements and give a wedding update soon!!!

Cooper- puppy woes

So you are probably thinking this is the beginning of the end. To be honest with you I didn't think I would get a dog after only being home a few days.  It was by chance really- I was talking to a friend of mine about my future truck dog who exclaimed she knew the perfect match.  A facebook friend of hers had found a dog and was fostering it until she found a home.

Here is the first picture I ever saw of him:

Well the foster mom was out of town but we got in contact and I agreed to meet Cooper.  After a meeting in a driveway at dark I decided I would try him out.  I saw really good things- he didn't pull at the end of the leash to get to other people/pets.  I had Fletch with me who acted like an idiot and came after me when I tried to coax him out of the car...thus began Fletch's hate of Cooper.
We agreed to meet the next morning and I try out Cooper for a few days.  When I brought him home it wasn't instant love for Justin.

Cooper's first ride home

Cooper kept trying to play with Fletch and he was having no part of it. He chased the cats a few times, pooped in the back bedroom, and ate Justin's flip flop- lets just say he didn't have a good first day.  That night he barked in the crate but only for about 5 minutes.  The next few days continued to be trying- we contemplated many time to take him back.

He made up with Pete the next day.

We had friends, Somer and Steve, visiting that Thursday and decided to wait and see how he did with them and Kiwi (their dog/our niece).  The first day they also weren't crazy about him but he and Kiwi became fast friends.  For the fourth we went on a hike at Pisgah National Forest- the road was pretty curvy and Cooper was in the back. Lets just say when we were all about to puke from motion sickness he actually tossed his cookies- poor guy!  The hike was great and he was a perfect gentleman on the leash!  He actually saw across the creek crossings where we had to pick up Kiwi and Fletch (chickens!).

He continued to be a perfect angel until the last day that Somer and Steve were here when I let him go off leash to run with Kiwi. He proceeded to take off and play keep away- damn dog!  I had had enough at that point but Justin reminded me my parents were coming home the next day and we wanted to get their opinion. When mom and dad met him I was sold when mom said he was a great dog and when dad obviously loved him.
This week has been fantastic for Cooper he has been a great dog!  Monday I did a dental on Star and brought him with me tethering him to the area where I was working and he just was content laying down and chasing flies. He got car sick again so I realized I just got a truck dog that gets carsick on country roads---uhho!
The next day was Coopers day to get really smart- he was getting neutered!!! He did great during the procedure- shoutout to Blue Skies Veterinary Hospital! He came home and was so excited to be home and jumped around and played while we caught up on the Germany game. Yesterday was a full day at the barn doing dentals and with some Dramamine on board he was a much happier camper in the car- again he was an angel at the barn and passed out after a long day at work with me!

I think I got to perfect truck dog but will for sure have some blog updates with funny Cooper stories- the last one being that we tried all week to find the perfect name....we couldn't get one to stick but I started calling him Goober because lets face it that is what he is!  So his "real" name is Cooper but he will always be my Goober!

Welcome to the family bud!

Home is in Hickory!

Who would have thought I would say that again! Of course home is where you grow up but after 9 years in Raleigh it was my home. We are officially moved in...a week tomorrow. The house was very well unpacked and lived in thanks to Justin (I'm so lucky!). The cats had their first successful day outside and LOVED it.  Here are a few pictures of the house and adventures. Longer post coming soon!

Pete! How did you get up there???

cautious

Don't worry Sofee it's FUN!!

Ok if you say so!

Half Marathon- WE DID IT!

I am very late blogging about this. Life has been pretty busy!

We completed our first Half Marathon almost 2 weeks ago now.  I still can't believe I completed it!  It was iffy if I was even going to run it. The Thursday before I went home from work sick and took my first sick day in years- I had a high fever body aches and GI upset.  I have no idea what I got into. I even went to the doctor the next morning because I almost passed out that morning after walking down the stairs.  After staying off my feet all day Friday and drinking lots of fluids I was back to 70% that night packing up the UHAUL. I told myself that if I could pack up the UHAUL I could run the next day.  I was determined to try since I had trained for this for 6 months now!!

The next morning I felt a bit light headed but I think it was from nerves. We made it to the start line at 6am and had about an hour to wait and eat some breakfast.  We caught up with Adele and Jen and were able to catch up before we started running. For those of you that don't know me I have a nervous bladder so I peed 4 times that morning. The first couple times the line was really short but then I went 20 min before the race was starting and gosh there were probably 50 people in front of me.  I was 2 people away when they let the first people go (wheelchairs get a head start).  Man I have never seen people run and pee so fast so I got to actually go before we started the race (thank goodness).  I got back to the group right as they were counting down and we were off!

Right after the finish line! 

The first mile was downhill and really easy pace- I was overwhelmed with emotion running because I kept thinking- OMG I'm really doing this- I'm really accomplishing this goal!!!  After that I settled into my slow and steady pace. It was well under what Danielle and Justin were comfortable running but they were very supportive and stayed with me.

It was an out and back race which was cool because about mile 4 people started coming back the other way on our first out and back leg.  It really kept me distracted which makes the miles go by faster. Justin started having knee problems about mile 7 but I was running so slowly that he could take walk breaks and then catch back up.

I ran straight through until mile 11 then took a quick break -decieded that walking hurt worse than running and kept going. Remember when I said the first mile was downhill- well that means the last mile is uphill STRAIGHT uphill.  But we got through and picked up the pace as we saw the finish line. What a cool experience!! Jen and Adele even waited even though they finished right over and right under 2 hours (we finished right under 2 hrs 45 min.

