Bachelor/Bachelorette Weekend!!

The third weekend in November (20-22) was reserved for Greg and Michelle's bachelor/bachelorette weekend. The boys spent the day fishing off a boat, eating lunch at Dockside (pulling up on the dock and everything!), and dinner at B-Dubs. Sounds like they had a great time!

Our afternoon started off with a monogram shower at my sister's in-laws' condo. The setting could not have been any more perfect for the night. Most of the bridesmaids, Mom, and a few of Mom's best friends all gathered around as Michelle opened her gifts. We thought we had surprised her with the monogram part, but she figured it out when everyone asked her her favorite color and what her initials were going to be! She got so much awesome stuff!

After the shower, we all loaded up and had a WONDERFUL dinner at Bluewater, right on the Intracoastal Waterway. It was absolutely delicious and we had a great time.

Then we all headed back to the condo and immediately got our pajamas on for a good ol' fashioned slumber party! We watched the Ugly Truth, played the 'Ask Greg' game (where he got a few things wrong!), told our favorite Greg stories, and played 'Never Have I Ever'. After all of that fun it was time to hit the hay!

The next morning I woke up to the sun rising right over the ocean and it was absolutely breath taking. I would have loved to stay awake and actually enjoy the whole thing, but I was exhausted! We all began to mobilize and shower and we were soon out the door for an AMAZING breakfast at Michelle's best friend, Cameron's, grandmother's house. From there everyone said their goodbyes until next time!

We had a great time and hopefully it was everything Michelle wanted it to be!

Let the wedding season begin!

So November 14, 2009 officially began Greg + Michelle's Wedding Season. Some of Mom's good friends threw them a dessert shower on that Saturday night. Jason had football and basketball going on, so I made the solo trip to Wilmington for the big event. I had just discovered Lady Antebellum, so I did not mind driving by myself and belting every word!

Leslie, Will, and Banana Pants came down and of course Anna was the belle of the ball! She was so cute and would get SO excited when Greg and Michelle would open something new. She also helped them pick out which present to open next, along with Kamryn, the little girl I've kept every summer since she could walk.

Ooooohhh!

Ahhhhh!!

It was so good to see everyone that was there. There were also some DELICIOUS desserts to enjoy while chatting it up with everyone!

4th Annual Collins Girls' Weekend

The first weekend of November, Leslie, Anna, Mom, and I loaded up the van and headed to Boone for our 4th Annual Collins Girls' Weekend. Mom's good friend is gracious enough to let us use their family condo for the weekend and what an amazing place it is. The view is simply breathtaking.

The trip started Friday night when Mom made it up to Winston. We quickly loaded all of our stuff and took off. You put a movie in and Anna gets those headphones on, and everyone is good to go. Between watching Anna and gabbing away, we were up there in no time!

We got to Boone and made our Harry Peter run. We stopped by the RedBox to get a movie, and against some Yankees suggestion, we went with Nights in Rodanthe. There is no way Richard Gere + Diane Lane + Nicholas Sparks can be a bad combo. Damn if they didn't find a way to make the badness happen! We couldn't complain...we each had a Blue Moon and a carton of ice cream to ease our troubles!

The next morning we got up and headed to the porch to soak up the mountain view and to sip on some coffee. Anna wasn't quite awake when we got out there, but it wasn't long before she was sampling (quality control testing) everyone's coffee. It was quickly decided that Anna needed her own cup to feel like one of the girls.

Wakey, wakey!

Anna and her own coffee cup!

Happy as a clam! And the gang's all here! Bobo, Elmo, and Llama llama. We're ready to go!

After a few hours on the porch we suited up and headed to The Mountain House for an unbelievable breakfast. It truly was a smorgasbord and the ridiculous 2 year old we had with us said that right with us. She was even able to repeat it for her Datty!

The rest of the day was consumed with shopping at the Tanger Outlets and then stopping to get some Mellow Mushroom pizza to take back with us. We are so adventurous that we were almost ready for bed at about 7 when Anna went down for bed since she missed her nap. We did manage to watch Must Love Dogs and stay up for a bit, but it wasn't too long after that we were all cuddled up in bed.

We had such a great weekend! It's always so good to get away from the grind and just be able to sit back and relax. Next year we'll have another Collins girl to add and I'm sure in the future there will be plenty more!

You don't like it...get out!

This week we are having one of the Tuskegee Airmen at school to talk to some of our students. He was also a POW and was held at a Nazi camp. His name is Alexander Jefferson.

