New Years Eve

Oh we are getting so old :)  Alan and I went out to dinner at Macados where my sister Sarah works.  They had specials and happy hour all night long and a piano player.  We left with the idea that we'd stay out and celebrate but what happened was...we were in bed by 10pm.  Needless to say we went to bed feeling rather lame and old.  Oh well.  It has been a good year with many changes for us.  We started the year as newlyweds and ended it with our first anniversary.  In July we moved from Texas to Virginia and began new jobs.  Alan started work with Kaleo construction as an electrician and I started at Carilion New River Valley ER.  While I'm still there a few hours a week I have recently started working with Dr. Chad Johnston, we opened his first private practice in December.  We are looking forward to the new year and are sure to have many more changes as Alan heads back to school!

Merry Christmas To All

Christmas came so fast this year.  I had everyone's presents this summer believe it or not, however I still managed to forget that most of those had to be shipped!  So I was that girl at the post office frantically trying to get her packages out in time.  Oh well, packages got shipped and cards got mailed.  My mom suggested that after holidays and important events I write down a list of what went well and what didn't go well to look at the following year.  Turns out this is her trick for making the holidays run so smoothly, now it all makes sense!

What went well:
1.  Getting presents early, I started during the Steppin' Out festival in July and having all the gifts took a lot of stress out of the holidays.
2.  Used our wedding invitation list for our Christmas mailing list.
3.  Had all the materials on hand for frantic last minute wrapping.
4.  Sent our first family Christmas photo out with our cards.

What didn't go well:
1. Had the presents early, wish I had had them wrapped and shipped earlier.
2. Wish I had gotten the Christmas cards out by the second week of December.

Looking at the lists I guess things went better than I feel like they did.  I think a little more planning could have eased a lot of the last minute stress.

Blacksburg decking the halls! The festivites include carolers visiting downtown restaurants and the finale is the lighting of the Christmas tree.

Looking at the lists I guess things went better than I feel like they did.  I think a little more planning could have eased a lot of the last minute stress.  We spent the holiday with my parents so the pressure to have festive decorations and yummy food wasn't all up to me.  Christmas Eve we had our traditonal hors d'oeuvres dinner before attending the midnight mass at St. Mary's.  Christmas morning we headed back to my parents house.  We opened our stockings and presents in the traditonal youngest to oldest fashion.  The highlight of the morning was definetly my mom and I getting Kerig's from our wondeful husbands.  We have both been drooling over this wonderful machine for awhile now.  We had a Christmas ham and finished up with Mom's famous "cookie tray" that we look forward to every year.  After feeling like we had done nothing but eat for the past two days we settled in early for our long winters nap.  It's funny how exhasting the holidays are now as an adult, as a child I think I had enough energy to celebrate Christmas all week long.  Until next year Christmas!

New Job!

Well today marks my second week at my new job!  I am now working at River Ridge Dermatology with Dr. Chad Johnston.  The office is his new private practice so we are building it from the ground up, which to me is an exciting challenge.  For now I am mainly working in the front office and assisting the practice director.  Once we get everything up and running the plan is for me to begin learning and getting some experience in dermatology.  It is going to be a departure from my ER experience that's for sure but it was definitely a needed change.  So far I am loving my new job, yay for new beginings!

One Year Anniversary!

Alan and I celebrated our anniversay this weekend in Roanoke Virginia where we got married one year ago.  It's hard to believe it has been a whole year!  We stayed at the Hotel Roanoke in the same room that we did on our wedding night.  Saturday night we had a delicious dinner at 202 Market and then headed off to the ballet to see the Nutcracker.  Sunday we enjoyed breakfast in bed and then attended mass at St. Andrew's church where we were married.  We spent the afternoon walking around downtown Roanoke and poking in the local businesses looking for last minute Christmas presents.  We headed back for our anniversay dinner at the Regency Room at the hotel.  Dinner was amazing Alan had steak Diane which was flambeed tableside and I had a crab cake floating in a delicious soup.  We finished up with a chocolate souffle over coffee.  It was a very relaxing and indulgent mini vacation, we can't wait to go back next year!

Date night gets a makeover!

Since moving to Blacksburg we have discovered there are so many more options for date night than there were in Texas.  Last month we went to a murder mystery dinner at the Inn at Virginia Tech and a dinner theater at Chateau Morrisette, fabulous food and entertainment.  Then on Veterans day we had the pleasure of staying at The Inn at Riverbend for free.

For anyone that is active duty or retired military take note of this for next year and the years to come, there are tons of bed and breakfasts that offer this getaway on the house.  Since we scored big on our accomodations we had no problem spoiling ourselves to a fabulous dinner at the Palisades, delicious!  It's going to be hard to top this month of date nights but December brings our anniversary...

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner at my parents house with my family, my sister's boyfriend, and Alan's grandparents.  I was so thankful to be able to have the day off to enjoy cooking and spending time with my family, a privilege that I now have as I have changed my status at the hosptial.  I am now considered "prn staff" or as needed, basically that means I fill in the holes in the full time staff's schedule, I am not guaranteed any hours but I am not required to work any holidays.  More to come on my new plans as they firm up next week...  Anyways my mom and I served turkey with gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, green been casserole, cranberry salad, dinner rolls, macaroni and cheese and for desert, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting, and mince meat tarts.  Bottom line, no one went hungry and everyone left with leftovers, just how it should be.  Here is a peek at our table settings...

