Home Sweet Home

My new favorite thing is decorating my house. Room by room things are coming together. My bedroom, office and living room are complete! They've all been painted and are complete with furniture. The living room could use another couch perhaps and a few more things on the wall but that's little stuff in the grand scheme of things. I haven't decided what room I'm going to paint next but I'd like to get one more painted before I go back to work in a few weeks.

Man, where did the summer go. I feels like just a few weeks ago I had 80 days with no highschoolers or waking up before 7 am. Now I'm just a week and a half before its back work. I'm excited for the new school. I'll be teaching a new class and figuring out what to change/keep for another class. I'm really looking forward to it but the rest, relaxation, and getting stuff around my house has been great. I also haven't gotten as much of the school stuff done as I had planned.

So the majority of my summer consisted of upgrading things in my house (with the help of quite a few friends). Thanks to everyone who helped install things, move/donate furniture or help me paint aka Linda, Kristen & Ben, Ryan, and of course Mom & Dad (well mostly Dad) and getting hooked on a few too many reality tv shows (Ochocinco: The Ultimate Catch, Jersey Shore, and Jersey Couture just to name a few). Its been lots of fun but hadn't really gone on vacation. Until this past week. :)

The beginning of August is one of my favorite times of the year. The calendar turns to August 1st and I know the annual Mulholland trek to the lake is just around the corner. I've been going since I was a month old. I've rode in the car many times to New Hampshire, first from NY and then from VA. Due to work schedules and school, I've flown to the lake for the last few years. But this year I did something brand new, I drove to the lake! Sitting/sleeping in the car for about 12 hours isn't bad. However, driving the car for that long not so easy. I couldn't do it. After leaving at 5:30 in the morning and staring at the back of my parents car for a few hours I couldn't keep my eyes open and had to have my mom drive for a while. The way home though I successfully drove the whole way my self. The drive home was definitely interesting. It was broken up into two legs NH to CT then CT to VA. The NH to CT leg had no trouble until the confusion with the hotel. Dad gave directions and address to one hotel but Mom gave us the name of another. Both were on the same town on the same road and had coupons in the travel book. In the end we should have listened to Dad.

The CT to VA leg had a bit more excitement. We didn't get directions prior to leaving the hotel so we were kinda winging it on what Dad had told us and what the GPS suggested we should do. Here's the summary by state. Connecticut - the drivers there are crazy and I'm glad we stayed 2 exits from the NY state line. New York - we ended up driving through the Bronx but only 10 minutes of traffic and two homeless guys later we were in Jersey. New Jersey - well we had a fist pumping good time till we tried to get lunch, the Wendy's was closed and the Burger King had a weird entrance however after about 3 U-Turns we were fed and on our way. Delaware - Delaware is usually a huge pain , for the 1st time I think ever we flew through the yappy dog state in about a half an hour. Maryland - the most traffic of the entire trip Virginia - we sailed happily into the home state on good ole Route 15. All in all it was an unforgettable trip and Alyson and I successfully did not kill each other.

I'm getting better

Ok this time its only been 3 months since I've posted last. Let's see what's happened this time. I think the two biggest things are one of my best friends Heather had a beautiful baby girl Kylie is about to be 3 months old on Sunday and my younger sister Alyson turned 21 over Easter weekend. Heather having Kylie has been very eye-opening. I like babies so I love spending time with Heather and Kylie but I know I definitely don't want one full-time. Having a "rent-a-baby" (as the boys at work refer to Kylie) is just fine with me.

Alyson's 21st birthday was definitely a weekend to remember with a house full of people in Radford. Over the summer the decision was made to roadtrip down to Radford for Alyson's 21st. Convientely, Al's birthday fell on the Saturday of Easter weekend which also coincided with my Spring Break from work. So Thursday afternoon, my friends Becca and Francine and I headed down to Radford. One of my college roommates, Ashlee drove out from Richmond to meet us. Now you're probably wondering why drive out Thursday if she isn't turning 21 till Saturday. Well you see for the last 2 1/2 years Alyson has been an awesome little sister and quite often shuttled the 4 of us from home to where ever the night led us and home again. So we found it only appropriate that we give her once last chance to be our favorite DD. Friday night was girls night. We started with happy hour and appetizers before heading back to the house for girls night in complete with late night ziti. All this lead up to cake and Alyson's first legal drink at midnight. Saturday was a day full of bar hopping and drink trying. One stop & two drinks with lunch, next stop desert & another fun drink, back home for napping and primping before heading to dinner and out to the bar for the night.

For Francine's 21st we decided that a 21st birthday can have its lulls better trying new drinks/shots. Our solution a new game 21 things to do on your 21st. It went over fairly successfully at Francine's birthday so we did a little editing and created Alyson her own list. It had a variety of challenges for Alyson to complete before we headed home for the night, including the 21st item of "get out of bar without puking." All and all the night was successful with all 21 items being completed, some more than once.

I have saved the biggest news for last. I BOUGHT A HOUSE. As of Friday I will be the proud new owner of a 4 bedroom 2.5 bath townhouse. I will be moving 2 miles from my current address and cutting 2 stoplights out of my commute. Not to mention I will be less than a mile away from Heather, Tyler, and Kylie just in time for the weather to be warm enough for us to walk to each others' houses. Saturday will be a day full of painting and decorating my bedroom/bathroom. I will attempt to post my before and after photos in a timely manner. Maybe I should go charge my camera.....