dining on the "veranda"...

Yeah, not really the "veranda"... just the porch. We don't have a "veranda" (I'm not sure I really even know what a "veranda" is). But the porch is good enough for me right now! Jeff had the good idea to eat dinner out on the porch tonight as it has cooled considerably since our highs-in-the-high-90s temps the last few days. It was cloudy all day & the breeze blew the humidity right way. Our new furniture worked really great for dining!

Just for the record, I baked some cajun salmon, steamed some asian stir-fry vegetables and we had that with some seasoned rice...not bad for not knowing what I was going to make tonight until about 5 min before I started it! That's usually the way it goes...

centerpiece...

I found something that I thought would look good on our kitchen table as a centerpiece. I think it will be versatile enough to stay on the table no matter what types of tables Jeff builds for us --er, I mean, no matter what types of tables we go through in our lifetime -- dark, light, big, small, etc. We don't use our table too often (to eat on, anyway) since we have the nice coffee table with the lift mechanism that Jeff built me a few years ago (this post has a photo of it), but it will be easy enough to move the centerpiece when we do use it (for guests & such).

It's my kinda thing, too...candles and all that. What do you think?

**Note: we fared just fine through Tropical Storm Hanna -- it woke us up quite a few times through the night with serious wind gusts and constant wind in general but after getting up & looking around this morning, the only "damage" we had was an overturned hammock. Jeff fixed that easy enough. :)

glued to The Weather Channel...

Okay, so this is technically our 2nd hurricane season on Rose Bud Lane but it only feels like the 1st because we didn't have any activity our way last year. This year will be a little bit different, it looks like:

This was the image about 16 min ago...see where my arrow is pointing, folks? That's where we live. Right there in the middle of all that junk from Hanna. Now, we're not too concerned at this point. It is, after all, a pretty unorganized tropical storm but there's potential so we're not being stupid about it. I'm pretty much glued to The Weather Channel to see the latest. Right now, we've just got some wind accompanied by clear skies. Yeah, I said clear skies. That will change the closer we get to midnight which is when they predict landfall around the SC/NC border. We did have some rain earlier this morning around 10am, and then another rain band came through about 2pm.

Personally, I like storms. Now, I try to be smart about them, but I rather enjoy the whole process of watching these tropical storms/hurricanes approach, all the maps they show us on TWC to show us how the storms are being guided and what causes them to form, etc. I think I would've enjoyed a life as a meteorologist...for a little while at least. :)

But now tornadoes are a whole 'nother ballgame that I am not a cheerleader for IN THE LEAST. Tornadoes are completely unpredictable and something you can't watch "approach" and know, for the most part, what they will do. Tornadoes, though, are a possible "side effect", if you will, of hurricanes and as a matter of fact, that radar map above has a red box around our area...that red box means we're under a tornado watch until 5am tomorrow morning. I don't like that. But that's why I'm glued to TWC.

new porch furniture...

Oh, it pains me to see the date of my last post, but it is what it is. I've had the best of intentions to get this post up before now. But well...ya'll know by now how my posting patterns run -- those that read this blog regularly (God bless ya!). So here it is, 20 days later.

My post today comes so late because I find myself in a different job for the first time in 6 1/2 years. For those last 6 1/2 years, I've been in the accounting industry, working in 2 accounting firms (first with PP&C and then with RSM McGladrey when they bought the Wilmington PP&C group out), doing primarily bookkeeping and payroll and some tax preparation (just in this last tax season). But in the last few months, God has been moving my heart toward more creative venues: working with photos and video software, web design, blogging, etc. (i.e. lots of projects!) and I found myself becoming frustrated with the lack of creative outlet that my job allowed. This was all unbeknownst to me at this point: it just came across to me as an unsettled, kind of "burned out" feeling toward my job. I was still enjoying what I did, but just not as satisfied as I once was.

I won't go into a lot of detail here (because there are A LOT of details which just go to show how amazing my God is and how He works everything to the good of those who love Him), but I was approached by one of my pastors at my church in Wilmington to consider & pray about becoming the new Worship Assistant, working with our Worship (aka Music) Pastor in the worship ministry. Over the course of the next month, meetings were held, things were discussed, there was a lot of prayer going up and at the end of the month, I found myself hired as the new Worship Assistant and resigning from my position at RSM McGladrey.