In his biography he has a quote about America that I love. It pretty much sums up how I feel about most things in life.

'America is the best country in the world. You don't like it? Leave it. The only obligation? Make it better. It ain't perfect, but it's home.'

There are a lot of things in this world that you are not going to like. People you aren't going to like. Obligations that you are not going to love. Places that you want to improve. But seriously - if you don't like it, leave. If you don't enjoy your job, move on. If you are going to stick around - do what you can to make the person/place/situation better. Things aren't going to be perfect, but it is your life so you might as well make the best of it.

Well said Alexander, well said.

Our Last Little Bit of Freedom

As I looked at my calendar the other day to see what the rest of the year looked like, I realized that we had two weekends of the entire year that were open. I'm not complaining at all, because what is coming up is great stuff. We have done a great job at taking advantage of our last few free weekends, though.


Last weekend was great. Mom was up here with Oren so that he and Anna could play and my uncle, Oie, and his wife, Becky, could enjoy a nice relaxing anniversary weekend. Friday my first stop after school was to have a few drinks with some great friends of mine. We all work together at Reagan, and Lord knows after a week of school we are ready for a few Corona Lights to ease our pain! After that I headed to Leslie and Will's to see the two munchkins and Mom. They had a great time in the bathtub and were soon drifting off to sleep in their beds. Then Mom and Leslie and I stayed up and talking for a few hours before I headed home about 11:30 since Ja would be getting home from his football game.


Saturday morning I woke up about 8:45 and fed the dogs and ate a little breakfast. It wasn't long before I was knocked out on the couch. Thursday night I stayed with Anna so Leslie and Will could go to a very disappointing Carolina game and I didn't get in bed until about 3 after a few hours of napping on the couch with Miller. I definitely needed to catch up. With the dogs curled up around me I didn't open my my eyes until noon. When I woke up I realized I smelled some good smells and I went looking for Ja. Wouldn't you know that that sweet man had cleaned both of our bathrooms, made the bed (with pillows and everything), and was getting ready to dust and vaccuum. What a great man I chose to spend the rest of my life with!! There is definitely something to be said for choreplay!


The rest of our Saturday was spent at a Fall Festival at City Beverage with our good friends, John and Jamie. They had beer tastings, free brats (bratwursts, not little annoying children), huge pumpkins, and a great consignment shop across the street. We also ran into John and Jamie's friends, Rob and Kelly, and we all headed over to Fourth Street Filling Station for some wine and appertizers.

After a few glasses, Ja and I headed to Leslie and Will's to hang out with Anna and Oren some more and so that the boys could have their 'Man's Night Out'. Since Ja had cleaned my bathrooms for me, I was more than willing to take Ja and Will and drop them off and go back and pick them up. I'm telling you...there is no limit to how far cleaning can get you! After dropping them off I headed back to Leslie and Will's to hang out with Leslie and Mom until the boys were finished. I got the call around 11:45 and was on my way. What a funny car ride that was! The boys had definitely enjoyed themselves. I heard all about how they talked about Jesus and religion, and how Leslie is my mom and how I am a mix of Mom, Deddy, Leslie, Jeff, Greg, and SATAN!! I almost peed my pants I was laughing so hard.

Sunday morning we had all intentions of making it to Sunday School and church, but no suck luck. I went over to see my Uncle Oie and his wife, Becky, while Ja stayed home and laid grass seed and straw. Not long after I got home I left to meet my friend Sherry for our famous 3 hour dinners. We definitely did not disappoint this past Sunday!

This week is a short week for us with school Monday through Wednesday and then workdays Thursday and Friday. I love workdays! We are thinking about heading up to the Blue Ridge Parkway just for the day to experience these awesome mountains we are so close to. Better do something fun since our time is running out! Then we are in full Greg + Michelle's wedding mode with lots of showers and parties!

All is well with the world!

I'm going to use the saying - 'No news is good news!'

It has been a crazy few months since moving into our wonderful new house!! School has started for Jason and me and football started in June, so we are both incredibly busy and try to spend the little bit of free time we have together. Usually dinner is starting about 8 and we are in bed around 10, so we don't get too much time together, so I don't want to be blogging during that time!!! Plus nothing really crazy has happened.

