Writing what's read between the lines

Deep Creek

2007-05-11T23:33:27Z

Almost 5 whole months since my last update, so I thought why not update now?

J and I are quickly approaching our 1yr anniversary as husband and wife! Woohoo! Where did that year go? I have no idea, but its been tons of fun getting here.

Even though our anniversary isn't until next week (so we have about 9 days to go), I committed myself to a handbell concert this year (as it so happened to fall on our wedding day last year too) so we are celebrating a weekend early. And boy is it fun! We traveled northwest to Deep Creek and are staying at the Lake Pointe Inn. This is only our second try at a Bed & Breakfast and we've loved every minute of it!

We spontaneouly decided to try a B&B last weekend in Hagerstown and it was fabulous! A restored victorian house with a couple that was very sweet. We had the canopy room with a lovely electric fireplace and loads of windows. The bed was so comfy as well -- we wanted to live there!

But now back to Deep Creek and the Lake Pointe Inn. Completely peaceful! We have the McCann Room which is updated with a sitting room and then the bedroom. The two rooms share a corner glass fireplace (which we are going to try to use, even though its supposed to be in the 50s tonight) and both rooms have beautiful views of the lake. It is completely relaxing with the windows open and the soft breeze blowing the light curtains. We have free access to the canoes, kayaks, and bicycles while here, so I think we'll be making use of those tomorrow. The InnKeepers have been so nice thus far and there is a stocked fridge on each level for guest convenience. And there is wine downstairs at 4pm everyday with munchies at 5pm. Baked goods throughout the day.

So this will be a great way to celebrate our newlywed year. And next weekend we will be devouring the top of our cake (I am praying that it'll be as delicious as it was last year).

What a great way to start the summer!

Remember when we were little

2006-12-26T17:09:03Z

And we used to spend Christmas day playing with all of our new toys and then calling our friends to discuss (in detail) everything that we received that year? Man, those were fun years!

I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas, wherever your plans took you!

And in the spirit of old times.... what did you get this year?

Babies babies babies!

2006-11-29T16:27:22Z

So like, whoah! Life is deciding to kick me in the butt a little to keep on moving down the road. In the past week I have learned about 3 friends expecting next year. When did this happen? Any insight would be helpful!

coloroflilacs @ 2006-11-11T17:01:00

2006-11-11T21:01:37Z

All I have to say is GOOOOOOO DAWGS!

And I love shopping. :) (Is that too much of a girly thing to say?)

We're moved in!

2006-08-13T13:35:06Z

FINALLY! We are now in our new apartment in Rockville. What a beautiful place! We have a beauty of a two bed/two bath/with loft apartment to call our own. Of course, we couldn't have done it without help from some very good friends! Now its trying to sort through boxes and put things in their proper places. We're about half-way there!

If you'd like the new address to send letters and other fun things like that, please let me know!

Thats all.

PS. K- I'm glad Kacie got back safely!! Thank God!

Today's the day!

2006-05-20T13:10:21Z

EEK! :)

Woo Woo

2006-05-16T13:31:43Z

4 days until the wedding. I'm really getting excited now. I've got my hair trial appt. in a couple of hours. LOOOONG story about why I'm getting it done now.

Lots of progress has been made, but still some more to go. And through all of this I realize that I don't care too much about the details of the day. Too many people giving you too many options and trying to decide which one to go with is tough.

Anywho... back to work.

Yay for procrastination

2006-04-19T00:54:38Z

And yay for LJ Cuts
W H O . W A S . T H E . L A S T . P E R S O N . T H A T?

1. You hung out with?: Jason
2. Rode in a car with?: Myriah and Frances -- work!
3. Went to the movies with?: Um. What was the last movie I saw in the theater? I don't remember.
4. You went to the mall with?: Mr, myself, and I. We had a great time!
5. You went to dinner with?: Jason and Matt
6. You talked on the phone to?: Jason
7. Made you laugh?: Chris - Kel's fiance

W O U L D . Y O U . R A T H E R?

1. Pierce your nose or tongue?: nose
2. Be serious or be funny?: funny
3. Drink whole or skim milk? 1%
4. Die in a fire or drown? Neither
5. Spend time with your parents or enemies?: Parents

Y O U . P R E F E R. .

1. Flowers or candy?: flowers!
2. Gray or black?: black
3. Color or Black and white photos?: Black and white
4. Lust or love?: Hm, add a little bit of both and shake until completely mixed
5. Sunrise or sunset?: Sunset
6. M&Ms or Skittles?: M&Ms, peanut variety
7. Staying up late or waking up early?: Waking up early!