It's been 3 weeks since I began my new job and I.am.loving.it. I actually kinda feel like I'm on "vacation" just in comparison with my other job but don't get me wrong: David keeps me incredibly busy! He has such a vision for the worship ministry at SHBC and has been looking for someone with the skills & capabilities (and the TIME) to help him get to that place. We get along great and the other ladies (& men) in the church office are absolutely wonderful to work with. God has me right where He wants me...and that's where I want to be. :)

So that is the reason I really haven't gotten around to this post yet. But here I am. I wanted to show you the new furniture Jeff got me (us) for our front porch. When we moved in, we had some plastic gray adirondack chairs out on the front porch and that was sufficient for awhile. We both have been observing what everyone else had on their porches, just gathering ideas for what we wanted. I came home a few weeks ago and there was a brand new set of 2 chairs and a table on our porch! It was dark by the time I had gotten home so I flipped on the light to see them. They were really pretty. But then the next day when I saw them in the daylight, they were even prettier!

I just love how the burnt orange-ish red color looks against the blue of our house and I really have been gravitating toward dark colors for furniture lately (that used to not be the case -- I was natural wood all the way). The table is great & even has a little basket underneath to store some things. And if all that wasn't enough, the chairs are really comfortable to sit in! I love it when you don't have to sacrifice comfort for style. Jeff did really good picking these out -- he didn't run it by me or have me look at it at all before he made his purchase. Aaaaand, he got this set on clearance. I've said it before and I'll say it again: he's a keeper! :D

bookcases...

Okay, I'm giving you guys a first glimpse into the master bedroom. For a long time, our bedroom was a sort of "catchall" and I'm not saying it's changed a whole lot, but it's starting to slowly evolve. Jeff picked up some bookcases (for free!) after I mentioned that the one bookcase in the guest bedroom wasn't gonna cut it for all the books I have (and will be purchasing in the future...). Of course, I really want him to BUILD me some bookcases (or at least one, for pete's sake!), but I don't know when that will be. I wanted to get these boxes of books unpacked to 1) see what kind of shape the books were in after being in the storage unit for awhile, and 2) to get the boxes out of the house and tidy up the guest bedroom. Mission accomplished on both accounts!

Jeff got these 2 bookcases of varying heights at Staples, I believe, when they were remodeling their print shop in the store. He just happened to be in the right place at the right time! They're not perfect but they were free and are a nice color for our bedroom. I was able to unload all of the books I had between the 3 bookcases and I still have "room to grow". I love to read and have about 4 favorite authors -- I'm planning to own most every book they write. Then I have other authors that I've read specific books by that I might want to read again some day so I keep those. I'm planning to have a pretty extensive library so I will need lots of space to store those books. I love nothing more than loaning out books to friends/family who are looking for something good to read. Jeff is a good sport about it. :)

she's finally here!

My niece, Cora Beth McAfee, made her way into this world Friday, July 25, at 2:36am. She weighed 6 lbs. 5 oz. and was 20 1/4 inches long. She brought with her the most delicate features and the sweetest face you've ever seen... she is the first child of my brother & his wife, the first grandchild to my mom & dad. And she has stolen every last one of our hearts!

Here's the story in a "nutshell":

Brandi's water broke around 5pm Thursday evening, July 24. Daniel called me shortly after that and we were able to get on the road to Thomasville around 8:30pm. We got to the Thomasville Medical Center about 12:20am. Longest drive of my life!

Brandi was such a trooper, going through about 8 hours of labor before her doctor decided that it would be best to perform a c-section due to the baby's dropping heartrate during Brandi's contractions. She wasn't dialating very quickly and the doctor didn't want to take any chances. What was so neat is that he wanted to pray with Brandi (and the family) before he took her into surgery. Praise God for Christian doctors!

