Thanksgiving

This year because we're in our new house and we have LOTS more room, we decided to host one big Thanksgiving with both Chad's family and my family.  We ended up having 13 people total!  Thankfully I didn't have to cook everything - Chad's Mom and sister both cooked and we ended up with TONS of food.  I'm so thankful that we have a house where we can host both families since it's not often that our families are able to spend time together.  Here are pictures from our Thanksgiving this year:

My Halloween Treat

I love using coupons!  I've been more serious about my coupon use for the past few years and it's definitely paid off.  I've learned that when Harris Teeter has triple coupons (where they triple a coupon's value up to $.99) you need to go on the first day or all the best deals will be sold out.  So, the most recent triple coupons started on Halloween - so that was my treat for Halloween this year!  I got all the groceries seen in the picture below for $43 and SAVED $61!!!  It makes me so happy to get such good deals.  My best deals were Dawn detergent for $0.25 each (I got 2) and cat treats for $0.16 each (I got 4).

Housewarming Party

We are so excited about our new house, so we wanted to have a housewarming party so that we can show our house to all our friends and family.  Having the party also forced us to have a deadline to get some projects done around the house too!  The party went really well and it was nice to have so many friends and family over.  My only complaint was that I was so busy being the hostess that I hardly took any pictures and unfortunately a lot of the ones I took were blurry.  I hate it when the picture looks good on the camera screen, but when you upload it to the computer it's blurry.  So, I wish I had more pictures of everyone at the party, but here are the ones I did take - blurry and all:

Pumpkin Patch and Halloween

We always get our Halloween pumpkin at Hodges Farm.  We always try to support local farmers when we can and it's been our tradition for the past few years to get our pumpkins from Hodges.  This year we got a really good pumpkin that was super easy to carve too!  Here are pictures of our visit to Hodges pumpkin patch, carving our pumpkin, and our other Halloween decorations:

Fall at our New House

We are still loving every minute in our new house!  It's even prettier now that it's fall too and all the leaves are changing.  Here are some pictures of the beautiful trees around our new house this fall:

Polyface Farm Visit

My big birthday gift from Chad was going to visit and tour Joel Salatin's Polyface Farm in Virginia.  Joel Salatin is my hero - he is well known in the sustainable farming world and if you've seen the documentary Food, Inc. then you've seen him and his farm featured in that movie.  I was first introduced to Joel Salatin by the documentary Food, Inc.  I had already been reading a lot of books about the industrial food industry, but watching Food, Inc. was life changing for me.  Then I read The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan where Pollan goes to Polyface farm and works there learning all about Joel Salatin's sustainable way of farming.  In that book Joel Salatin compares the food industry to the Protestant Reformation - he basically says that we don't need the government to pass laws banning certain farming practices or industries, but if enough people are educated about the reality of industrial food production and choose another way there is no need for any laws.  Just like when Martin Luther wrote the 95 Thesis and effectively opened the door for Protestantism, there was no need for any laws outlawing Catholicism but as people could read the Bible for themselves they could make their own choice.  This was really a lightbulb moment for me - we don't need laws to make changes - we make better choices and eventually if enough people make better choices and support their local farmers then the industrial food industry will be unnecessary.  Anyway, I'm a BIG fan of Joel Salatin and I think that he is a farming icon.  So, when I found out that Polyface offered twice monthly farm tours for only $15 each I told Chad that that's what I wanted to do for my birthday, so we bought tickets for the last weekend in September and found a place to stay in Charlottesville, VA (about an hour away from the farm).  So, here are our pictures from our weekend in Charlottesville and our Polyface Farm tour.  The best part of the whole trip was meeting Joel Salatin and getting to talk to him at the end of the farm tour - we also got a picture with him and he signed one of my books!