A N S W E R . T R U T H F U L L Y !!

1. Do you like anyone?: Yup

2. Do they know it?: Hope so, or its gonna make for a weird marriage

D O . Y O U . P R E F E R.

2. Winter or Fall?: Fall cause its football season
3. Left or right?: Right.
4. 10 acquaintances or two best friends?: two best friends.
5. Sunny or rainy?: sunny!
6. Vanilla ice cream or chocolate ice cream? swirl!

A B O U T . Y O U!

1. What time is it?: 5:50pm
2. What do you want?: To go on vacation!
3. Where do you want to live?: With Jason
4. How many kids do you want?: At least 2
5. You want to get married?: Yup, or else this too would make for a weird marriage
6. Bad habit: Biting my fingers
7. Are you double jointed?: Possibly :)
8. Can you cross your eyes?: Sigh, no.
9. Do you make your bed daily?: no

R A N D O M

1. Which shoe goes on first?: Either. I like to mix it up
2. Ever thrown a shoe at someone?: Probably
3. Do you twirl your spaghetti or cut it?: Twirl
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE NUMBERING HERE??
2. Have you ever eaten Spam?: No.
3. Favorite ice cream?: Hm. At the moment: Banana icecream with bananas and chocolate syrup.
4. How many kinds of cereal are in your cabinet?: 3!
5. Do you cook?: Surely I say to you, I do
6. Current mood?: wound-up

IN . T H E . L A S T . M O N T H . H A V E . Y O U ?

1. Bought something: oh yes... my credit card is always warm
2. Sang: in the car
3. Been hugged: Yes, tonight!
4. Felt stupid: ha, yes
5. Missed someone: yes
6. Danced crazy: Nope
7. Gotten your hair cut: Nope, need it as long as can be for May
8. Cried: possibly
9. Lied: possibly
10. Been kissed: oh yeah

Alright, that was gud.

BILLY JOEL CONCERT!

2006-04-14T02:58:54Z

I actually did something pretty spontaneous tonight.

After hearing the local radio station say they were going to give tickets away to the first 25 people who showed up at the Mattress Discounters store in Rockville, I decided to head over there and see if I could make it.

I did.

I got tickets.

And I got to meet some of the on-air personalities.

Awesome. :) Now Nikki and I are headed out to the Verizon center to see Billy Joel. She was SO stoked. When I invited her she could only say, "are you serious? really? you want me to go?" It was pretty funny. Glad to see I could really make her happy on her birthday!

This is fun

2006-04-11T11:34:42Z

And if I am going to make an entry in this thing after such a long absence, why not make it nonsense?

Go to Wikipedia and do a search for your birthday (excluding the year). List 3 events, 2 birthdays, 1 death, and any holidays that might be interesting.

EVENTS
1. 1945 - World War II: the Atomic bombing of Hiroshima. An atomic bomb codenamed Little Boy is dropped by the American B-29 Enola Gay on the city of Hiroshima in Japan at 8:16 a.m., killing 80,000 outright with another 60,000 dead by the end of the year due to fallout sickness. Ultimately, about 200,000 die due to the atomic bomb.

2. 1997 - Microsoft buys $150 million worth of shares of financially troubled Apple Computer. (WOW, don't you think that was a mistake now?)

3. 2001 - White House briefing entitled Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S. delivered to George W. Bush. This document foreshadowed the September 11, 2001 attacks.

BIRTHDAYS
1. 1911 - Lucille Ball, American actress and comedian (d. 1989)
2. 1972 - Geri Halliwell, British singer (Wasn't she a spice girl?)

DEATHS
1. 2004 - Rick James, American musician (b. 1948) I also found that 4 Popes too!

HOLIDAYS
1. Bolivia - Independence Day
2. Jamaica - Independence Day

Ok, that was fun!

GASP! Kristin is updating?

2006-03-17T13:15:20Z

Well, I do have time since I had to get to work early...here before 7:45!

This weekend will be one of the best, but busiest weekends ever! Jason and I are flying to GA to visit my parents and work on wedding stuff. No, this should be FUN wedding stuff. Dress fitting, bridal shower, talking to the florist (girly-fun for me) and cake tasting (anybody's kind of fun). Mmm-mm. We have from tonight til Monday night to get all of this done. Oh yes, marriage license too. Can't forget that. It'll be a very nice vacation from work too.