So as they prepped Brandi for surgery, we all headed down to the waiting room to pray & wait for the miracle that was taking place just down the hall. About an hour later, the proud Daddy, my brother, Daniel, came to tell us we could come see Cora Beth in the nursery. It was there that we all instantly fell in love with her...and my level of pride in my brother shot up. I was so proud of both him & Brandi -- they made this child-birthing thing look so easy...Daniel was just as "cool as a cucumber" every time I saw him...just going with the flow of things, doing what needed to be done. Huh.

We came back to the hospital later that day (Friday) and the next, each time falling deeper in love with that precious baby girl. Daniel & Brandi had lots of family come to visit during that time and each of them were just in wonder of little Cora Beth. We all begrudgingly took turns holding her; no one willingly let her go -- you had to ASK! :) Sunday, they released them all to go home around lunchtime and we headed over to their house after church. We hung out there until it was time for Jeff and I to head back to the coast. I gotta tell ya, that was pretty tough to do!

Cora Beth has already claimed a big place in my heart -- I.am.in.love.with.this.child. And counting the days until I can see her again...

attic shelves...

We got another home project done this morning. We've been wanting to put some sort of shelving up in the attic to organize our "junk" somewhat -- nothing really fancy; just something to get the stuff up off the floor so we can actually move around up there.

We've been just throwing stuff up there and gradually decreasing our floor space. We have things like fall/Christmas decorations up there; suitcases, coolers, golf clubs, Jeff's airplane hobby stuff, etc...lots of miscellaneous stuff. Thank goodness Jeff enlisted Henry to help put down flooring up there so we could actually use a little of the storage we have up there! Now we're trying to put some kind of order in place...

It's really hard to see in the photo, but the shelving sits in between the trusses and goes almost the length of the area up there. This should work pretty well.

"makeshift" craft room...

I am really loathed to show you guys my "makeshift" craft room at this point...this has been the bane of my existence since we moved in. I understand everyone usually has a "catchall" room when they first move in -- a room they throw all the "boxes we don't know what to do with yet", all the "items we don't have a place for yet". Well, this room most definitely qualifies as that room. I'm always extremely embarassed to show this room on "the tour" when anyone comes to see the house for the first time, and usually everyone understands and doesn't care at all (they'll usually tell me all about their "catchall" room at that point), but still. If you know me, you know I care. :)

Recently I've been thinking that I might not get so frustrated with how things are right now in there if I could find a way to rearrange some things and maybe even fit another table in there somehow. I figured that might make me a little more productive (with my crafts) in the process, too. Couldn't hurt, right?

So I got to rearranging this morning. And cleaning out. Surprisingly, I like to clean out. It's a time to find old stuff and to reminisce...and then to be brutally honest with yourself -- how long has it been since you've even seen this thing? And when would you ever use it again, if you've gone this long without it? Yeah. Had to be pretty honest with myself at times...

But I was able to consolidate some things and move some things around and I think I'm going to like this setup. For awhile, at least. Until my wonderful, woodworking husband comes through with my own set of cabinets (like his in the shop) for this room! Until then, I'll try to be content with this... :)

**Note: Make sure you go back & look at the before photo...what a difference!

a nice day off...

Happy (belated) 4th of July! I was so busy enjoying my day off yesterday, I didn't have a chance to blog. But I did think about it and planned on blogging today since I know it has been a ridiculous amount of time since I blogged last. My day yesterday was filled with a variety of things -- some I wanted to do, some just needed to be done.

One thing I wanted to do:
I did some scrapbooking yesterday and got a little bit farther in the house album. Truth be told, I only have about 4 or 5 more days left to scrapbook before the album is complete. In this post, I mentioned that I would probably continue the album, even after the house had been built and we had moved in, but I have since changed my mind. There are other things to scrapbook now (not the least of which is my CRUISE!) and I just need to cut the house album off somewhere so I can move on. So I've decided that "moving day" will be my last page(s) in that album. That's a good place to end it, right?

