Cat Clocks

I am a big cat person and I LOVE my two cat clocks.  I had this Felix kit-cat clock when I was in high school that I thought was broken, but recently I pulled it out and with new batteries it was working again - not only does it keep time, but the tail and eyes move back and forth!

This clock I got last year when we went to the mountains with some friends.  It meows out loud on the hour, but I had to disable that because it was freaking out the real cats!

Going Organic

For the past few months Chad and I have been trying to eat more organic food. Organic has become such a buzz word that I almost hate to use it, but basically what I mean by “organic” is food that is grown without chemicals, hormones, not genetically modified, humanely raised, etc. We planted our own vegetable garden this year and were very happy with how much food we got from it - and I know each year we’ll get better. We’ve also been trying to buy most of our meat from the local Farmer’s Market. My theory is that we can save money in other areas and that will help when we buy the more expensive local meat. But, I also think when we buy super cheap food we pay for it in other ways - at the expense of the animal’s health and well being, with our own health and the health of the environment as well. We had been trying to incorporate more organic food into our life anyway, but after watching Food, Inc. I don’t plan on going back.

Food, Inc. does more than just talk about why organic food is better - it covers a wide range of issues that impact the food world and what we eat. It talks about the government agencies that are supposed to regulate the food industry, but are really impotent, about huge conglomerates who are taking over the food industry, about how Monsanto and their genetically modified seeds could give Satan a run for his money in pure evilness, the poor animals in factory farms - I could go on and on. I would say this movie changed my life, but really it just confirmed the direction I was already moving toward. But, after seeing this movie I have decided to make some long term changes to our lifestyle:

1) I will not buy non-organic/humanely raised meat anymore.

2) I will not eat at fast food restaurants anymore (they are the main factor behind factory farming - especially of meat).

3) I will eat more meat-free meals (both for health and also to help balance the cost of the meat I’m choosing to buy).

I would highly recommend this movie and also it’s companion book of the same name edited by Karl Weber. Here are a few other books that really had an impact on me:

Farm Sanctuary by Gene Baur
The Compassionate Carnivore by Catherine Friend
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan
Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser

Bird Visitors

I love watching the birds at our bird feeder in the front yard. 

Here is Mr. Goldfinch coming to visit.

I am also very excited that we have a Cardinal pair who come by regularly!

More Garden Pictures

I am so happy with our garden this year - we have really had good production so far and should get lots more before the season is over!  Here are some new pictures of our garden:

A beautiful okra flower.

Some okra pods growing.

Lima beans growing.

Pie pumpkins starting.

Our neighbor's cat Harley likes to hang out in our garden in the mornings.

Harley sleeping in the garden.

Cuddling Cats

Here are Roxy and Sandy cuddling on the ottoman!

July Birthdays

Both Chad and my brother Fielding's birthdays are in July.  Our friends Becca and Jason's son Braden's birthday is in July too, so we had lots of celebrations this month!  First we celebrated Fielding's birthday - here are some pictures from our dinner at Carrabbas:

Next we celebrated Braden's 2nd birthday:

Chad's birthday is the 24th and we spent the day together just hanging out and then went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner.  Here are a few pictures from our day:

New Cat Pictures

This is Roxy's favorite spot - on the back of the chair on a blanket.

Sandy sleeping in front of the coffee table.

This is one of our neighbor's cats, Harley, he loves to come visit us and occasionally peeks in the door!

Another library reassignment

Back in April I was reassigned to the Freedom Regional branch, which I was NOT happy about.  But, I knew things would change again at the beginning of the next fiscal year in July.  Thankfully at Freedom I had two great co-workers - Kate and Brittani - who made my 3 months there much, much better.  At the end of June I got another call that I was being reassigned to the University City branch.  University was my second choice all along, so I was MUCH happier with this reassignment.  I would still love to go back to Mint Hill some day, but I like University so far.  It's close to home for me and I know a few of the staff already, so I think it will be a good fit for me.  Also, about 7 years ago my Mom worked at University, so now we'll have both worked here.  PLCMC still laid off over 60 people at the end of June, but that was much less than anticipated, so hopefully we'll be OK until the end of this fiscal year.  We closed 4 locations and reduced our hours again - now all libraries are only open 4 days a week.  But, it's better than closing half or more of the total branches and hopefully this will be the lowest point and it will only get better from here.  Either way I'm much happier now being at University!

