Back to Atlanta

Mark had to leave for training right after we got back from D.C. I tagged along for the week and had a great time.

We met up with Bev and Dusty again this trip for Dinner at Taco Mac's.

One day I met up with Naty and Bev for lunch and some puppy looking. We visited a pet store and Naty took me out to a rescue shelter to take a look at pups. Such a fun day!

I also got to meet Bev and Dusty's dog Blakely! She is such a sweetie and we had fun playing together. Here's our Christmas picture. lol

That weekend we drove over to Mark's sister's house to visit our newest nephew, Alexander. He is such a sweetie!

Thanksgiving pt. 2

Towards the end of the week, we hung around Old Alexandria. It's such a cute little town.

We stopped by a cute little bakery/coffee shop for some hot chocolate. I loved all of their fall cookies.

We stopped by a little candy shop called Candie's Candy. They had every flavor of saltwater taffy you could ever want! Annnd free samples :)





I was so excited when we just happened upon a Paper Source! I've stalked their website for years. I had no idea Alexandria had a store. I loved every single thing inside and was dying to buy everything! I refrained..my indecisiveness and poorness kept me from walking away with more than a couple of things.

We had lunch at Gadsby's Tavern. It's been open since the late 1700's. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson are just a couple of the famous visitors.

We visited National Harbor in Alexandria for Bryan's birthday dinner. They had a massive Christmas tree!

After dinner Bryan, Ashlie, Mark and I took a water taxi back across the river. We waited an hour and a half to catch the last ride out at around 10pm. It was freezing outside and cost us $7 a person. It was worth it though! We were the only ones on board. It was really cool riding the river and seeing all the city lights.

Bryan's birthday cheesecake back at the hotel

On Thanksgiving day, we went to Arlington. I don't have many pictures there, but it was so moving. Very humbling to see so many graves and know that they all died giving their lives for our freedom. A good reminder of how much we have to be thankful for.

We had Thanksgiving dinner at Josh and Elizabeth's apartment. A huge spread of delicious, fattening food, then headed back home on Friday.

It was a great trip!

Thanksgiving in Washington, DC

We threw our usual Thanksgiving tradition out the window this year. My grandmother wanted to take us all to DC as a very very generous Christmas presenst. My little brother, Josh and his wife, Elizabeth have been stationed there with the Coast Guard for about 9 months now. We'd never been to DC, so Granny thought it was the perfect time to go.

My mom, grandmother, other brothers, Bryan & Justin, Mark and my brother's girlfriend Ashlie (yes that's 7 grown adults) piled into my grandmother's mini van and made the 15 hour drive to VA. Let's just say it was a rough trip! We did the whole thing in a day. Longest.day.ever.

Needless to say, we were ecstatic to finally be in Alexandria, VA.

I took a million photos, but it would seriously take a

lifetime to load them all on here..Here are just a few highlights.

Mark and I ready to go do some touring!


So was Justin :)



The gang ready to take the Metro for the first time.

Justin, channeling his bum side

Mom and Grams on the Metro

Tons of beautiful buildings right as we got off the Metro. The sky was the bluest blue!

Washington Monument

The reflecting pool was frozen solid!

Lincoln Memorial

Vietnam Memorial

Our uncle was killed over there. He was 22 and the oldest of 10 kids. He was at the end of his 3rd tour when he died. Justin and Bryan made a sketch of his name. It was kind of ironic that his name was so high up on the wall. My brothers who are 6'3" and 6'8" stood on their tippy toes to get it. Everyone on my Dad's side is very tall, so it was kind of funny that it really had to take an Allums boy to reach his name. :)

Korean Memorial

Pennsylvania Ave. I loved all the red, white and blue everywhere.

The White House!


Captiol Building

D.C. by far as the fattest squirrels I've ever seen in my life. They hung around all the little snack shops just hoping for people to give them food. They would practically climb into your lap. We saw one run off with an entire chicken finger that was bigger than he was. They were out of control! We found this little guy by the Capitol building. That's right..he found an unopened granola bar...bit that wrapper open and went to work.




We got a chance to meet up with Allen and Serena. Allen and Mark were roomies at Auburn. They got married 2 weeks after us and moved straight to Alexandria, VA. We went out for a delicious dinner then back to their place for Rock Band!



Out at ChiCha a hookah lounge in DC. I had never hookahed before. I didn't really care for it, but I loved the place..very loungy and look how pretty our hookah pipes were!

Elizabeth, Josh and Bryan..and yes, that's a nakie lady behind them.....

the front side version of her was right next to us....Awkwarddd

That sums up the DC part. A few pictures from our day in Alexandria next!

Silly Squirrel

Lookie what we found out of our bedroom window this morning.

I should've gotten video. This little guy was berry crazy! I think he cleaned off the whole tree :) And note..this picture was taken through our window, through the blinds. I didn't want to scare him off. I've got mad squirrel picture taking skills!

Big news....