Speaking of MD stuff. I got my car MD inspected yesterday so I can get new tags for my car. It passed with flying colors - no work necessary - and actually, got all high marks. Excellent. The work that was done on it last winter finally paid off. But I will miss my GA tags. Maybe they'll let me keep them? Who knows... they took my license (my 21st birthday present/event I gave myself) without even a blink - down the drain of wherever it goes.

Anyway... enough for now.

If everyone else jumped off a bridge.....

2006-01-28T14:05:37Z

I guess I would too....

Four jobs I've had:
1. Baker, prepper, sales, and whatever else at Atlanta Bread Company
2. Task worker at WAWPUF (a family friend's company)
3. Middle school youth advisor
4. Faculty Research Assistant at the University of Maryland

Four movies I can watch over and over:
1. While You Were Sleeping
2. When Harry Met Sally
3. Dirty Dancing
4. The Green Mile (that came out of left field...)

Four places I've lived:
1. Ft. Lauderdale, FL/Orange Park, FL
2. Marietta, GA
3. Athens, GA
4. Rockville, MD

Four TV shows I love:
1. Everybody Loves Raymond
2. Family Guy
3. Whose Line Is It Anyway?
4. Gilmore Girls

Ten highly regarded and recommended TV shows that I've never watched a single minute of:
1. Grey's Anatomy
2. The O.C.
3. Project Runway
4. Any of the CSI shows
5. The Biggest Loser
6. Wife Swap
7. The Office (after the pilot episode)
8. America's Next Top Model
9. Boston Legal
10. 24

Four places I've vacationed:
1. Rosedale, NY (yay family!)
2. Panama City, FL
3. Seattle, WA
4. Rocky Gap, MD

Four of my favorite dishes:
1. Salmon with a lemon butter sauce
2. Anything with cilantro
3. Lasagna
4. Icecream

Four sites I visit daily:
1. mail.umd.edu
2. Hotmail
3. fborfw.com (cute comic strip!)
4. ajc.com

Four places I would rather be right now:
1. On the beach, where I'm supposed to be on a youth advisor retreat! (stupid stomach virus!)
2. In Brunswick with J
3. Shopping... so many good sales going on at the moment
4. Any other warmer beach

Four bloggers I am tagging :
Per Walters suggestion --
If you wanna do the survey, do the survey. If not, fine.

Wow, its been a while

2006-01-17T03:11:40Z

So, yeah, it has been a while since an update, but oh well. :)

Things in life are pretty good. :) There are some details to be worked out with finalizing the church, but those should be done by this week **fingers crossed**. Oh, this reminds me. Mr. Walters, I need your AK address.

At work we are interviewing a few post-doc candidates to replace the ladies we have now (who are going off to better lands where they'll have their own labs!) This next year at work will be a transitioning period with all the personnel change.

I got to see my good friend, Nancy, today! I have known her since we were 5-years-old. Luckily, she's at an awesome internship in Getysburg, PA, so we met and had lunch. I hope we'll be able to catch up again soon. The last time I saw her was the summer before senior year in college. Wow, those years have flown by!

Go Dawgs!

2005-12-04T04:09:16Z

Woohoo! What a day!

It started with me dressing WARMLY as Jason and I were meeting a friend to take engagement photos in DC. I think we picked the coldest day of the year thus far to do them! Yay for long-johns! Anyway, we made it to the National Cathedral and its beautiful garden. This was a great idea, seeing how not much color is left in any plantage, but the greenery was great in the garden. We also traveled to the National Christmas Tree (with all the fencing around it, it was a little disappointing) and also the Lincoln Memorial and the Reflectin Pool (which still had water in it!) All in all we shot 4 rolls of black and white film and 2 rolls of color. Hopefully the pictures will be back in from CA in the next few weeks. I hope to post some of them and that a lot of them are useable for wedding stuff. But what a chilly day!

After pictures, we picked up my car from the dealership and bought our christmas tree. Yay! Its beautiful. We'll be decorating it sometime tomorrow, I think. We bought awesome new ornaments in blue, silver, and white. We also had a great dinner at Il Pizzico. LOVE the salads there.

And need I mention the GA/LSU game? GO DAWGS! I was able to watch up until 14-6, and then dinner called. But I did catch the last 4 minutes too. I am so proud of DJ. What an awesome story to tell his kids one day. I saw plenty of good Redcoat shots too. :)

Felt like a very productive day; I need more days like this one.