Jessica's Birthday

For my birthday this year my two main presents from Chad were tickets to see Dead Sara on my birthday and at the end of the month we are going to Virginia to visit Joel Salatin's Polyface Farm.  We also had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory the week of my birthday.  Originally I was supposed to work on my birthday, but thankfully a wonderful co-worker switched weekends with me so I could be off on my birthday.  So, Chad and I were able to spend the whole day together.

There was a Self Reliance Expo in Hickory, NC on my birthday weekend that Chad was really interested in going to, so we did that in the morning and went to the Dead Sara concert that night.  At the Self Reliance Expo Chad got to meet Jack Spirko who is one of his favorite podcasters.  Chad has been listening to Jack for the past few years so it was really cool for him to get to meet Jack in person.  I kind of had to twist Chad's arm to get him to ask for a picture with Jack, so here it is:

For the past few years there have been some really good concerts around my birthday, so I was super excited when I found out Dead Sara was playing in Charlotte on my birthday!  When I first heard Dead Sara on the radio I KNEW I would love their music and bought their CD within a week or two of first hearing them on the radio.  Chad isn't always as excited about going to concerts as I am and he hadn't really listened to the Dead Sara CD much before we went to the show.  But, as soon as they started playing he leaned over and said "Holy S#*% this girl can sing!" and he loved every minute of the show as much as I did.  They really put on an incredible show too - they REALLY rocked out.  I was VERY impressed!  They even did a cover of "Bulls on Parade" by Rage Against the Machine which was super impressive.  I would love to see them again - they just killed it.  I loved the CD and it barely does justice to how good the band is live.  It was definitely one of the best concerts I have EVER been to (and I've been to a LOT of concerts)!  Here are my pictures from the Dead Sara show:

Family Visit

My Dad usually comes to visit us in the summer to celebrate birthdays - my brother and Chad's birthdays are in July and my Dad and my birthdays are in September.  This year for the birthday celebrations my Dad and my Grandmother were able to come visit us so they could see our new house.  Unfortunately I forgot to take any pictures when we went out for the birthday dinner with all of us, but I did get a picture of me, my Dad, and my Grandmother in front of our new house.

Updating Our New House

Our new house already had quite a few updates done before we purchased it, but we recently painted the main bathroom and laundry area and made a few other changes.  I got the idea for the laundry room from something I saw on Pinterest and it turned out great!  Here are the before and after pictures of the main bathroom and laundry room updates:

Matthews Alive 2012

Since I grew up in the Matthews area I've always loved going to the Matthews Alive parade and festival (when I was a kid it was called Stumptown).  This year Chad & I were able to go to the parade, which seemed a little shorter this year.  After the parade we stopped by the Matthews Library to see one of my friends and former co-workers Debi.  Debi gave us the grand tour of the Matthews Library and I really miss working with her so it was great to see her again.  Unfortunately it was SO hot and humid that we didn't really stay too long at the festival area.  But, I still always enjoy going whenever I can.  Here are some pictures from the parade:

August 2012 Cat Pictures

Sandy & Roxy snuggling - they look like a heart!

Roxy was enthralled with this lizard on our deck.

Sandy enjoying one of our new chairs.

C&J Services 5 Year Anniversary

On August 27, 2007 Chad started his own business C&J Services.  Since Chad did all the work himself in the beginning I helped him on Labor Day in 2007 and 2008.  In 2011 Chad hired his first employee, but unfortunately he wasn't really cut out for this type of work and Chad had to let him go after 2 months.  Then in the fall of 2011 Chad hired his cousin Jarren as a sub-contractor and in 2012 he hired James as another sub-contractor.  In 2012 we celebrated 5 years of C&J Services being in business!  Starting this business was a leap of faith for us and we give God all the credit with the success of Chad's business.  Not long after Chad started his business the economy crashed and the housing market fell apart (which was a BIG part of Chad's work) and Chad's work dropped down to hardly anything, but he pursued more handyman stuff and we pulled through.  Now he has more work than all 3 of them can get done!  Here are some pictures from the early days of C&J Services and from our 5 Year Anniversary Celebration:

Some of the Reasons Why I Love My Church

This is a picture I took with my phone of some of the 358 stocked backpacks that members at my church Mecklenburg Community Church donated to A Child's Place.  A Child's Place is a local organization that helps homeless children prepare for school.  Last year was the first year that our church partnered with A Child's Place, so I was very excited to buy and stock 2 backpacks for this year!  This is just one of the many reasons why I love my church - we don't just talk about helping people in need we actually DO it.