4th of July

The 4th of July is becoming one of my favorite holidays!  Harrisburg has so much to offer so Chad and I have started a few 4th of July traditions.  We can walk to the start of the parade route from our house, so we do that every year and usually meet up with some friends to watch the parade.  This year the weather was absolutely perfect!  It was cool in the morning and the walk to the parade was very pleasant.  Here are some pictures from the Harrisburg 4th of July parade:

We also usually have a cookout at our house one night around the 4th to have friends over and then we go watch the fireworks.  Harrisburg offers fireworks two nights, so this year they were on Saturday and Sunday nights.  We had our cookout on Saturday, but still went back Sunday night again to see the fireworks.  The weather couldn't have been better the whole weekend- I actually needed a jacket during the fireworks!  Here are the rest of our 4th of July pictures:

Roses from Chad

Chad got me these beautiful roses just because!  He knows I love roses, so he tries to surprise me every once in awhile.  Here are some pictures of them:

See How Our Garden Grows!

Our garden has really taken off this year - I've never seen such huge plants!  We've already gotten quite a few squash, zucchini and cucumbers too.  Here are some pictures to show the growing process:

All three raised beds.

The pumpkin starting to go up the trellis.

One of the zucchini flowers.

The garden after Chad added the trellises.

Chad extending the pumpkin trellis to the roof!

The huge pumpkin plant - almost up to the roof!

One of our many bee friends.

A zucchini growing.

Some of the cucumbers growing.

June Vacation with Melanie & Dave

We've been trying to work out a beach vacation with our friends Melanie & Dave for the past year or so.  We were finally able to work out a long weekend when we could all go to Wrightsville.  We packed a lot into our long weekend, but had a great time.  I think I want to try to take our future beach vacations in June because the water was just perfect!  We hung out on the beach, borrowed my Aunt & Uncle's kayak's and canoe, toured the Oak Island Lighthouse, took the ferry over to Ft. Fisher and went to the aquarium as well.  We also just tried to relax and hang out on the beach too.  Here are some pictures from this vacation!

The best part of my drive home from work

When I got reassigned to the Freedom library my commute is a little longer and much less scenic - I basically take I-85 most of the way.  So, now the best part of my commute home is when I get to Hodges Dairy Farm.  Not only do I get a nicer view, but I get to see the cows who are usually out when I'm coming home.  One day I had my camera with me and stopped to take a few quick pictures.  Here are the Hodges cows who greet me every day on my way back home!

Katherine Rebecca's debut

Our friends Becca & Jason thought that they couldn't have children and after years of waiting were able to adopt their son, Braden, in 2008. Then in late 2009 they found out they were expecting as well. I was so excited for them because I don't know anyone who wanted children more than Becca & Jason - and now they get to experience both adoption and giving birth! Katherine Rebecca (who will be called Katie) was born June 6th a little before 8am and weighed 6 lbs. 3 oz. and was 20.75 inches long. Chad & I were able to go visit them in the hospital the next day. Becca didn't feel up to being in the pictures, but here are some pictures of new little Katie!

Welcome Katie!

Jessica holding Katie.

Such a sweet little face.

Chad holding Katie.

Sandy Pictures

Here are some new pictures of Sandy. She loves to look out the windows - especially to watch the birds at the feeder!

Back Yard Garden

This year Chad and I decided to make the most of what little yard we have and put 3 raised beds in our back yard. Chad built the beds and put together the soil mix based on the book Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew. We planted lettuce, squash, zucchini, tomatoes, basil, broccoli, lima beans, kidney beans, pie pumpkins, and LOTS of okra. Here are a few pictures of our garden:

The seeds are just starting to sprout.

Roxy checks out the garden progress.

Less than 3 weeks after planting - pretty large plants have developed!

May Vacation Part I

In the last few years I've decided that whenever my Mom comes to NC I will try to take a week off work so that we can spend time together.  She is only able to come about twice a year right now, so I definitely want to take advantage of the time we can spend together.  When she came in May Chad and I spent a week in Wilmington with her and enjoying the beach.  Here are some pictures from our time in Wilmington:

May Vacation Part II

While we were in Wilmington with Mom we decided to go down to Myrtle Beach and visit the aqarium there and also check out some of the outlet shopping.  Here are our pictures from the aquarium:

Mom came back to Charlotte for the end of her trip.  Here are some pictures from when she was here:

Wedding Dress 10 Years Later

When we celebrated our 10 year anniversary this year I decided to see if I can still fit into my dress - and as you can see from the pictures below I can!  The veil was a little crinkly from storage, but otherwise everything was in great shape after 10 years.

This one shows off the new anniversary tattoo as well.

Jess & Chad in his top hat from the wedding.

