Wrightsville with the Heges!

Will’s parents have an AWESOME condo down at Wrightsville Beach.  Will’s sister, Erin, put together a little weekend getaway for a few couples for her birthday.  Leslie + Will, Erin + Aaron, me, and Block all stayed at the condo.  Jason had football and a party he had to go to in Winston and Block’s wife, Talley, was out of town with her mom.  We had a great weekend of lounging at the beach and the pool, and a TON of hysterical laughter.  The girls had some great conversations : ) and the boys did all their serious man bulljiving.  It was a short trip, but we made the best of it.  We ate at Bluewater and Dockside.  Dockside had the most awful service known to man – it was beyond ridiculous.  Even Aaron who have been in the service industry for 8 1/2 years was knocking them for how bad it was!!  Bluewater had one of the most amazing meals I have ever had – Calypso Shrimp.  If you ever have the opportunity, jump on it!  Even though we spent a lot of time enjoying ourselves, I only got one picture.  It is a pretty good one though!

The true couple out of all of us -

Thanks Hege’s for letting us stay at your awesome place and thanks Erin for putting it together!!

UNCW Girls Beach Week 2010

Once Ja and his fam dropped me off in Wilmington, I was ready to sit back and relax for the next week.  Riley had been hanging out with Deddy the week I was in Florida, so I was excited to get back to him and to be able to spend some time with the fam.  Mom and I were able to bop around on Monday and go shopping a bit and get stuff ready for the girls to arrive Monday night.

Since my UNCW girls and I had been together in March, we decided that it would be awesome if we could get together for more than a long weekend.  Since most of us are teachers, we started to plan a week in the summer that we could all come down to Wilmington and relive our college days.  Kelly, Katie, Michelle, Jenna, and Jenna's boyfriend, Scott, made it down!!!  No one lives in Gramps' house now, it was the perfect free location!  (Background on Gramps’ house - When my grandpa moved down to Wilmington with us my parents built a garage apartment behind their house.  It is the perfect place for someone to live.  It has a small kitchen and a bathroom and it just a big open room.  Perfect for about 6 air mattresses to be set up wall to wall for us to crash on!!

That week was AWESOME!!  We got up in the morning (progressively later as the week went on) and headed to the beach.  We knew we wanted to hit up all of our old eating spots, so we had to be diligent with our meals!  We needed to go to the Bagel Basket, Flaming Amy's, Trolly Stop, J. Michael's, Hieronymus, and I'm sure I'm leaving places out.  We had a lot of ground to cover and a limited number of meals.  So after beaching it all day every day, we ate at our places, and then hit up our favorite night spots!  Downtown Wilmington was kind of dead earlier in the week, but we got to see a GREAT band after much persuading (Bibbis Ellison) and we also got some good time at our favorite, Level 5. 

During that week I also got to see my best friend since the 5th grade, Maggie, and when Ja got down later in the week we were able to get some drinks with my good friends Carrie and Kim, and Carrie's husband, Matt. 

To me that was the perfect week.  Got to spend time with my fam, my very best friends, my husband, and the beach!!!  I am definitely a beach bum from way back.  I would like to die sitting in a beach chair at Wrightsville!

Some pictures from the week:

Michelle, Katie, Scott, Jenna, Kelly, and Maggie at Firebelly trying to decide if we are young enough to still be able to pull off a Baltimore Zoo.  The glass with the straws contains 11 different liquors and some Sprite, I think, and the goal is to drink that entire glass as someone pours the beer on top.  This used to be our go to drink because it was a cheap way to start the night off so you didn’t have to buy too many beers!

And we have success!  We are not too old!!  YAY!!!

Lyndsay and Kelly at The Whiskey.  Lyndsay is a good friend of ours from UNCW who invited us out to hear one of the best bands I’ve heard in a long time.  I linked to Bibis’ facebook page, but that is nothing like hearing her in real life.  That was a great night.  Thanks, Lynds!

Katie, Michelle, and Kelly.  Kelly was my roommate my freshman year of college and Katie and Michelle lived two doors down from us.  The four of us lived together the whole four years of college – in one arrangement or another!

Josh, Michelle, and Jenna.  Josh is another really good friend of ours from UNCW who still happens to be in Wilmington.  He will be packing up soon and heading to Duke to start PA school.  We were so glad we got to spend at least a little while with him!

