VEGAS day 1

After a very early morning we are finally in Vegas! We got up at 2:30 and packed up the remainder of our stuff and headed to our friends Somer and Steve's house. They were gracious enough to drive us to the airport and keep Roxy until Laurie could take her later in the weekend.  Roxy was very confused why we were getting up so soon and very easily snoozed on the way. When we got there we out her in kiwis crate thinking she would just keep sleeping....boy were we wrong...she had something to say about being left. She stars promptly beagle barking and we were like of jeez....we heard later she was still barking when Somer got back....sorry guys for such an early noisy house guest :(. We have heard from Laurie that she is feeling good this week and is especially frisky.  We are so lucky to have sucre a (usually) good dog! I hope when we get another That we are just as lucky.  

On to Vegas....when we arrived our friends Jess and Dawson Came to visit from LA and picked us up from the airport.  They brought our favorite doughnuts!!! 

It was such a treat to get to hang out with them.  It's is hard having such great friends across the country but it is times like this that are amazing.  We got back to the hotel freshened up and walked the strip. I wore my comfortable wedges and a mile later decided that may have been a terrible decision, *public service announcement* it doesn't matter how comfortable wedges are....wedges are still heels and your feet will tear up waking down the strip. 

We explored many hotels and the. Made our way to a Brazilian steakhouse.  I have never been because it has always been a luxury I didn't feel was necessary...but we had a discount and we decided to go for it. Man was that a great decision! There was a cold bar with noodle salads and then fresh veggies and mozzarella. Then they kept coming by with freshly grilled meats..the sirloin was TO.DIE.FOR. 

After dinner we made a quick it stop to the room and ended up "putting my feet up." Aka passing out! I was soo tired and so the show we meant to go to got cancelled.  Sorry guys! 

Snow weekend

This last week is what will be always known of the snowpocalypse! The snow was supposed to start at 9 and it didn't come till but when it came....boy did it snow! Everyone got let out of work at noon and were then on the roads...that plus 4 inches of snow = snowpocalypse 2014. Justin was stuck at work...he drove his car to southpoint and road the bus into UNC well the buses weren't running anymore. So he was stuck- he got food and hunkered down in his lab for the night. He worked through the night.  I was at work and decided to leave my car where it was and walked home. My friend Danielle lived further away and I told her to come stay with me. 

Walking home in the snow

We got home and I made lots of food in case the power went out and then had a Disney/chick flick movie marathon. We watched spirit, pitch perfect, toy story 3, and bachelorette.  I haven't watched that many movies in a loooong time! We finally went to bed and I woke up the next morning very anxious for Justin to get home. He finally caught a bus at 10am and was home before noon!! After some food he went to take a long nap. The rest of the day was spent working around the house and making it ready for sale.

All the girls cozy inside.

As a side note... Or amazing realtor and long time friend Laurie Marcey will be listing our house March 6th. I did the paperwork last week and she did a walk through with us.  We still have a good bit of work to do but we are close to having the house staged. The biggest bummer is our kittens have to move home :(. I will miss them terribly but we can't risk them running it the door when we sell the house. 

Back to the snow day.  So after a very nice snow day and an evening filled with board games with just the two of us Friday morning rolled around.

Well during the show I had multiple emergency calls from our university herds for ur safety we were able to manage them over the phone it all of these cases needed attention Friday.  We started at 10am and were till seeing emergencies at 7pm....like a real job!! Thank goodness we didn't have many scheduled appointments.

Then it was off to go home pack do laundry and go to VEGAS!

Productive Weekend

The past month Justin and I have been packing up the townhouse in order to get it ready to put it on the market.   I had an appointment with a client on Friday in Winston and went ahead and went straight home from there. Justin and I had to go pick up the horse trailer Thursday night and pack all of our things from the house. We were jam packed..I wish I would have thought to take pictures of the trailer!  We made a pit stop in Thomasville in order to pick up the bed that Justin's parents graciously have given to us!  We got into Hickory around 4:30 with still plenty of daylight to unload the trailer.

That night we settled in bed knowing that an we had to face an early morning. Leaving hickory at 7am we made our way to Just Priceless a florist in High point. She was so wonderful to meet with us early on a Saturday morning. After 2 hours we have an amazing plan and we are really excited! Then it was off to Maxie B's for the cake tasting. The flavored were amazing. We ended up trying 13 and we picked 7 to be cupcakes at our wedding. Instead of a cake to cut we decided to go with a jumbo cupcake that Justin and I will cut. Yay! 

Justin is REALLY excited. Clearly this is the sole reason to be involved in the planning!!!