Our life is really good. We have a great marriage and we couldn't be any happier. We own a great house in a great location in Winston. We have two four-legged children who are finally finding a place to relax and call their own (instead of leaving us presents in the living room!). We have a fenced in backyard that has changed our lives. We can now let them out in the morning and spend time getting ready and then let those suckers back in and everyone is happy. We live 20 minutes away from Leslie, Will, + Banana Pants and get to see them fairly often. I am back at Reagan and love every minute. I am glad to be back with all of my teacher friends here and back to a supportive staff and administration. Jason is still trying to get settled in and is trying to find his place at his new high school. We are 20 minutes from one of Jason's best friends from college, John, we are 40 minutes from two of my best friends from college, Brian + Michelle, and we are an hour from another best friend from college, Katie.

We have had a game night that was a blast, Anna's birthday weekend with the whole family together (which VERY rarely happens), and all sorts of fun stuff. Next weekend Leslie, Anna, and I have a surprise birthday party to go to. The next weekend I'm heading to Charlotte with my friend Michelle to see college friends for our college roommate, Kelly's, birthday. The next weekend Ja and I are heading east to see both of our familie since Jason has a weekend off of football.

So to sum up our lives right now. Life. Is. Good.

Wow

So I totally had not realized that it had been an entire month since I posted anything. I'm not even sure that people read this and I think everyone who reads this is actually a family member that knows it all anyway. So I'll do it for 'saving memories' sake. One day I'll be glad I did this.

Well, we are officially three weeks from the first work day (AKA the end of summer!). A lot of goodness has happened in the past month.

We are officially residents of Winston Salem! There was a lot of stress (LOT OF STRESS) surrounding the closing and the couple of days prior to it, but it was all taken care of and we are officially home owners. Erin, Will's sister, was our real estate agent and man is she good at her job. If anyone reading this is not family and wants to look at places in Winston, let me know and I'll give you her name. She is great at what she does.

We closed on our house on July 9th and began the move in process that night. Jason's parents came up to help us and so did my dad. Deddy even left Grands' Camp with Mom and Banana Pants to come and help us. Man if that isn't love, I don't know what is! Somehow the rest of the family managed to be busy or working or something and got out of this one. Since this was my 13th move, I'm pretty sure everyone earned their days off! We unloaded the truck with Jacksonville stuff on Thursday night and made beds and set up the shower so that everyone could have somewhere to sleep and bathe, two pretty important essentials. The next day while I was in class (for Integrated Math training for next year) everyone went and unloaded my storage unit that I've had for the past year and a half. All of that stuff made it into the garage with the rest of our stuff. After Deddy knew everything was in the house, he hopped in the car and heading back to Wilmington for the remainder of Grands' Camp. Jason's parents stayed until Sunday to help us unpack and get settled. They went to the NC Zoo on Saturday to give us room to get stuff where we wanted it.

The next week consisted of me having class from 8-3 and then coming home and unpacking. Every dish was washed and situated. Every fork and spoon was washed and situated. Every piece of clothing was hung up and arranged and situated. Our bedroom suite was a big issue that week. We had had our eye on a suite at Sam's. I know, Sam's for nice furniture? Well, they have it. They now carry Broyhill and all types of name brands. This was nice, nice furniture for not too much. Well we watched it and soon it fell $200 from the original price. We decided we were going to go ahead and get it and what do you know - someone had driven a forklift through the entire boxed suite and tried to hide it. So, the only one left was the display model. Sure it had some minor bumps and bruises, but we were promised we could have it at 10-20% off. We were totally ok with that. When Ja went it to pick it up on Monday, they told him that was no longer possible. Well after he got off the phone with the district manager, we had the suite at the full 20% off. I love that man. The manager of the store never once stopped and talked to Jason. He was in a 'meeting' all day and by meeting he means walking around the store and trying not to look obvious. What a puss. So we got our furniture home and we had a matress ordered and it was delivered Thursday afternoon. Finally, we were able to set up our bed and feel like we were home since we had been sleeping in the guest beds all week. That night two of my best friends and college roommates, Katie and Kelly, and Kelly's boo Drew came into town for Michelle and Brian's wedding!! We knew we wanted the house to be completely situated by then. Call me crazy, but we (by we I mean mostly I and an amazing husband that just went along with it!) were both anal retentive and OCD enough that we were able to get it done! An entire house settled and situated and arranged and cleaned in one week. I have an amazing husband who knew how neurotic I was about it and he did everything in his power to make that happen! Success!

We had a great night of drinking some beer and writing the poem that we read as a toast at their wedding. We spend most of the time reminiscing and laughing, but at 3am, the poem was finished and rehearsed!