Michelle, Katie, Jenna, Me, and Kelly.  A little later in the week we decided to have a nice dinner.  Since most of us were teachers, this was the night that we got paid!!  One of our favorite places to go when we wanted to celebrate something (and we never had a hard time finding something to celebrate!) was Hieronymus.  The have the BEST shecrab soup and cheddar bay biscuits.  Red Lobster ain’t got NOTHING on Hieronymus.  Since we were going kind of fancy, we all decided to rock our maxi dresses (or maxipad dresses as my husband calls them!).  All of the girls look BEAUTIFUL!

After our lovely evening at Hieronymus we headed downtown to our very fav – Level 5!  It is a rooftop bar right on the river in downtown Wilmington and was always our hot spot when we were back in college.  Lucky for us there was NO ONE there that night and it was Throw Back Night.  Usually having no one at a bar is boring, but when you have all of us, all we need is some awesome music, a dance floor, and an empty beer bottle.  We play Spin The Bottle – Bust A Move edition.  If the bottle stops on you, you HAVE to break it down.  The few people that were in the bar with us were great sports and played along.  And no – it is not embarrassing at all.  You look like a loser if you don’t play.

Jason got down to Wilmington Thursday night and he came out with us.  Since there wasn’t much going on but us, he was our official Protector of the Pocketbooks.  He graciously held the bar down while we were out jiving it up!

If that doesn’t look like a badass dance party, I don’t know what does.

This is 1036 Page Avenue.  This is where the girls (and I) lived our junior and senior years.  I technically lived at home in Gramps’ house those two years, but I did have my name on the bathroom door.  I was over there 87% of the time, so it counts!

FLORIDA!!

Not long after school got out, Ja + I took a trip to Florida with his parents.  His grandma and her husband live about an hour from Orlando and his aunt lives a few hours away.  We made it down to his grandma’s on a Tuesday afternoon and stayed with them until Thursday.  We had a great time of playing marbles and shopping at Beall's.  We still aren't totally sure how to pronounce that, but it is like a TJ Maxx or Kohl's and we had a definite shopping trip planned there!  We also ended up with a really nice leather recliner that will one day be in our nursery.  Thanks, Jim + Ellen!

On Thursday morning we packed up and headed to Orlando.  The hotel wasn't ready for us when we got there so we headed to Downtown Disney for a while so we could meet up with Ja's Aunt Patty.  After a little while we got a call that our room was ready, so we checked into our hotel and then we went to Universal Studios to eat at Margaritaville.  Ja + I ate there on our honeymoon in Las Vegas and we could still taste the Volcano Nachos! 

Friday and Saturday were spent at Disney.  I had not been back since the trip we took to get engaged, so we still had 2 days left on those passes.  We did as much as we could in those two days.  We got to the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and Hollywood Studios (which I will forever call MGM).  We had a really good time even though it was hotter than a ballsack in a jockstrap on a hot summer day.  Ja + I both decided we would not take our children to Disney until they were at least 6 or 7 years old and we would definitely never go during June again.  Who would have thought that Florida would be miserable in June?!

Sunday we packed up our chair and headed up.  Ja headed back to Winston and I was in Wilmington for my next adventure!

Email got hacked!

If you got an email from me with a website listed, DO NOT OPEN THE WEBSITE.  My gmail account got hacked, apparently from some asshole in Canada, and they sent out emails using my address.  Sorry for the inconvenience!!!

To Infinity, and Beyond!

Since today was Father’s Day and Ja busted his butt this morning cleaning up the house with me, I decided to treat him to whatever he wanted to do.  He has been pumped about Toy Story 3 coming out, so we hit up the 1:30 movie – we never go after 6 anymore!  Gotta save a few bucks where you can!

The movie was awesome!!  I don’t know about you, but when I was little, I always thought that my toys and all animals had souls and feelings.  So I would always make sure that all of my toys could breath and had adequate space and face time with me.  So I totally get into all of the toys having feelings and wanting to be loved.  Well let me just tell you, I was not prepared for the water works that this movie caused.  Jason laughed at me so hard, but I got really into the story and I started crying really hard.  It was just tearing up at first, but then it turned into ugly cry with me trying my hardest not to make any noise!  I am ridiculous.