For the past 6 months or so our church has been undergoing an expansion project with our building.  We have now doubled the seating capacity at our main campus by adding a balcony level with stadium style seating.  Over the summer while the auditorium was being worked on Meck members were asked to attend another campus so Chad & I got to check out both the Lake Norman and Mountain Island Lake campuses. Since Chad led worship at the first Lake Norman satellite campus, it was cool for us to be able to see how Meck has grown from that first satellite campus experience.  This past Sunday was the first weekend that the balcony was open and we were able to sit up there where I took this picture with my phone during the worship time.  I'm so thankful to be a part of a church that is growing so much that we've had to expand our physical spaces at all our locations!

Some other stats about our church:

One of our goals is to grow 15% each year which is a REALLY big goal when many churches are rapidly losing people instead of growing.  Between 2011-12 Meck grew by 18.56%!

Of that growth this year between 61-77% of those people were unchurched before attending Meck.

Baptisms since Meck began:

1993-97 - 164

1998-02 - 319

2003-07 - 502

2008-12(ytd) - 985

Roxy and Sandy at the New House

Roxy and Sandy did very well with our move.  We kept them confined to a room in our townhouse while we moved all our stuff out, then came back to get them once we had unloaded most of our stuff into the new house.  Then we kept them confined to our bedroom in the new house for the first two days.  After that we let them explore the new house.  At first they were more skittish and kept running back to our room to hide under the bed every time they heard a noise.  Now they've really settled in and are enjoying the new house just as much as we are.  Here are some pictures of the cats in our new house:

Enjoying Our New House

The previous owner of our house did a lot of updates and upgrades so there weren't any major things we needed to work on right away.  In the kitchen there was a cook top and separate wall oven, which would have been OK, but the oven was so tiny I don't think any of my pans would have fit in it!  So, we decided to buy a new range and Chad and one of the guys who works for him Jarren, removed the cook top and installed the new range the weekend we moved in.  Chad also immediately started working on building a work bench area in the basement so that he would have a space set up to start working on household projects.  Here are some pictures the updates we did to our new house:




Here are some other pictures of us enjoying our new house!

Our Dream House!!!

When we found this house we knew immediately that it was everything we wanted and more!  Chad originally saw the house listed online, but before we could go see it it went "under contract", but then a month or so later it was back on the market because the financing fell through with the last contract.  We saw the house on a Friday and by Monday we had made an offer and it was accepted - then we had to start the mountain of paperwork for the loan.  Thankfully we had a wonderful realtor and mortgage lender who helped us navigate this process since it had been over 8 years since we had purchased our townhouse.  At the end of July we closed on our new house!  It's a brick ranch with a full basement on 3 acres - we were hoping for a brick ranch on at least half an acre and a basement would have been a huge bonus, so this was everything we were looking for and MORE.  We are so excited to finally be in our dream house!

Change of Plans...

While our house was for sale we were looking at other houses so if our townhouse sold we would have other houses in mind that we might want to buy.  So, we found our dream house and loved it so much that we saw it on a Friday and had made an offer on it the following Monday - our offer was accepted the same day.  So, we decided to keep our townhouse and rent it out and buy our dream house.  We had always thought about trying to keep our townhouse, but wanted to at least try to sell it first.  We just couldn't pass up the opportunity for our dream house!  So, we had a slight change of plans...and now we're packing up our townhouse and putting it up for rent.

