Halfway to Middle-Age

Well, work has kept me from my blog, yet again!  And now sickness has been set upon me!  I'm heading to the minute clinic at 2:30 to get checked out.  So while I'm curled up on the couch, I thought I'd update.

My birthday is tomorrow.  I'll be 25- or as I've been fond of saying lately, halfway to middle-age!  I can feel the wrinkles forming as we speak. :)  Okay, not really, but I like to be dramatic.  This past weekend, David and I went to Charlotte for my family birthday celebration!  I was so excited because my entire family was going to be there.  I don't think we have all been together since my wedding in September!

Everyone minus Grandmom who was taking the picture!

Friday, we pulled in to town around 5 and hung out at home for about an hour.  My mom is a teacher and she had some school volleyball game she had to support so we tagged along for a little bit of that.  Then we went to dinner at my favorite mexican restaurant- Zapatas!  There are mexican restaurants in Greenville, but none that have been as good as Zapatas.  Kinda stinks for a girl who likes mexican so much!  While we were there, I turned around and guess who I saw?  My aunt and uncle!  They were out to dinner with some of their friends.  It was a nice surprise to get to see them before the birthday celebration. :)

On Saturday, we went to the matinee showing of Jersey Boys at the Blumenthal in downtown Charlotte.  I saw Jersey Boys for the first time 2 years ago and absolutely loved it.  I was so excited because the guy who played Frankie Valli the first time was playing him again this year!  Joseph Leo Bwarie played Frankie and he did not disappoint! And he's not so bad to look at either! ;)  He apparently just came out with a cd- Nothin' But Love- and I downloaded it when I got home. :)  It's really jazzy and I like it!  You should check it out if you get the chance.

We went straight from the play to my grandparents house for birthday festivities.  (Well, my mom went to pick Marley up, couldn't have my sweet boy missing out on al the fun!)

My sweet boy!

 We had steak, mashed potatoes, asparagus, salad, and home made ice cream- all my requests, haha!  It was absolutely delicious!  Marley thought so, too.  I think he got a bite of steak from everyone at the table!  UNC was playing Duke so we had the game on for Amy and during half time I openend my presents!


Amy and Tyler

My new nursing shoes! LOOOVVVEE.

Scott wrapped my present in purple and orange! ;)  He got me 2 Caribou coffees to try!  So far, I love them!

Do you remember this post?  I said I would love to have this print framed so I can hang it in a reading nook one day.  Well, my grandmother tracked this print all the way to Latvia and had it matted and framed for me!  Isn't it gorgeous?!  I'm so excited to get my office all set up now!  I also got an outfit from J. Crew (so cute!), a new purse, and a gift card to lululemon!  I racked up! :)

Mom and me

Me and the hubby.

Me and my favorite aunt! :)

Scott and Marley :)

We had cake and homemade ice cream and just spent time together.  Scott is very talented at the piano so he played some songs for us, David showed off some of his recent drawings (yep, my husband is talented, too!), and then we watched home movies from when we were little!  I don't think we have laughed so hard in such a long time!  It was so much fun to look back on what life was like when we were little.  It was such a wonderful evening and I was so sad to leave and come back home the next day!  I couldn't imagine celebrating my birthday with my family any other way. :)

The wonderful host and hostess- my grandparents! :)

Happy Birthday, Aunt Diane!

My Aunt Diane is a wonderful sister,

(My mom and Aunt Diane)

(Aunt Diane, me, and mom at the Southern Christmas show)

(Me, Aunt Diane, and mom at dinner before Jersey Boys)

She is an amazing daughter, 

(Aunt Diane, Granddad, and Amy)

(Granddad, Aunt Diane, mom, and Grandmom)

An absolutely incredible mother, 

(Amy and Aunt Diane)

(Aunt Diane and Scott)

(Amy and Aunt Diane at Amy's high school graduation.)

(Aunt Diane, Scott, Amy, and Uncle Mike at Scot's graduation from GA Tech.)

(Aunt Diane, Scott, Amy, and Uncle Mike at Scott's graduation from Duke.)

But to me, she's the best Aunt a girl could ever ask for, want, or need.

 (Putting my veil in my hair for my wedding.)

 (At Christmas)

She has been there for me from the beginning. Thick and thin. And loves me just the same.