So if you have liked the other Toy Story movies, this is a great one for kids and adults.

Happy Father’s Day!

I just wanted to give a quick shout out for Father’s Day.

My first shout out goes to my dad. 

There are no words that could adequately say thank you to him.  He has given me and my family so much.  He has worked hard every single day of his life to make sure that we were provided for.  He was supportive.  He was tough.  When he was doing the disciplining, you knew you were in deep shit!  He was tough, but he was right there with mom giving us boundaries.  Not boundaries to control us, but boundaries to keep us safe and help us grow up like we needed to.  He also gave me my squinty eyes.  When we laugh we can’t see a whole lot of what is going on because our eyes are almost closed.  I love when he laughs.  I love when he gets teary eyed.  He spent so much time being the strong man and the supporter of the family, I think his tears have been built up for years and he has a lot to be happy and proud about these days and he just can’t hold them back anymore!!  He has helped four children become adults and be successful, independent beings.  He loves golf.  He loves NC State.  He loves his family.  And we love him right back!  Thanks for all you do and for being you, Deddy!

I love this picture!  Deddy with Banana Pants a few years ago. 

My second shout out goes to Ja.  We may not have two-legged children yet, but we do have two precious four-legged ones!

Harley +Riley

Ja chillin with Riles + Harley

 

Thanks for all you do for the boys and for me!  Can’t wait until we are lucky enough to have some two-legged beasts running around!  Love you!

Sum-Sum-Summertime!!

There are times in the teaching profession when you sit down and you say, ‘Why in the hell am I doing this to myself?  I don’t get paid enough to deal with disrespect and kids that just don’t care.’  Then there are times like today when you wake up at 10 o’clock because it is the summer time and you can do whatever it is that you damn well please.  Then all the disrespect and tiny pay check make everything worth it!!!

It is insane for me to think about the fact that I just finished my 4th year of teaching.  Let’s take a look back!  I think I am incapable of making these things short, so that’s your warning!

I graduated from college in May of 2006.  I was a North Carolina Teaching Fellow and finished my four years of college at UNCW.

This is a picture of my graduating Teaching Fellows class from UNCW.  We were all about to finish college and embark on our teaching careers or a $26,000 debt that we had to repay!!  The NC Teaching Fellow program gives recipients $6,500 a year for college with the agreement that you will teach for four years in North Carolina or you will repay the $26,000.  At this point in my life, it felt like I would have that debt forever!!!

After graduation, my parents threw a graduation party for me and my best friends.  We had such a great day and really did a good job of celebrating our accomplishments!!

These are some of my very best friends in this world.  Patrick, who is now in LA busting into the film industry, Kelly, who is now an elementary teacher in her hometown of Waynesville, NC, me, Michelle, who is now an elementary teacher in Greensboro, and Katie, who works for the Charlotte/Mecklenburg Council on Aging.  Kelly was my roommate my freshman year of college and Katie and Michelle were two doors down.  The four of us lived together throughout our college years and we had LOTS of great times together!!

After graduation, Kelly, Katie, Michelle, Michelle’s sister Ashley, and our good friend Jenna went on a cruise from Miami to Cozumel, Mexico and Key West.

Me, Ashley, Katie, Michelle, and Kelly.

Jenna and Kelly

Before we left for our cruise I had gone to Winston Salem and Leslie had spent an entire day driving me all around the city so that I could see the different high schools to get an idea of where I may want to teach.  I had decided that since I had grown up in Wilmington and gone to college in Wilmington, it was time to move on and since Les + Will were in Winston, that sounded like a good pick to me!  So I put in my resumes and had already interviewed with Mount Tabor High School.  I felt great about the interview and the principal said she would let me know.  Well wouldn’t you know that when we came back from our cruise I had two messages.  One was to let me know that I had been offered the job and another to tell me that it had taken me too long to respond and that position had been filled.  Well damn.  So I interviewed at Reagan High School and within a few days I was offered that job.  Reagan had only been open for one year it was beautiful and I loved everyone I met.  It was the perfect fit.

So after that summer of keeping Kamryn, our dear friend’s little girl, and with the help of the fam, we loaded up a U-haul and moved into my A-frame.  I LOVED that place!  I could walk Riley through the Wake Forest campus, I was a few minutes from work. 