10 Year Wedding Anniversary

This year Chad & I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary!  I can hardly believe we've been married for 10 years - it just went by so fast!  I tend to worry and think about things too much, but I can honestly say I never doubted my decision to marry Chad - we were young and probably could have benefited from waiting another year or two, but I wouldn't change a thing.  We've been through a lot and I'm looking forward to many more years together!  Here are some of the highlights of our past 10 years:

We've lived in 5 different houses and/or apartments

We've had 7 vehicles between us - and just paid off Chad's truck and have 3 payments left on my car

We've had 3 cats - Duchess who's gone now and of course Sandy & Roxy

I graduated from both my undergrad at UNCC and grad school at UNCG and Chad went back to finish his undergrad at Southeastern and after taking another break after starting his business will hopefully finish up soon!

Chad also started his own business, C & J Services, in 2007!

We attended 4 different churches - finally finding Mecklenburg Community Church in 2002 where we are currently members.

We've traveled to Prince Edward Island, Canada for our honeymoon, went to Hawaii last year for my 30th birthday, we've gone to Florida twice (the first time I got to swim with a manatee in the wild) and one of our more memorable trips we drove straight from Charlotte, NC to Branson, MO (I wouldn't want to repeat that one).

And of course this year to celebrate our anniversary we got tattoos!

Anniversary Weekend Part I

Originally for our 10 year wedding anniversary we wanted to go back to Prince Edward Island, Canada where we went on our honeymoon.  Unfortunately that was not in the budget this year, so we decided to have a long weekend in Wilmington where we were married.  On our wedding night we stayed at a Bed & Breakfast called the Rose Hill Inn, so we decided to stay there on our actual anniversary night too.  Here are our pictures from the Rose Hill Inn:

Anniversary Weekend Part II

When we got married we wanted to have the ceremony somewhere unique.  Not that we have anything against getting married in a church, but since we wanted to get married in Wilmington and didn't have a home church there we decided to get married in a historic house in downtown - the Latimer House.  We were married in the back yard and the weather was absolutely perfect that day.  So, on our anniversary weekend we went back and toured the Latimer House - here are our pictures:

Anniversary Weekend Part III

The majority of our anniversary trip was just spent relaxing.  We walked on the beach and just enjoyed being together.  Chad also wanted me to go to the gun range and learn to shoot a hand gun.  We borrowed a friend's 22 calibur hand gun and that was what I was most comfortable shooting, but I did shoot Chad's 9mm hand gun too.  We really enjoyed every minute of our 10th anniversary weekend.  Here are the last few pictures:

Anniversary Tattoos!

Chad and I had talked for a long time about possibly getting tattoos for our 10 year wedding anniversary.  As the time got closer we decided that we would definitely do it!  We each had one other tattoo that we had gotten done at Immortal Images in Charlotte, so we wanted to go back there again.  We were lucky to be able to get our tattoos only a week after our consultation.  We knew that we wanted our tattoos to symbolize our marriage, but not just have our names or wedding date.  When we were first married we were trying to live in Wilmington and we were so broke it was ridiculous!  Most days after dinner we would go and walk on the beach because it was cooler than our house and it was free.  One day we were walking and one of us picked up a scallop shell with our big toe and tried to see who could throw the shell the furthest from the same point.  Just a spur of the moment thing to have fun.  When we finished we kept the shell and somehow that just turned into a symbol of our marriage.  I know that with Chad no matter how much money we have or what the circumstances are we always have fun together and enjoy being together.  So, we were so excited to get these tattoos!  Here are some pictures of our tattoos:

More bird pictures

These are now my new favorite bird pictures - I noticed Mr. Goldfinch hanging out on a branch while Mrs. Goldfinch was eating at the feeder.  Here are the new pictures of them:

Mr. Goldfinch

Mr. & Mrs. Goldfinch

Yard Sale

Our friends Melanie and Dave just finished renovating their house recently and wanted to have a yard sale so they could go through all their stuff as they moved into the new parts of the house.  Chad and I decided to join in even though we didn't have all that much to sell.  They made a pretty good amount of money and we made about $50 - but we enjoyed helping them and meeting some of their neighbors who also participated.  Here are some pictures from the yard sale:

Baby Shower for Becca

We've been friends with Becca & Jason for about 6 years now.  They hadn't been able to have children and ended up adopting after waiting almost 2 years for a baby - they got Braden in July 2008.  Then at the end of 2009 they found out they were pregnant!  Chad and I are SO happy for them - I don't know anyone who wanted children more than Becca and Jason.  Now they will have one of each since they are expecting a girl, Katie, in June of this year.  Kelly and I threw Becca a baby shower this past weekend for when Katie comes, here are some pictures from the party: