February 16, 2013 Snow Day

We got a surprise snow day right after Valentine's Day this year!  On Saturday it started out snowing, but not sticking to the ground and Chad checked the weather report and they were calling for it to change to rain later in the day.  We were out running errands and around 3:30 it really started snowing hard and sticking to the ground.  As we were driving home everything was just blanketed in snow - it was so beautiful.  When we got home we immediately went out in our neighborhood to take pictures and enjoy the unexpected snow.  It was so nice and I wish it would have snowed more, but by the next day the sun was out and it was a little warmer so all the snow was pretty much gone by lunchtime.  It was nice while it lasted though!  Here are our pictures from the snow day:

January 2013 Animal Pictures

We've seen so many birds and animals at our new house, but it's hard to get pictures - either we don't have a camera handy or they are so fast you don't even have time to take a picture.  But the first week in January a huge hawk came and hung out in a tree in our backyard for close to 30 minutes before he flew back into the woods.  I was so excited to get some good pictures!




Here are a few cat pictures of Sandy and Roxy to start off the new year! We got them a new toy bin and so far Roxy has enjoyed getting inside the bin and pulling ALL the toys out!

Bigger is NOT Always Better

I just finished reading this book Greenhorns: the next generation of American farmers edited by Zoe Bradbury, Severine von Tscharner Fleming, and Paula Manalo.  The book is a collection of essays written by new farmers.  The book overall was very interesting and it makes me happy to know that this is only a sampling of all the new people who are choosing to be farmers despite the many obstacles they face.  One essay in particular really jumped out at me.  Samuel Anderson is the livestock coordinator at the New Entry Sustainable Farming Project in Massachusetts.  The essay describes him going to the International Poultry Expo in Atlanta, GA.  Because of the growing problem of small farms trying to find access to local and small-scale slaughterhouses, Anderson was working with mobile poultry-processing units that his organization trained farmers to use, so they could kill and process their own poultry for sale at local markets. 

"It's a foregone conclusion in the big poultry industry that, as the University of Georgia's broiler information web page bluntly puts it, 'Having an independent broiler-growing operation is no longer feasible.' In fact, according to the site, there is actually no such thing as an independent chicken farmer anymore; 'approximately 99 percent of all broilers are produced under contract, with the remaining production occurring on integrator-owned farms [those that are owned by the same vertically integrated company that owns every stage of production, including the processing facility and the retail brand].' The argument is that small-scale production can't compete with the low prices of the ultra-efficient industrial operations...As it turns out...there are still independent chicken farmers in the world, and they've proved that it can pencil out. In 2010, three Massachusetts producers utilized a mobile poultry-processing unit to legally process their chickens. Each raised, hand-processed, and sold between eight hundred and twelve hundred, all grown on pasture. Through farmers' markets, restaurants, and presales directly to consumers, these birds fetched from four dollars and fifty cents to six dollars per pound. Some of those chickens topped thirty dollars each. Compare that to contract chicken farmers. They get paid between 3.8 and 4.6 cents per pound of live weight. That means that a particularly efficient producer might gross a whopping twenty-five cents for each bird. During the ten to fifteen years it takes a contract producer to pay off the hundred thousand dollars in up-front cost of building and outfitting a poultry house that meets Tyson's or Perdue's standards, the farmer needs to grow well over a hundred thousand birds a year just to net five thousand dollars. The savvier independent chicken farmers are making a hundred and twenty times more than the gross per-bird return of a contract broiler. One of these producers calculated her annual net return at somewhere around ten thousand dollars - raising fewer than 1 percent of the birds it would take a contract grower to get there." (p. 149-151)

I love how the University of Georgia is basically telling future or current farmers that it is impossible to be an independent chicken farmer and basically go big or go home - when I'm sure they are NOT telling them they will make a whopping quarter ($.25 cents) per chicken they raise commercially and they will have to take on a HUGE amount of debt to get started.  This book and many other local, small farmers are proving this wrong every day.  

This reminded me of what Joel Salatin says in The Omnivore's Dilemma when he compares the industrial food system to the Protestant Reformation.  When people could read the Bible for themselves they didn't need a priest or someone else to tell them what to do or how to live - they could read and interpret Scripture for themselves.  They didn't try to outlaw Catholicism or close down all the Catholic churches - they just chose to go a different way for themselves.  It's the same way with the industrialized food system - we don't need more laws to ban chemicals or outlaw non-organic food.  We vote with our fork and our money three times a day with what we choose to eat and if we want we can opt out of the industrialized food industry.  That analogy in The Omnivore's Dilemma was really a light-bulb moment for me - I clearly saw how I could make the changes in my life that would eliminate dependence on the industrial food industry.  I definitely think that despite the contrary claims of the industrial food system - bigger is NOT better when it comes to food.