I haven't officially announced it here, but most of you know by now. My company laid off about 40 people due to budget cuts about 2 weeks ago and I was one of them. (google Time Warner layoffs...lots of news on that) Today was my last day. I've really run the gamet of emotions since this happened. Crushed, angry, frustrated, and now I think I'm at a good place with it all. Afterall, I only graduated 2 years ago....I'm still a baby and have plenty of time to find my way.

I'm very sad to be leaving my coworkers though. I don't know how I'll replace such a good group. My department took me out for Mexican food and margaritas last week just to have some fun and laughs before I left. Kate joined us too! She left the company a couple of months ago. And now we'll be able to play all day! :)

from left: Kate, me, Dawn, Courtney and my boss, Sheryl

The production girls also gave me a sweet goodbye gift yesterday too. A former employee of the company started up the cutest stationary company Night Owl Papergoods, with a friend of his. They do lots of letterpress, but they've also started a line of wooden cards, notebooks, notepads and the like. I just love love their stuff. Their site is adorable. They really stick to the Owl them, they're based in Birmingham, OWLabama :D! Anyhow, they got me a notebook and notepad to jot down all my craft ideas that will make me millions :) I loove thoughtful gifts like that. Although, I doubt I'll ever be able to bring myself to write in them. They're just to darn cute to use!

Notebook

Notepad

I'm already on the job hunt. I had an interview yesterday and actually just got an email tonight to set up another one! I'm going to take this time to reevaluate what it is I want to do with my life. Take some time to give my etsy shop more attention and just get back to me.

Thank you all for your kind words, thoughts and prayers during this time. I think we're going to be just fine!

Booo Halloween!

Mark and I was so excited to pass out candy tonight. We stock piled the candy, put together a Halloween playlist and worked frantically to decorate the house in the last hour before dark with whatever we could find around the house.

Total trick or treaters...3. My coworker who lives in the neighborhood was nice enough to bring his little ones by. We sat on our front porch like little kids, eyes lighting up every time someone turned on our street. But none of them stopped.

We even decided to walk over to our neighbors' houses to share candy and chat...they didn't answer the door. TV and lights were on. :(

I don't know what's going on with our street...but things have got to change. I've gotta figure out a way to make our street a little more neighborly! Any ideas on that?

As far as the trick or treaters, we had major competition with a Trunk or Treat at a local church less than a mile away. I'm sure that's where most went. But still... way to crush our dreams!

Here's a little video I took to try and capture our cool orangey glow house Mark whipped up. You can't get the full effect, but trust me, it was awesome. I'm very proud of his quick thinking and creativity!

On a cuter note...here's the baby niece and nephew all dressed up. (Morgan, lady bug; Caleb, batman) Mark's sister was sweet enough to send this over. I'm glad she did...we need a little cheering up!

We've decided to just throw our own party next year :)

Seriously, as I was finishing this, we JUST heard the door bell. hooray! trick or treater count is up to 5. That made my night! haha

Better luck next year...Happy Halloween yall!

Day 275: 5 years

This past Saturday, Mark and I hit our 5 year dating anniversary. He says dating anniversaries don't count anymore now that we're married, but I say half a decade is something to be proud of! I remember when we so badly wanted to make it to a year so people would take us 'seriously'. Now look at us!

2003

We'd been 'dating' for a couple of months. We had our ESA Christmas dinner that night. I wouldn't let him come b/c I wasn't ready for him to meet my friends (I had a bit of a complex). But we met up afterwards! :) Mark told me he loved me for the very first time in that same room . After a cleaning spree and hours alone in deep thought, I said it back. Blink 182's 'Miss You' played in the background. Mark lived in a dorm at Auburn where I wasn't allowed to visit our first year together, so he drove 3 hours from Tuscaloosa every single weekend to see me.

2004

On the Black Warrior river in Tuscaloosa....

2005
By now Mark was in an apartment, so we took turns driving back and forth, which led us to be pretty broke. We didn't really have money for anything except gas to see one another. I think we were actually going out to dinner when we took this, which explains why we look so happy :)

2006

On a trip back to Tuscaloosa in the Fall of 2006. I had graduated and moved to Birmingham. We were still driving back and forth. We drove down this weekend to tailgate with his parents. I had to have a picture on the steps of my old college building.

2007

From the best day ever.....the day we FINALLY became husband and wife!

2008

Here we are on our 5 year anniversary at Josh and Elizabeth's reception.

Markus, you're still my favorite boy.

5 down, forever to go!

Day 250: Bad Apple

Remember how we were so excited to find that we had a real life apple tree in our backyard? They were so cute and so perfect.....

Well..as time has gone by, the apples turned from green to a red/green mix and are covered in black spots! The majority of them have been over taken with buggies. We went out to pick them last weekend and this is all we salvaged.

I'm pretty bummed out. We've really gotta do our research for next year and figure out how

to take care of them! Now that we know what they look like 'all grown up' does anyone know what variety they are by chance?