better late than never???

Well, well, well......we actually meet again. It's been a little over 3 months since my last post. Sad. I had hoped to be doing better, but it turns out that I am putting way too much thought into this whole blogging thing. I like to have something to talk about, but most times I am too exhausted to come up with something clever and worth your time reading. I am trying to remember that this is purely fun and informative. So, I grabbed the laptop and here I am. ;)


Life has been in FULL swing lately. Summer has come to an end and gone are the days of vacations, projects around the house, and weekly breakfasts with the BEST.


Chris and I were able to take some fun "One year pics" with our friend Melissa. She was wonderful despite the hot and humid temperatures. We tried to be the same. Here are a few of my faves. It was fun just to love on each other for a little bit :)



love this one......


i love my man...

on an old abandoned boat we found out in the trees...

I have this idea that I want to capture each year of our marriage with pictures of some sort. I just think it will be fun to look back over the years and see how much we've changed. I LOVE looking at pictures from my childhood and how fun it would be to look back at some from adulthood as well. Pictures are cool things. Just so neat to push a button and capture an exact moment. And most of the time, feelings, too. I just love it. Thank you, Melissa, for working your magic. We are so pleased.

In the another world of pictures, I finally received my custom wedding album that I waited over a year to order. It is absolutely perfect. I want 10 more just in case something happens to it, but that is not possible. They are pretty pricey. I am so blessed that I was able to get even the first one! I'll do my best to keep it safe! ;)

Full time work began for me in the last week of July and it has not stopped since. I am absolutely loving what I am doing and am so thankful that I made the switch from teaching. Everyday is a new and different day of tasks. It keeps me on my toes. I work with some of those most wonderful people and for that I am grateful. They appreciate the work that I do and that is what keeps me going. I love being needed and I love the thankful hearts that come along with it. Sometimes they thank me so much that I have to remind them that it is my job and that I do get a paycheck! ;) I have been referred to as "Heaven in a Honda" and also been told that Houndstooth needs to buy me an RV so that I can travel to all of the stores and work there as much as I do in LR and NLR. Haha.

I feel like we are on the right track and that change is happening. I love to make a difference. I live to make a difference.

With change comes great sacrifice. Chris misses out on home cooked meals most nights of the week, but he has been doing his best to be supportive and understanding of my new schedule. I work when I'm needed. Morning, nights, and occaisonal overnights ;) Just as I had to make adjustments to his studying, he has had to make adjustments to my working. Neither of our endeavors is more important than the other. They both either put food on our table now (or in our to go bags) or will in the future. I thank him for letting me live my life and trusting my decisions. I truly feel like I am doing what's right in this stage of my life. I am happier. Staying up late and waking up later. That alone is enough to make life a little more pleasant. It's 10:30 and I'm not freaking out about not being asleep already! Yay!

A couple of weeks ago, I worked longer than I have ever worked. I think it was about 29 hours in 2 days. Whoa. I was not prepared for that. My little feet were not prepared for that. Me and a couple of other girls that I work with had to stay at the mall until 3 a.m. to finish folding shirts and getting ready for the next days game. I came home and grabbed some pears that Chris had already cut up for me because I was starving. I jumped in bed and crunched away while he slept. I was overtired and could not get right to sleep. All I could think about was how I was going to get through the next day. All night my feet cramped up and ached and I just kept tossing and turning. When the alarm went off and I got in the shower, I just sobbed. I felt like I could barely stand, let alone work another 12 hour day. But somehow, I made it through. We had record sales that day and for some reason that is enough to make you forget about how bad it hurts to stand. We had such a good day and everyone that was there to work had been a Team Leader at some point. The day went off without a hitch. Except for the crazy lady that brought back a long sleeved shirt that hadn't been sold in almost a year. It had a bleached looking hole all the way through the front and back of the shirt. The best part is that she said it came like that!!! Lol. That was funny. The crowd was so large and the last thing we needed was an argument, so we allowed her to exchange it! I bet she had been waiting for a busy day such as this to "hope we won't notice or put up a fight." We win some, we lose some. Below is a picture of the wonderful ladies that made it all happen. It takes a long time to fold that many shirts, but we put our big girl pants on and got to work. Complaining is for the birds and does not change your circumstance.

my friend on facebook said it best, "all smiling faces...what a blessing"

As much as I miss some of my kids from school, I don't miss feeling like I had no control. You do all you can, but because of the school system, some of the kids also do "all they can" but it is most times to the detriment of others. I don't miss that. I will go back. Just not here. Just not now.

Chris and I are on a new budget. It's funny that it started in August of 09 and not January. :) We are saving up because there is a possibility that my position with Houndstooth may not exist after December of this year. Kind of a curve ball, but luckily we have had practice with curve balls before. We plan for the worst and hope and pray for the best. I have come to terms with it because life is too short to be anything but happy. If this position got me out of what I was in....then I will take it. For 5 months, or a year, or whatever God has for me. It has not been fun passing up items that I would've bought in a heartbeat before, but it has been fun watching our savings account grow and having limits. I am still by no means deprived. I am well taken care of.

Well, friends. I think I may be done for tonight. So much more has happened but once again, I have waited so long to post that it would be too lengthy to include everything. So I hope this will suffice.