When we decided to try to sell our house we planted ornamental flowers in our garden beds.  I posted pictures a few months ago right after we planted them.  So, for the last pictures from our townhouse I wanted to show how much those flowers have grown.  It's been a few years since we grew ornamental flowers and I think at our next house we'll have plenty of room for both a vegetable garden AND some ornamentals!

Our townhouse back "yard."

The lantana really got big!

A butterfly on the lantana.

The other flowers that I can't remember the name of.

4th of July

I love the 4th of July!  For probably the last 10 years Chad & I have been going to the Harrisburg 4th of July parade and the two nights of fireworks.  For at least the last 5 years we've met our friends Becca & Jason and Paul & Kelly and watched the parade together.  Thankfully Jason is willing to get out really early (like 6am) to save a good spot for us.  The parade and festivities have really grown in Harrisburg over the past few years and if you don't get there early you won't have a good spot to watch the parade.  This year is was REALLY hot and humid, but we still had a great time - we just look really sweaty in most of the pictures!  Here are some pictures from our 4th of July fun:

We were able to spend a week at Wrightsville Beach in June.  The weather was absolutely perfect while we were there too - low to mid 80's and sunny.  Unfortunately since it was so nice Chad got REALLY sunburned our first day out at the beach!  So, he couldn't really go out on the beach in the mornings, but we would hang out or walk in the evenings so he still got to enjoy being there.  Because he's a great husband he didn't mind that I still went out on the beach most mornings to enjoy the great weather and swim in the ocean.  We really had a great time just relaxing for a week!  Here are some pictures from our trip:

June Fun

We were able to attend our younger niece Karissa's 5th grade graduation ceremony.  We found out about it at the last minute, but thankfully Chad & I were able to go into work a little late so we could be there.  Here are some pictures from her graduation:




We were also able to attend the birthday party for Braden and Katie - the kids of our good friends Becca and Jason. Braden turns 4 in July and Katie turned 2 in June. Luckily their party was the night before we left for vacation so we were able to squeeze that in and start our vacation off with a great birthday party. Here are some pictures from that evening:

May Bird and Cat Pictures

Here are some pictures from our bird feeder and of the cats from the month of May.  We finally had a goldfinch come visit and we've had lots of cardinals come by which makes me very happy!

Sandy looking cute sleeping behind the blanket basket.

Roxy looking out the sun room windows.

Dating, Wedding, and Honeymoon old pictures

I was inspired by our 12 year wedding anniversary to pull out some old pictures and scan them onto our computer.  I can't believe it's been 12 years that we've been married and looking back at the pictures from when we were dating we look like babies!  Here are some pictures of us when we were dating, from our wedding (mostly candid shots that friends took), and from our honeymoon in Prince Edward Island, Canada:


Pictures from when we were dating



Pictures from our wedding at the Latimer House in downtown Wilmington, NC



Pictures from our honeymoon in Prince Edward Island, Canada

12 Year Wedding Anniversary

This April Chad & I have been married for 12 years!  I still can't believe it's been that long.  We decided to just stay home this year and not go away for our anniversary.  We went to eat at the Cheesecake Factory and Chad got me a beautiful Tommy Hilfiger bracelet.  I'm getting him a new ipod since I accidentally washed his in the washing machine a few months ago.  We also took a trip to the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia, SC.  I hadn't been to that zoo since I was a teenager.  Honestly, it was just OK.  The Asheboro Zoo is MUCH, MUCH nicer and I would definitely recommend it over Riverbanks.  We did have a good time though and it's always cool to get to see lots of animals.  The best part was when we went to the Galapagos tortoise area and two of the tortoises had recently had 5 babies - these were the FIRST live birth Galapagos tortoises in the zoo's history!  So, it was really cool to get to see that.  And there was a nice walking trail through some woods to get from the zoo to the botanical garden and we really enjoyed that part too.  Here are some pictures from our Riverbanks Zoo visit:

Hoping and Praying...