One thing I wanted/needed to do:
I got another box unpacked (that's a big deal). It was a box of mostly magazines (Jeff's & mine) and some cookbooks. I mostly use my Simple & Delicious magazines when I cook so I did get rid of some of the cookbooks I don't use (or have never used). Jeff had a lot of woodworking magazines as well as some Model Aviation magazines so we got those organized and into magazine racks, and now they're up in his new cabinet in his shop. A very practical place for them to be! :)

One thing that needed to be done:
Jeff and I mowed the lawn yesterday evening. This is my 2nd time helping with the yard and let me just tell you: you don't really think your yard is that big until you have to mow that joker! I did the mowing with the self-propelled (ha! that's a joke right there) mower and Jeff did the weed-eating. Man, that is a workout! But the wind was blowing (the grass all over me) and we didn't start cutting until around 6:30pm so it was pretty comfortable by then. It looks great, if I do say so myself! :)

We had a nice meal after that -- grilled pork chops with a new Carribean Jerk marinade (yum!), grilled asparagus (Jeff makes some mean grilled asparagus now...), steamed broccoli and some garlic pasta. A good end to our day off. At 9pm, Holly Ridge shot some fireworks from their park which is right down the road from the house so we were able to see most of them from our driveway. I took a few photos...

a true milestone...

all of my life

i have dreamed

that somehow love would find me

now i can't believe you're standing here

if beauty is all

in the eye

of the beholder then i

wish you could see

the love for you that lives in me

and you would know you have my heart

if you could see, what i see

that a treasure's what you are

if you could see, what i see

created to be

the only one for me

if you could see, what i see

you're created to be

the perfect one for me

if you could see

what i see

if beauty is all

in the eye

of the beholder then i

am beholding...

true beauty

--sung at our wedding 10 years ago, June 1998

Happy anniversary, babe! These last 10 years have been the absolute best -- I wouldn't change a thing. I'm so proud to call you my husband, my lover, my best friend. And I love you with all that my heart can hold...

enjoy our cruise with us!

Make sure your sound is turned up before you start it...you need it to get the whole "experience"! It IS just over 8 min long, too, so make sure you have enough time to see it all. Enjoy!

we're back! [but we don't wanna be...]

Okay, okay, okay. I know you all have been waiting (some patiently, some maybe not so patiently) to see photos from our fabulous cruise. I have chosen just a scant few from our trip, out of the myriads & gazillions of photos we took, to share here. I do want to say that I'm putting together a slideshow of sorts to "showcase" our trip and you three or four that check this blog will definitely get a link to that when I get it put together. :)

To whet your appetite in the meantime...

Our first port, Cozumel, Mexico:

Our second port, Grand Cayman:

Our third & final port, Ocho Rios, Jamaica:

We really enjoyed each place that we visited and had great weather the entire trip. We had a great time on all the excursions we chose. Of the three ports, surprisingly, Jamaica was the most beautiful to me. The water was such a beautiful aquamarine and the vegetation was absolutely lush. We got to experience both as you can see from my photos. Grand Cayman was also very beautiful; very clean with beautiful waters and scenery. The people there were very nice & friendly, too. Cozumel was probably my least favorite stop, although we still had a good time there. I had my first snorkeling experience there and it was a lot of fun.

The cruise ship was incredible and there will be lots of photos of that in my "showcase" when I finish with it. Jeff and I had a really great time hanging out and making lots of memories, going to places we've never been, experiencing things we've never done before. It was a wonderful trip, one I won't ever forget, and the perfect way to celebrate a decade of marriage with the one my heart will love forever...

do we have everything?

Finally, I think we're all packed and ready to go on our cruise. I spent all day doing laundry, making sure everything was clean for our trip, and packing everything. I'm a pretty good packer (I get that from my Daddy) so I usually pack for any trips we go on. Jeff lays his stuff out and I pack it all up. We had A LOT of stuff to pack for this trip because we'll be gone for 7 days and we probably won't wash anything while we're gone (I'm pretty sure they'd charge us for that...). We had lots of sunscreen & bug spray to pack (smart, huh?), we had beach towels to pack, and lots of clothes -- casual clothes, bathing suits, formal dress clothes (I actually talked Jeff into that!). We got it all into 4 bags so I think we're good. We weighed them and they're under the limit, so we're good there. Whew! :)

WE ARE READY! Leaving on a jet plane tomorrow morning...

guest bathroom addition...