The Biltmore

Yeah I suppse I could live here if I had to...

Halloween

From the Black Swan...

Happy Halloween!

Dreaming of my dream home...

My sister laughs and tells me I'm turning into our mother because of my files.  It's true my mother has files for every season and holiday of the year.  I do however have technology on my side as most of my files are digital.  In addition to my seasonal files I have a collection of inspiration for my future dream home.  It seems like my tastes and preferences in regards to most everything has matured lately.  My dream home used to be a tudor reminesent of sleeping beauty.

Like I said, my taste has uh hm, matured.  Now my dream home takes inspiration from English countryside, southern Georgia manors, and the traditional brick home (a la Home Alone).

There is something I adore about each of these but right now my stand out is...

Isn't she beautiful?  Add flanking boxwoods along the drive and show me where to sign.  Next project is   adding dream rooms and decor to my dream home, all of which is currently only in my dreams.  Now that the wedding is over what else am I supposed to plan and dream of?  

Fall Football Weekend

First on our agenda for the fall football weekend was my brother's high school game.  The team as a whole hasn't had the best season but my brother has been playing his heart out and the local media has really made him a shining star of the team.

He plays on offense, defense, and special teams, so needless to say he is exhausted after the games.  Next week is senior week and will be his last game so a win would be amazing!

After my brothers game was the tech game, we got awesome tickets from one of the doctors I work with and he threw in his parking pass which can only mean one thing...TAILGATING!!!

Needless to say we are not professionals at this like some people (yes people in the Mercedes Sprinter van upholstered in maroon and orange velvet I'm talking about you) but we put out a pretty good spread.  The hot chocolate carafe was an especially delicious compliment to the crisp fall weather.

Hey Tech fans time to start jumping!!!

It was homecoming at Virginia Tech that was made even sweeter with a win over Boston College.  We could not have asked for a more beautiful fall day, it was perfect football weather.  After the game we went out for a celebratory dinner at Bull and Bones, yummy!

Luuuke!

This year for Luke's birthday I framed one of his winning touch down catches.

Here is another one of my favorites pictures from this season...

Living in Texas I missed most of Luke's football games.  It was his senior season this year and I am so glad that we are back in the 'burg.  He had a great personal season!

Raindrops on roses and wiskers on kittens...

I can only laugh at myself when I go to write a new post and find that in my last post I had made a resolution to blog more and yes ladies and gentlemen this last blog post was written...you guessed it last year.  Again I can only laugh, there is no way to catch up on all of the changes that have happened so I won't even try.  This post if full of my favorite things, things that I always have on hand, and things that are on my wish list.  Enjoy...

OPI nail polish in bubble bath. Cannot live without it.  Perfect combination of milky white and ballet pink, this color is so me.  I keep it on my fingernails to stay neutral and then pink a fun color for my toes.

The original wellies.  These are on my wish list, didn't need them last year in Texas but I have a feeling with all the snow and slush this winter and spring showers that bring May flowers I will soon be needing a pair of these boots.

Victoria Secret classic pajamas.  Started my collection last year when my bridesmaids and I all wore them while we did hair and makeup for the big day.  They are so cozy and perfect for Christmas morning!

I don't even want to tell you how many of these candles I bought this year...a lot.  I buy two to three scents per season when they go on sale for 50% off.  Burning these gets me in the mood for the season and motivates me to clean the house and bake (hey whatever works right?).

Ok so this is on my long term wish list, like maybe if Alan goes to medical school wish list.  Winning the lottery would also suffice.  I don't think if this wasn't such an icon I would be as obsessed but with the ladylike trend right now I am definitely dreaming of this bag!  I'll add more to my list later...

Day at the Dog Park

In Texas I missed living in an area with a central "downtown", so when we were looking for our first place in live in Blacksburg I knew exactly where I wanted to live.  We snagged a prime downtown at Lofts at the Lyric.

It definetly has it's challenges when it comes to parking and grocery shopping but for concerts on the lawn, parades, and evening drink it can't be beat.  To compromise with Zoey for taking away her backyard we spend alot of time at the town dog park.  

4th of July at the Lake

Alan's family came into town for the 4th of July and we all headed down to the lake house. We spent the day out on the boat and relaxing by the water and then headed back into Blacksburg for fireworks.

We also celebrated not one but two wedding anniversaries. It was Alan's parent's 30th and his grandparents 50th!

Virginia Bound

Goodbye Texas...

Goodbye Scott and White...

Hello Virginia!

It took lots of talking but we finally decided to move back to Blacksburg. Alan's GI bill will stretch a lot further in Virginia and I'd like to be close to my family when we decide to have our first baby. We're sad to leave our friends but the day would come one day no matter what, that's the nature of the military. I'm working at a much smaller regional ER and Alan has taken a position with a general contractor working at the Radford Army Ammunition Plant. We're enjoying the much cooler weather and living in a small town community again. Can't wait to see what the future has in store!