We've gone back and forth over the past few years about whether to try to sell our house or try to keep it as an investment and rent it out.  We've met with realtors a few times and even gone to look at other houses, but always decided to just wait a little longer.  So, now we've finally decided to put it on the market!  We are really hoping and praying that it sells soon and we can FINALLY get into a house with a yard and a garage.

Since we decided to put our house on the market we ended up planting flowers in our newly renovated garden beds.  I will REALLY miss our garden this year, but it's a small sacrifice to get closer to having a house where we can really garden on a much larger scale.

Cardinals are BACK!!!

A few months ago I decided to buy some "better" birdseed from Petsmart for my bird feeder.  Well, apparently none of my birds liked it because only Mockingbirds were eating it!  So, I finally gave away that "better" birdseed and got some from Lowe's.  We had Cardinals come by sometimes before and I wanted to try to draw them back so I got the "songbird Cardinal mix" and it worked!  Here are some of the pictures of Mr. & Mrs. Cardinal that I've taken in the last week or two.

Easter @ Verizon 2012

This is the 4th year our church has had our Easter service at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater.  We now have multiple physical locations (our main campus, 2 local satellite campuses, and even a location in the UAE) so it's really cool to see a location as big as Verizon be used for a church service.  This year Chad & I volunteered at one of the water stations.  Meck sold water bottles for $1 each (cheapest thing you'd EVER buy at Verizon!) to support the Mission trips that Meck sponsors each year.  I'm really glad we were able to volunteer and it was a lot of fun.  We got to meet some other members and we were still able to experience the service, just from a little further away (we were in the lawn area).  I told Chad that I think we should make it a new tradition to serve in some way for the Easter service at Verizon.  Every regular service requires hundreds of volunteers, but to pull off having a service at Verizon requires even more volunteers, so I think it would be a fun new tradition for us.  Here are some pictures from Meck's Easter @ Verizon service this year:

Back Yard Re-Design

Since we live in a townhouse we try to make the best with our tiny back yard.  For the past 2 years we've had 3 raised beds where we grew vegetables during the spring and summer.  This year we decided to make some changes since the back bed (against the house) just didn't get enough sunlight.  So, we expanded one of our other beds into a larger bed and turned the bed against the house into an extended patio area.  Here are some pictures of before, during, and after our re-design:

Sandy & Roxy's "New" Bed

Sandy & Roxy love it when my Mom comes to stay with us because we pull out the futon into a bed and they love having a "new" bed to sleep on!

March 2012 Wilmington Trip

When my Mom comes back to NC I always try to take time off work so we can spend time together.  Chad & I went to Wilmington for a quick weekend trip to visit my Mom and Grandmother.  The weather was absolutely incredible too - upper 70's or low 80's and sunny.  It was abnormal for March, but we definitely enjoyed it!  We were only there a few days and mostly just hung out with my Mom and Grandmother, but here are a few pictures from our trip:

Hickory Grove Library

I worked at the old Hickory Grove library location from June 2001 - September 2003.  In 2010 they finally opened a new building, which they had been promising since I was working there!  The new building is beautiful and the staff area is bigger than the whole library was at the old location.  Here are some pictures of the old and new Hickory Grove library:

Georgia side trips

On the way down to and home from Florida for my cousin's wedding we stopped in Georgia to break up the trip.  On the way down we stopped overnight in Savannah, GA.  We didn't have time to really do much, but it was very pretty and I'd love to go back for a longer trip.  Here are our pictures from Savannah:




On the way home we spent the night in St. Simon's Island GA, and other than having to go over a HUGE bridge it was so beautiful there. We were able to stop by the Georgia Sea Turtle Center on the way home, but I'd love to go back there too. Here are our pictures from St. Simon's Island:

Florida Wedding

My cousin Davy got married on March 3, 2012 in Melbourne, FL.  Chad & I were able to go down and be there for the wedding.  My Mom and Grandmother came too, so it was kind of a mini family reunion.  The weather was beautiful and it was really nice seeing everyone.  The last time we had been to FL was in 2006 when my other cousin Phillip got married, so it had been awhile since we'd been down there.  Here are some pictures from the wedding weekend.