Ha! I know you all were thinking I'd only be posting "cruise stuff" from here on out until we go, but we do have 7 more days (!) until we leave, people. I mean, come on...do you think that's ALL that's on my mind these days?? (Yes...you are correct in your assumption...)

I got an itch Friday night to start really going through the boxes we have still kicking around here and either do something with the stuff, or get rid of it. A lot of the stuff in the boxes is decorative stuff that I haven't decided where to put yet or am waiting on a piece of furniture to be built first (ahem, Jeff...) -- that sort of thing. But it occurred to me that we're less than 3 months away from our 1-year anniversary being in this house and I personally, think it's silly to have this many boxes sitting around with stuff still in them. I mean, really, how much can I actually need the "stuff" if I've been without it for almost a year?? So my goal this long weekend is to at least condense things down into less boxes (or even one box).

Having said that, another thing that's been kicking around here is the cabinet Jeff made me for the master bathroom at our other place. He did a fantastic job on it -- all I did was find a photo of what I wanted (with a few "tweaks" that he took note of) and he built it. He's really very handy with wood... :) Anyway, because we had it hanging in our bathroom in our other place, I naturally assumed we'd do the same in this house. Plus, we need all the storage we can get in our bathroom here since all we have is a couple drawers and the cabinet under the sink (I don't know why one has to have so much "bathroom stuff" to function, but we do...). However, there really isn't a place in our bathroom to hang this cabinet.

I finally came to that realization Friday and decided that we should hang it in the guest bathroom. I don't really need an extra cabinet in there since I do have the cabinet under the sink and a linen closet but I'd rather hang it in there (and let people admire --er, I mean, see my husband's handiwork) than not use it at all. So we did. Saturday afternoon. And I must say, I really like it. It makes the bathroom look more finished or something...more lived in? I don't know why -- no one really uses it unless we have guests. But that's okay. I really like the cabinet in there. And that's enough. What do you think?

first time for everything...

There IS a first time for everything...and this is a big year for us. If you remember this post, I mentioned something about a trip to celebrate our 10-year wedding anniversary...

And celebrate we will! WE'RE GOING ON A CRUISE! Our first (and hopefully not our last) cruise. We sail June 1 to the Western Carribean on the Carnival Triumph and I can't even begin to explain how excited I am. 7 glorious, fun-filled days aboard this massive ship with everything in the world to do. We'll visit Cozumel, Mexico, the Grand Cayman Islands and Ocho Rios, Jamaica. I'm starting to sound like an advertisement, right?

I've been told by all of our friends who've been on cruises that it really is a spectacular vacation, the only way to travel, really. Well, it would be the only way to travel if we didn't have anything else to do with our money! But this is a momentous occassion and one I didn't want to get by us without doing something really grand to celebrate. This qualifies.

I spent countless hours online researching cruises, deals, places to go -- I must've exhausted at least 10-12 different websites that boasted of "the best cruise deals", "rock-bottom cruises", etc. In the end, we enlisted the help of a travel agent that we trust and she found us a great, all-inclusive deal. When we leave ILM (Wilmington, NC airport) on June 1, we will be carted to-&-fro by air, land & sea for 7 days. No worries. Our airfare, ground transport to the ship from the airport and back, as well as the cruise fare all included. Done.

The next thing to think about was shore excursions. Oh, my heavens! So many options in each port. I spent several more countless hours online researching these & comparing and calculating the best deals for our hard-earned cash. I'm happy to say we booked our excursions last night, one on each island, and I feel sooo much better with that done. We got the ones we wanted (they weren't full yet) and we kept the cost relatively low. We won't have to get up really early on any particular day and we'll have "down-time" each day, even in port, to do our own thing.

I'm compiling basically a notebook of "stuff" to read through or to have on hand to make the experience smoother. I have our travel documents and "FunPass" printed out; I have emails in which I've gotten feedback from friends who've been on this exact same cruise and those who've been on other cruises. I found out what shore excursions they went on & what they thought of them (I used those emails heavily to help me make my decisions about our excursions). I've asked general questions about the cruise itself and they've all been just so sweet to pass on whatever information they learned from their experiences.

So now we wait. But not for too long...17 days (and counting)!