I will definitely do one again but I have taken a week off from running and am excited to get back into it just waiting on this heat wave to pass :)

Shout out to my coach and friend Danielle- I would have never/could have never/ wouldn't have finished without her!  She is the one that got me following a training plan and met me at 6am even if she didn't sleep at all the night before to run. Thanks so much for your support, drive, and love over the last 6 months! Thanks for running by my side through the whole thing!

Moving

As we pack up the final boxes it hits me that I'm leaving the first place I called my home away from my childhood home. I was fortunate enough to go to college with my closest high school friends (or at least have them right down the road) so I never learned to say goodbye. Most of us stayed after college so again goodbyes were not in mass. In 3 weeks I have to say goodbye to all of my fiends at once....probably the scariest thing ice ever had to do. For those of you that picked up an left last year after vet school I can now understand what all of you went through. I am so fortunate to have Justin move with me and have my family so close. But this is still probably the scariest thing I've ever done. I have so many great friends I just hope that I am able to maintain all my friendships when I move. I don't know what if do without each and every one of you in my life.

The little empty townhouse- weird to see it like that. 

Packing up the house was a gradual process since we closed on the house in Hickory last year. We were able to take truck loads (or horse trailer loads) back every couple weekends. It helps to space it out but I am not going to lie I was DONE moving by the time we had the big load to go. Remember those awesome friends I was talking about - this is where they come in! We packed the UHAUL on Friday night after work and then got up the next morning to run a half marathon (more on that later). They were there with us every step of the way moving our heavy crap and tetris-ing the UHAUL so that everything would fit. Pokey sticks made the night go by so much faster and we couldn't have packed up without them!

Packed with room left for our mattress left to be packed the next day!

Justin was not thrilled with this selfie opportunity. 

Saturday after the race (and after Danielle helped us cram the last of our stuff in the van() Justin went on down the road and met Steve on the highway. I proceeded to return the Time Warner Cable box.  Anyone in Raleigh that uses them is now groaning.  They are AWFUL! So I then spent an hour and fifteen minutes of my time (which I am never getting back) waiting on my number to be called so that I could return my equipment - it took literally 3 minutes once I was up there! AURRRUUUGGGHHHHHHH. After that debacle I was on my way to pick up Somer.  Since we were so far behind when we got to Hickory the UHAUL was unloaded! WOW talk about efficient.  The boys worked their butts off - and I'm sure Steve carried 90% of all the weight because poor Justin was pretty gimpy from the race.  After that mom treated us to a wonderful lunch where Somer and I guiltily sat since we didn't feel like we had done much thus far - but it was delicious!  The rest of the night was spent unpacking and playing games.  Mom and Dad kicked our butt on Besserwizzer again- we thought we had their number after the last time they played but it must have been a fluke.

We are so thankful to Somer, Steve, Andrew, Danielle, and my parents for helping us move. We couldn't have done it without you guys!

Roxy didn't care that her bed had bags and boxes- she knew that was her bed and she was going to sleep in it! 

Megan and Ryan's wedding

What a perfect day and beautiful wedding!

I had the privileged of being Megan's maid of honor and being a special part of their big day!  Megan is my longest friend- she and I have known each other since I was in 4th grade. She was the big sister I never had and beat me up and made me watch scary movies just like a big sister should have :)

I was so excited when Ryan and Megan got engaged they are perfect for each other and I was so happy to be with them.

The festivities started Friday with the rehearsal and dinner. I had never seen the chapel before and it was STUNNING! Rehearsal went very smoothly they just had to run through the binding ceremony because the pastor had never performed one before. It was really cool and kept everyone engaged the next day.  Otherwise everything went great. We had some time to kill so we went back to the hotel after and moved dresses around and got changed for dinner.  Dinner was a Cafe Luna- my FAVORITE restaurant in Raleigh. YUM. It was a big wedding weekend because the hotel had 3 other weddings and Cafe Luna had 3 other rehearsal dinners that night! My parents came up for the wedding and Justin brought them to dinner. We sat with Megan and Ryan along with Kristin and her fiance Brian (the best man for the wedding). My parents sat with the other bridesmaids and got to know the bridal party.  The night was filled with laughter and friends just like it should be!

Afterwards I headed to the hotel with Megan. It was her last single night so I told her that I would spend the night with her for our last sleepover!  I was very tired so prob not much fun (Sorry Megan). It was a perfect night some TV some giggling and of course ice cream right before bed. I slept like a rock and Megan even got some pretty good sleep too!  The next morning we woke up and worked out - Megan has become quiet the work out junkie running every day and I am training for the half marathon...so it worked out perfect!

Then it was off to Junction Salon to get our hair done! They did a great job :)

After snacking at the hotel we went for our bridesmaid luncheon which had DELICIOUS food (just a preview for the rest of the night).

Then we got ready and headed to the church. We got to ride in a limo which is only the 2nd time I've ever been in one and got to the church and sat around and waited. That is better than being rushed but we had lots of time to kill.

The ceremony was beautiful and everything went off without a hitch!  Off to the captiol building we went for pictures of the bridal party and then onto the reception.  Everything that night went so well and we all had a blast.

Dad and I got to practice our slow dancing and he even danced to a couple fast songs with us.

It was an all around great time and I hope they have a great time on their honeymoon. We have Maddie and Zym while they are gone and are enjoying having them!