Here are some of the pre-wedding pictures: 

The wedding ceremony: 

The wedding reception: 

The day after the wedding was overcast and much cooler, but the water was still so pretty. 

There were also 2 weddings held at the hotel where we stayed and we noticed this guy across the courtyard from our room. It looks like he had a pretty rough night!

New Bird Seed

I had been buying a giant bag of bird seed at BJ's that was their generic brand.  I wanted to try to attract more cardinals and goldfinches to my feeder, so I decided to buy some "nicer" more expensive bird seed at Petsmart.  But, apparently the only birds that like the "better" seed are mockingbirds - which I don't like because they are mean birds who constantly harass other birds.  Then, recently I finally saw some other birds at the feeder - I hurried to get some pictures since I was so happy to see something other than mockingbirds out there!  Hopefully they'll come back so I can use up the rest of this "better" seed and go back to the BJ's brand that attracted lots of different birds.

Sweet Sandy

Recently Sandy has been very affectionate with Chad.  He thinks it's because she knows he's the one who usually gets out the mouse laser pointer to play with her, but she is just a very sweet cat.  Recently after dinner when we're relaxing on the couch she will go over to his side and climb all over him giving him head-butts and purring.  Then when she's done she'll lay down on the arm of the couch for awhile.  It's so cute and I was finally able to get some pictures with my phone.  Here are a few pictures of Sandy being especially sweet.

Valentine's Day

This year Chad & I celebrated Valentine's Day early because I had to work until 8pm on Valentine's Day.  But, like I told one of my co-workers we probably would have still celebrated early even if I didn't have to work that night because we're an old married couple who likes to avoid crowds!  While we do celebrate Valentine's Day we don't make a big deal over it - we usually just go out to dinner somewhere nicer and exchange cards or maybe a small gift.  I don't need a holiday to show my love to Chad I go home to the love of my life every day!  Here is a picture of us before we went out for our early Valentine's Day celebration.

January & February 2012 Cat Pictures

Here are some cute pictures of Sandy & Roxy to start of 2012!

Sandy sleeping among all our Christmas decorations before they were put back in the attic.

Sandy inside the cat's new cube bed.

Roxy keeping Chad warm on the couch.

Sandy cuddling with Chad upstairs on the futon.

Top 10 Books of 2011

This year was a record year of reading for me, I read 87 books in 2011!  Here are my top 10 picks - these are not necessarily books published in 2011, just books I read this year.  Here is my list:

Fiction

Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks
Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok
The Last Letter From Your Lover by Jo Jo Moyes
Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Non-Fiction

The Pioneer Woman by Ree Drummond
The Kitchen Counter Cooking School by Kathleen Flinn
A Secret Gift by Ted Gup
Animal Factory by David Kirby
A Thousand Lives by Julia Scheeres

2011 Totals

At the beginning of this year I made it a goal to see if I could save even more money with coupons by being more strategic.  I signed up for the Harris Teeter and Lowe's Foods e-mail ads that way I could check the ads each week and combine the sales with my coupons.  This takes only a little extra time each week to look through these online ads and it's made a BIG difference in how I shop.  Now instead of deciding what to eat each week and buying what I need for those meals I buy what is on sale and what I have coupons for and then base our meals on what we already have at home.  I still have to buy milk and vegetables, but this has changed how I shop for groceries.

So, this year we saved $1597.04 with coupons!  This is almost $400 more than last year so I think my new way of shopping has definitely made a difference!


Our 2011 Garden Harvest totals:

4 yellow squash plants = 37 squash
4 zucchini plants = 22 zucchini
2 cucumber plants = 7 cucumbers (we had a problem with some worm eating all our cucumbers)
2 lima bean plants = 28 pods
2 kidney bean plants = 25 pods
5 okra plants = 318 pods = 18 bags of cut and breaded okra