(Uncle Mike, me, and Aunt Diane) 

  

 (At one of my bridal showers)

 

(Sledding down the golf course hills)

(Celebrating getting my braces off)

(Celebrating birthdays.)

(Me, Aunt Diane, Scott, and Uncle Mike at the fair.)

(My graduation from Clemson)

And, she brought two of my best friends into the world.

 (Amy and Scott)

Happy Birthday, Aunt Diane!  Thank you for always being there for me and supporting me in everything I do.  You are the best aunt and God knew I would need you to be mine.  I love you so much!

Weekend Fun!

Our new meal of the week didn't actually happen over the weekend, but I'm adding it to this post because I don't want to write two posts!  On Thursday, our new meal of the week was lime-infused, honey-crusted chicken.

I got the recipe off of Pinterest.  I'm kind of wary about making recipes off Pinterest because I've heard of a few that have been busts!  But this one just seemed so good that David and I decided to go ahead and try it.  The directions say to mix up the marinade the night before and let the chicken soak over night.  Our chicken wasn't thawed so it really sat for about 4 hours before we cooked it and I don't think it affected the taste at all.  It was so good and easy to make!  We had ours with some french green beans on the side. :) 

On Friday, I picked David up at work and we headed home to Charlotte for Scott's birthday!  Our family has always done birthdays and this one was no different.  Scott requested seafood pasta and homemade ice cream! 

I am so glad we were able to go home for a night. I have to work over Thanksgiving so I won't be able to go home for this holiday.  I was getting quite bummed about it not getting to see my family, but now I have!

I had to work Saturday night so we headed home Saturday morning so I could get a few hours of sleep before I went in.  When I got home Sunday morning I slept until noon and then David and I headed out for a little Christmas shopping! :)  We have been wanting a new bedroom suite for a while because we have been sleeping in David's childhood bed and it's just not cutting it anymore!  We were ready for something new and we found it yesterday!  So, our Christmas gift to each other is this new bedroom suite from Ashley furniture:

(via)

We love the design.  We've been looking for a while and comparing and just kept coming back to this so we bit the bullet and will have a new bed come January. :)  We are going to use the month or so between getting our bed to paint our room, find a nice duvet, pillows, sheets, etc.  and get everything ready so once the set is here, we can just start using it!  We are so excited!  (We don't have the bench, but I really like that idea so we might look into finding one.  And our bedside tables are slightly different than the ones in this picture...we like ours better!)

I am back to work tonight so I'm getting some things done this morning (like blogging...it's the important things, right?!) and then I'll get a nap in this afternoon.  I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday week!

Happy Birthday, Scott!

Today is my cousin Scott's 24th birthday!

Scott and I are only 8 months and 8 days apart and have always been close.

(That's me as a baby...but Scott is in this picture, too! ;)  )

And as we've gotten older, we've just gotten closer.  :)  He's technically my cousin, but feels more like a brother to me. 

We used to do everything together.  We have celebrated every holiday together, 

...Many Easters...

...Many Christmases...

Taken many trips...

...to the fair...

...to New York City...

...and many trips skiing in Colorado.

We spent countless hours coming up with new things to play...

...reading on Christmas Eve...

...and making up lots of games in my play house.

And when Amy came along, she got to play, too!  

(Although she'll tell you we never let her be "the person."  :) )

We played outside....

in the yard...the good ole' days :)  Kids don't play outside anymore...

...and were lucky enough to have a pool to play in, too :)

Then we graduated and went to college and weren't able to hang out as much anymore.

(Scott's high school graduation)

So instead, we met up halfway for birthdays!

        My 20th birthday...

        ...and Scott's 20th birthday!  And many birthdays and college times in between.

Including my wedding :)

Marley loves his "Uncle Scott" too. 

 We think the feeling is mutual :)

And now, two of my favorite guys in the world get along :) 

  Including being almost a quarter of a century old and still making up games to play in the pool with really cool goggles ;)

 When I turned 24, Scott started kidding me about being an "adult" because I have a job and I'm 24...apparently "that's old."  Scott is now 24 and has a job, his own apartment, bills,e etc...so, Scott, welcome to the club, you old fart! ;) Even though we are "growing up" and have our own lives we are beginning, I hope we can always meet up to enjoy birthdays!  Happy Birthday and I love you so much!