That afternoon Justin (with a huge bag of leftover cake) went to visit his family and go out to dinner with his family for Papaw's birthday. Unfortunately dad had planned moms birthday dinner the same night so I went back to Hickory to go out to dinner with my parents. We thought it was a great compromise. We went to Yosef which use to be 242. I joked with my parents that many of my childhood memories included business dinner meeting in that resturant that went on and on.....and on!

Dinner was amazing. I had the Parma and fig jam pizza and mom and dad had paellea. Yum!

Justin joined us and we helped him unload the bed and other miscellaneous things out of my car from Thomasville. That night dad went to bed but then woke back up after midnight to give mom her flowers and a birthday kiss! So sweet! The next morning we celebrated properly and mom got all her presents. She then told us her best birthday present would be to move all of my boxed up stuff out of their house and into  ours...and you can't so no to the birthday girl!!! I think Justin was in for a surprise when he saw how much stuff I have. It took a while but we finally have all of my stuff at the new house.

Pictures to come soon :)

Update on resolutions

So I thought I would take the end of each month and reflect on how my resolutions are going!

1) I am currently 30 days without a soda!!!! I will say I still really crave a cold diet soda at certain restaurant and especially the movies. But I am hanging in strong! 

2) getting fit- I ran my fist complete 5k on the treadmill this week! It took me 33 minutes...not to shabby but still room for improvement.

3) I've been more conscious of processed foods haven't cut them completely out but I am more aware of what goes into my body. 

Overall I am very pleased by my progress:) 

Heading down the beautiful road of life!

MLK Day

I got back from PA on Sunday and was dreading having to get up early and go to work after a travel day.  I was then pleasantly surprised when I remembered that Monday was MLK day! YAYYY! Somer and Steve planned a hike in Lillington with their friend Kelly and his sister.  Justin and I were invited and were very excited to join. It was about an hour drive but was a BEAUTIFUL day!  We had a blast walking and talking and it made the 5 miles go by so fast! 

This was the "waterfall" we hiked to.

The crew

Must do a selfie :)

 After the hike we found a taco stand and had a delicious lunch/dinner.  We had to leave by 5 so that we could come back and shower so we could make it to the NCSU vs Maryland game. Justin got tickets because it was the last time we would every play us. They are leaving our conference this year.  We had nosebleed tickets because the game was so expensive- but I didn't care! I was excited to get to go to a game- can you believe that I haven't been to a single basketball game and I was a student for 8 years?!?  Right before half time a guy from the PNC area came and gave us student tickets for section 113....whoa! So cool!  

New view!

Fake smile Justin but ill take what I can get.

We had a blast at the game. We came out playing great and then kinda trickled off. But then at the second half we pulled it out and it turned out to be a great game- we won!  What a fun MLK day. Now off to face the new week! Thank goodness its a short week. We are going to Hickory this weekend to move some of our furniture and to celebrate Mom's birthday! Post to follow :)

Piggy Camp

Last week I took a mini externship and took a trip to PA.  A fourth year student got me in contact with this opportunity and I made my way up there. A veterinarian from NC Dr. Kristie Mazacchio specialize sin pot bellied pigs and makes a trip up to Ross Mill Farm frequently.

 Ross Mill Farm is a sanctuary for pot bellied pigs. They also are the starters of PPN- Pig Placement Network. They are a matchmaking service for pigs that need adoption and owners that want to adopt a pig across the country. It is a great place that does great things for pigs.  Over the 5 days I learned routine pot bellied pig work, and also what equipment I would need for working on them. It was so much fun!  Here are some pictures from my week!

This is Susan the sanctuary's owner with Louise the "teacup" pig. Yes he was marketed as a teacup when he was born. People- there is NO SUCH THING as a teacup pig. They all get to be 60-120 lbs as an adult. BUYER BEWARE!!!

This shows the layout of the barn. They have a space inside where they can nest and make their bed.  They also have a doggie door where they can go outside into a run.

Such a cutie!

A time for resolutions

Happy New Year everyone! I love the holidays and then the new year it is a time to reflect and be around people that are important to you. Looking back on 2013 we sure did have a big year. I finally graduated and am no longer in school!! Then after that we went to Europe for a celebratory trip and we got engaged! What a year!
Next year will be even bigger....two of my friends also got engaged in 2013 and we will all be getting married next year.  So we will have lots of parties and weddings.

I always find that if you state your resolutions it will help you stick to them. This year my goals are simple and few:

1) stop drinking sodas...all sodas - diet included

2) avoid processed foods

3) get fit for the wedding and my overall health

4) divorce my smart phone when I am in company of my friends- spend time with those presently around me.

I think these all have a large impact on my life but are simple enough they can be followed. Good luck everyone with your news years resolutions!!