It was the perfect place for Riley and me.  I was on my own.  Totally on my own.  All by myself.  And I LOVED it.  I paid my bills, cut my grass, navigated a new city, had a successful year of my first real job.  I still get chills when I go by that house.  I did that.  All by myself.  I think that house and that year will be why Winston feels like home to me. 

My first year at Reagan was awesome.  I had some very challenging classes, but everyone had to pay their dues!  I was a floater and moved around from classroom to classroom.  I also taught with an inclusion teacher, Sherry, who would become one of my very best friends.  She got pregnant a little into that year and so I had to put up with all the mood swings and dangling out of the windows because of all the stankin’ children!!  I made a lot of great friends and found my home.  I absolutely LOVED my principal.  And everyone else I worked with.  Everyone was supportive and uplifting and great.  I also helped out with softball that year and loved every second of that!

The summer after that first year I was keeping Kamryn again in Wilmington.  On July 21st I went out with my friend Lyndsay for a night that would change my life.  That is the night I met Ja.  The rest of that, as you already know, is history.

This is the only picture I have from that night.  This is Lyndsay after she fell down and decided just to chill on the sidewalk!!  Man, what a great night that was!

The week after I met Ja, I moved back to Winston for my second year of teaching.  I lived in an apartment off of Hanes Mall Blvd and loved it.  With him in Jacksonville and me in Winston, it made things interesting.  We spent A LOT of time on I-40 heading from the west to the east.  There weren’t many missed weekends, but there was a lot of phone conversation, flowers at work, and driving at 4am on Monday mornings!

That school year also brought one of my favorite little people in this world – Banana Pants!

That year also had lots of driving and planning.  It also had an engagement in December!!!!!

That year I was in room 703 in the pod!  It was a glorified trailer in the back of the school.  Even in its third year we had outgrown the building.  It was a big trailer with 9 or 10 classrooms.  We had a lot of fun that year.  That year I also got to teach AFM for the first time and find out what it was like to really teach some upper level kids.  I was hooked!!

At the end of that year, I had to say goodbye to my Reagan peeps.  It was getting too tough going back and forth from Jacksonville to Winston.  We would also be getting married the following February and it was silly to get married and live in two different places.  We spent a lot of time discussing who would move where, but ultimately I made the decision to move to Jacksonville.  I had a phone interview with the principal at Richlands High School.  Once I had that job lined up, I packed up again and moved out of my moldy apartment (thanks guys for the asthma!  I’ll always remember you!) and moved back to Wilmington.

I kept Kamryn again that summer and then moved to Jacksonville in August to start the school year.  That third year was by far the toughest year.  I did get married that year, which made it awesome!

But I was MISERABLE – at least from 7:30 – 3:00.  I loved living with Ja and making his townhome our home and being closer to my parents and making friends in Jacksonville.  I did not like that year of teaching – AT ALL.  I hated my principal.  She was a lot of adjectives that I’m not going to even get into, but I hated her.  I was so glad that Jason agreed to come back to Winston with me after that year!

This school year was absolutely amazing.  I loved every second of it.  Ja got a job at North Forsyth and I was lucky enough to get my position back at Reagan.  Since I left they had built a new wing that was fully integrated with technology.  I was stoked when I was told that I was going to be in one of those rooms.  Finally – a room of my very own and one I wouldn’t have to move out of at the end!!  We bought our house and we absolutely love this house.  We are very blessed to have been able to get up here, buy a beautiful house, and both get jobs in the economy we were in.  God definitely winked on us several times when all of that was happening!!

So I have just completed my fourth year of teaching.  My Teaching Fellows debt has been paid up and I can’t wait to get that fulfillment letter in the mail!  I no longer HAVE to teach if I don’t want to.

Over these past four years I have grown so much.  I became totally independent.  I met a man.  I fell in love.  I got engaged.  I got married.  I moved 8 different times.  I got better and better at being a teacher every year.  I have repaid a big debt.  I have had a lot of crazy stuff happen, but through it all – I love my life.  I love being a teacher.  I love being married.  I love being 25.  And right now – I am happy as hell it is summer and I am getting time to really enjoy my life!!

I can’t wait to see what the next four years holds!  Things are going to change and life will be different, but I think we’ve got a lot of good stuff ahead of us!!