And now its snowing (again). Best day in weeks!

Delayed Post

2005-10-29T17:09:48Z

So I should've written this when it happened, but:

I'M ENGAGED!

Jason proposed at the house where we first met last September and then drove me to a surprise engagement party. My parents were there too!

So this week has been filled with different emotions. I'm thrilled that we're on our way to mixing our lives together, but also stressed with any wedding details.

Work is good too.

I'm ready for a vacation. :)

giggle

2005-10-19T10:35:27Z

My poor baby dyed his hair black. Oops. :)

I'm glad he's laughing about it now. :)

Pictures!

2005-09-18T03:35:28Z

Pictures of the recent vacations can be found at here!!!

Bought a photo album too. And have the pictures in it already. Wow. Go me. :)

Whirl-wind weekend

2005-09-13T01:22:33Z

Back from the west coast. Fun, but tiring.

Things I got to do:
1. Visit Mt. Sait Helen's
2. Visit Mt. Rainier
3. Visit Seattle
4. Visit with friends of Jason's parents -- his mom's old college roommate let us stay for free for two nights!
5. Visit Pike Place Market

Things I didn't get to do:
1. Visit with Jon
2. See the Pacific Ocean
3. Have time to just "chill"

And though I wish I could've done the things listed on my "didn't" list, there's a good reason. Sadly, Jason's grandpa died early Friday morning and the funeral was today, thus cutting our vacation short by 1 day. I was torn. I wanted us to be able to take our time seeing all these nifty places, but am glad we have an extra day off before going back to work (I would've gotten home tonight and headed in to work tomorrow). We need much better planning next time. We already have a list of things we need to see/do while there.

Now I'm sick. Must be the jam-packed days, the time change (which I completely forgot about until we were on the plane there), and the long flight. I think its exhaustion and dehydration. And its enough for me to call in sick to work. I know I wouldn't get too much done there.

The funeral, like most funerals, was sad. The saddest moment was when J commented that "they cycle has started" with the men in his family. He fears his dad might be next (which I think is all in his head, but nonetheless a common fear). I did get to meet a lot of his extended family today and dodged the questions about marriage. I now just point to J and have him explain. This next part is up to him. :)

And now I'm waiting for my friend Stephanie and her hubbie, Scott. They're crashing here for the night (I hope they don't mind a lived-in apartment) before they get their NEW PUPPY tomorrow!

Tis all for now.

coloroflilacs @ 2005-09-07T20:05:00

2005-09-08T00:06:02Z

Spent the weekend in Blacksburg, VA visitng Mountain Lake (Dirty Dancing!!) and Virginia Tech. Great place. Psychology dept. professor is a close-friend to my current boss. They're excited to introduce me to the faculty. Hmm... connections there? Possibly. :) We'll have to make another trip for that. Mountain Lake was BEAUTIFUL! So peaceful and fun. The gazebo! The best!

Now I'm zipping off tomorrow with Jason to Portland, OR and Seattle, WA! Visiting friends and sightseeing. Possibly the Pacific Ocean (a first for me). V. excited!

And then good ol' Homecoming in October! Cannot wait to see the family and home again. And show off UGA to Jason.

Had my first experience working with the middle school youth group last night. V. fun. Was Miss Scarlet fron CLUE.

Life is good -- mostly. Will see after a week Thursday. Its probably nothing.

What a day!

2005-08-13T17:24:25Z

Today is Saturday -- and I'm at work...

It all started this morning... Saturday traffic is usually light, USUALLY. Not today. There was an accident on I-495 that blocked ALL lanes. It took me 1 1/2 hours to get to work. I arrived at the office at the exact time when we should've started the visit. Oy. Ashley, the undergrad helping me today, arrived a few minutes later. Luckily (for my sake), the mom was stuck in the same traffic I had just endured, which gave Ashley and I a little time to set-up the visit.

To top off the hurried altered plans, the carpets had been cleaned early this morning. Like, 2AM early. All the furniture was in the hallway. Somehow Ashley and I moved everything back into their places and had only a couple of fans running (to help the drying process) when the family arrived.

Family arrives --- I LOVE THIS FAMILY! I remembered them from last year and they're just as adorable as I remembered!

Since the other family cancelled this morning, we now have some time to kill before the next visit -- giving me the chance to update my journal for all of you. :) Hopefully this next visit will run better than the last.