The wedding weekend was absolutely amazing. We had an awesome rehearsal dinner Friday night at The Proximity in Greensboro. The food was amazing, the toasts were awesome, and the dancing was out of control. Anytime you have a clog-off between Kelly Nassis and a 60 year old man through both Cotton-Eyed Joe and Rocky Top, you've thrown a successful party! We rocked out until we got kicked out that night at midnight and Kelly and Drew and Jason and I headed back to Michelle and Brian's house with Michelle, her sister, Ashley, and a couple of the other bridesmaids to stay for the night. That morning we got up and the boys headed back to our house in Winston and Kelly and I headed to the church with the rest of the bridesmaids to get our hair did. We had pictures taken around 3 and then it was time to hang out. Right before the ceremony we were back in the choir room belting Lisa Loeb and I'm pretty sure a) we sounded really good and b) everyone could hear us in the sanctuary. Then it was wedding time.

The ceremony was beautiful. For two people that have been meant for each other for as long of a time as they have, it was so awesome that it was finally their turn. The flowers were beautiful, the love was flowing. Then it was reception time. Let's just say a great buffet, an open bar, a band that could play any and everything you ever dreamed of, lots of dancing, and the best cupcakes you have ever had all mixed together to create one freaking fantastic night. It was great just to be able to spend time with everyone. Jason and I had a great time dancing the night away. Ech was there and was unusually talkative and hilarious. Patrick was there, which is always a good time and we all relish the time we get to spend with him since we don't get to see him too much! Lyndsay was there, which was really fun and hilarious. Glad she made it back to the hotel safely! Eventually they had to kick us out of there and then we all headed to the bar at the hotel. 'Ain't no party like a Marriot party, cause a Marriot party don't stop!' Sunday morning we all got up and went to a brunch provided by Brian's family which was a great way to recap the night and say our goodbyes. Then it was back to Winston so I could pack up and head to Wilmington.

Congratulations Brian + Michelle!

Last week I was in Wilmington Monday through Thursday keeping Kamryn. We went to the pool and bopped around Wilmington and hung out with Riley and Harley. She is getting so big and she is so smart. This will be the last summer with her since we are now in Winston, but I'm enjoying it while I can!

Thursday night I loaded up our boys and heading to Winston. When I got there I pulled into the garage and open the doors and let the boys run wild. They ran to ever single inch of that new house and sniffed and sniffed. You could tell the recognized some of it and smelled all over that!

That night was awesome because it was the first night that my whole little family was together in our new home. Everything was clean and settled and unpacked and our boys were home. It was a great, great feeling.

Friday morning Ja had a football meeting and a meeting with his new principal, so I got up and ran a few errands and then headed over to Leslie's to hang out with her and Banana Pants. With this new little one kicking her ass with the nausea, thought I'd go hang out and entertain Anna for a while. If she is not the most ridiculous little thing. I am more amazed every day by what she can do. Then I went back to the house and cleaned my car and then I made dinner and Ja and I enjoyed a night at home with our boys. A few cocktails to drink and a little Wii competition. What a great night.

Saturday we got up and did some yard work and cleaned the house. We were getting ready for our first official cookout. Mom and Deddy were in the mountains and they drove down to see the new place since they had only seen it empty. Leslie and Will brought Anna over and the whole family had dinner at our place. Ja did a great job with the bugers and dogs. We had all the trimmings and then some great Collins' women desserts! A little peach cobbler and strawberry cake. It was delicious. They hung out for a while and then it was time for Anna to go to bed and Mom and Deddy to head back up the mountain. Sunday Ja and I explored our new town together and then went and saw The Ugly Truth for a matinee. It was a GREAT movie and I highly recommend it! Freaking hilarious and oh so true. We laughed out loud a lot but most of it was recognition because what they were talking about we are guilty of. Men and women and their differences will always be funny. Then it was time to get back and pack up and for me to head to Wilmington again.

I've got a couple more days with Kamryn this week and then it's back to Winston. Then Greg and Michelle are coming up and Saturday we are heading to Charlotte to see a Rascal Flatts concert!! I can't wait. Then I'll have an entire week in Winston with Ja because the Queens are going to the mountains for a family vacation. Then one more week of nannying and then it's work days galore. Man, this summer has flown.

All in all it's been a great summer, so far. We bought a house, we got settled, we enjoyed a great wedding with great friends, and now we get to relax until school comes around again. I've got to admit, for the first time in a while I'm excited about school starting back. Being back at Reagan gives me a lot to look forward to and I am hoping and praying that Ja finds happiness and his place at North! I'll keep you posted!!