One last quote from the book I loved "The best things in life - growing your own food, living and working with your neighbors, being outside in an open space - are being lost." (p. 113)

Top 10 Books of 2012

So, in 2012 I read 93 books!  Here are my top 10 picks for 2012:

Fiction

The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins
The Underside of Joy by Sere Prince Halverson
Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult
Freeman by Leonard Pitts, Jr.
The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman

Non-Fiction

Tomatoland by Barry Estabrook
Unorthodox by Deborah Feldman
Thunder Dog by Michael Hingson
Folks, This Ain't Normal by Joel Salatin
My Berlin Kitchen by Luisa Weiss

2012 Coupon Savings

I've been keeping track of how much we save by using coupons and shopping sales.  For the past year or two I've tried to be more strategic with how I use coupons to get the best deals and save the most money.  Now the way I shop has completely changed.  Instead of making a list of what we need each week and buying it whether it's on sale or not I mostly buy only what is on sale and/or what I have coupons for - preferably combining sales with my coupons.  Then I plan meals around staples that we already have on hand.  It took me a little while to transition to this way of shopping, but it's MUCH easier.  I get all of our meat and most of our produce from the Farmer's Market and buy staples/canned goods/etc. around sales and coupons.  Of course sometimes I still have to stop by the store for something specific, but overall this is how I shop now and I really think it's making a difference with how much money we save.

So, in 2012 I saved $1855.19 by using coupons!  That is $258 MORE than in 2011!  My goal for 2013 is to save at least $2000.

Our Christmas Card photo

We don't normally do photos for our Christmas cards because I LOVE Christmas cards and enjoy finding unique Christmas cards to send out.  So this year because I wanted distant family and friends to see the pictures of our new house we created a photo collage to include with our Christmas cards.  This was the main picture and it just sums up how we feel about our new house:

Here are some more pictures of the cats this Christmas:

Our Christmas

Chad & I were very excited about spending Christmas in our new house.  Here are pictures of us opening our gifts from each other and pictures of the cats "opening" the gifts in their stockings.  Usually we try to get a video of the cats playing with their Christmas gifts, but this year we didn't get a video.  

The cats enjoying their Christmas gifts

Christmas With Our Families

This year I was so thankful to get to spend Christmas with my Mom.  We haven't spent Christmas together since she moved to Hawaii in 2005.  Unfortunately my step-father Mike wasn't able to come with my Mom for Christmas in NC, but we were able to Skype with him on Christmas Day so we could watch him open his gifts from us.  And we were able to give him a virtual tour of our new house via Skype too!  Because my Mom was here for Christmas we celebrated with Chad's family a little early.  My other grandmother recently had to move into an assisted living facility so she and my Dad weren't able to come for Christmas this year since she was still settling into her new home.  Here are some pictures from our Christmas celebrations with our families:


Here are the pictures of our Christmas with Chad's family



While my Mom was in town we took a few family pictures after we had dinner at Cracker Barrel



Here are the pictures from Christmas Day with my family

Christmas 2012 Celebrations

We have some Christmas traditions that we look forward to every year.  One of those traditions is a Christmas party with a group of friends who we used to be in a small group with together.  Even though we're not in that small group anymore we've been friends for 8 or more years.  Here are pictures from that party which we hosted at our new house this year:




I don't know if this will be a new tradition or not, but this year we went to the Christmas tree lighting for the Town of Harrisburg. Our older niece's school choir was singing and she specifically invited us to come see her sing. Thankfully we were actually able to see her on the stage! It was cold, but we did enjoy getting to hear her school choir sing. We had a good time, but it doesn't compare to the Harrisburg 4th of July festivities so I'm not sure if we'll add this to our Christmas traditions. Here are a few pictures from the Harrisburg Christmas tree lighting:



My absolute favorite Christmas tradition is going to see the Behold the Lamb of God concert at our church. This was the 6th year that Chad & I have gone to see this concert and every year it's my favorite part of the Christmas season. This year my Mom was in NC for Christmas so she and Chad's Mom were able to come with us to the concert. They both LOVED it and were so glad that they could come with us. Here are some pictures for the Behold the Lamb of God concert this year:

Decorating for Christmas

We were SO excited to have Christmas in our new house!  It was so much fun decorating and getting ready for Christmas in our new house.  We even bought some new outside decorations too!  I love Christmas anyway and decorating for it, but it was even more fun this year because we're so happy with our new house.  Here are some pictures of our Christmas decorations:

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.