Oh yeah, one more annoyance... no one decided to notify the RAs (us devoted employees with back-breaking jobs) that we are EXTREMELY low on video tapes. Low as in we might not have enough for visits tomorrow and Monday. Joy. Just shoot us an e-mail... "hey, btw- we're low on tapes. I think we should order more." and VOILA, we order more. I hope there's an order option to get them the following day...

Thanks for letting me vent! :)

What the??

2005-08-12T11:33:39Z

So picture this:

I tie-up my garbage bag, open my front door to place the bag outside (so that I can take it with me when I leave this morning). I step outside AND........... my welcome mat is missing! Wha? I look around the hall and my neighbor has it in front of her door. I recognize it from the stupid stain on the right side that looks like a hotdog. Now why would she take it? Ya know what I did? I took it back and put it in its rightful place! :) I also took a sharpie and wrote my name and apartment number on it, so next time I can prove its mine. Geez... I hope there's not a next time. That would be ____________! (pointless? stupid? annoying?)

That is all...

Woowoo

2005-08-04T12:00:07Z

Our friends who are due in December are having a girl! They found out on Tuesday (and since everyone has been so busy, we didn't find out until last night!) How exciting! For some reason I thought it was a girl -- just a feeling. :) This is awesome.

Other good news: My parents are flying in for birthday celebrations starting tomorrow. Yay! I don't know what we're going to do though... my mom doesn't want to walk around much because of her arthritis in her knee. We'll figure it out. :) And I'm playing my flute in church on Sunday.

Bad news: Have to clean the apartment in time for their arrival and don't have many hours to do that. Jason's buying a new car tonight and needs my help to haggle (not really) the salesperson.

So much stuff going on around us.

Well

2005-06-19T16:08:17Z

Counseling went well last night... no bombarding of embarassing questions that you only wish you can say, "I plead the 5th." In fact, what they told us was what everyone else had been telling me (just it was in front of Jason this time). Hold fast and stay encouraged. Oh, and be supportive, with boundaries. I was kind of hoping that they'd give us a magical answer so that'd we get out of this imposing ambigousness, but alas, I should know better than that. Therapy/counseling is never going to give you a straight out answer, its there to help you listen to yourself (or others) and guide you in what to do next in solving your problem/concerns/questions. Oh well. No magical answers. We are meeting again in July to allow the things that were said last night to sink in and for us to discuss marriage.

No more writing now, we've discussed this topic enough for the moment.

A long awaited update from my only "real" vacation

2005-06-18T20:48:59Z

The beach was fantastic. Granted, there were bits and pieces that in themselves weren't all that great, but as a whole, they made a lasting impression. I wanted to write and read my way through this week, but of course that didn't happen, but my time wasn't spent totally indoors either. Jason and I made a pact to walk at least three times a day (preferably on the beach), if not more. We succeeded. Discovered Rita's custard icecream and Belly Buster's chicken fingers. I could eat that for the rest of my life. But more importantly, I was able to spend time with and without Jason. I think I connected most with God on two occassions, I was pretty lucky. For a moment, I had the chance to sit by myself on our deck, looking over the ocean at twilight, and wonder how something so predictible like the ocean crashing on the shore, could be so unpredictible. No wave was like the one before it. And where they crashed was unknown and different than the rest. But no matter what they looked like or where they landed, they were predictible that they were going to land. I don't know if that thought is profound to any one else, but it made an impact on me (thats all that matters, right?). It had me thinking about relationships, past and current, and I became satisfied in knowing God was working on it. My other connection was when we visited Chincateauge, VA on Friday. What a beautiful drive. I'm so excited that we purchased the season pass. Camping plans are being made as we speak. I realized, sitting in that car, looking out over the marshes, brooks, and fields, that I felt loved by God through Jason. (go on, say it, blah blah blah, I know). I can't really rightfully explaing it. I know I'm not nearly a good enough writer to do it justice. I was at peace with our relationship and beyond hopeful for our future.

Ahem. Anyway.

Bought a few gifts for people as well. :) Can't wait to give those out. A purse each for my mom and sister, some sugar-free taffy for my dad, and a couple of things for the girls at work. It was sad to leave the beach; I wanted to stay at least a little longer. Maybe another weekend trip is on its way.

Jason and I are (hopefully) starting counseling tonight. Will update on that later.

coloroflilacs @ 2005-06-04T00:43:00

2005-06-04T04:44:55Z

MY SISTER'S ENGAGED!

Its been a long time a'comin'. Yay!

Congrats to the happy couple!