Photos

Here are a few photos of our weekend that I took with my new camera. I love taking pictures and if I knew my camera wouldn't get stolen I would take it everywhere with me. This first one is me at work getting a fun shot of Shannon "arranging" to accomodate the never-ending flow of Christmas merchandise.



Here is a shot I took looking up at one of the new buildings downtown while standing in the mobs of people after the game. I can't believe I could hold it steady enough to get a good shot. Pretty neat! This building is not quite done yet but cool looking none-the-less. This was taken around midnight on Saturday. The clouds look pretty scary.





Here is sweet little "Mo." I am auntie Beth to this little fella at least for a year or so. He loves romaine lettuce and baby carrots. He really squeaks like a little piggy too. He loves auntie Beth and Uncle Chad.



And here is a photo of one of our little "Blue legged" hermies. These guys are so much fun to watch and I never could get a good shot of one of them with my other camera. But... now with my macro setting I can get as many angles as I want.



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Sometimes you just have to treat yourself. Chad and I haven't treated ourselves in a long, long, long, long time. In this case thanks to the leftover financial aid I was able to get my camera, and a new mattress for Chad and I, oh and a great dinner at Texas Land and Cattle. And I don't owe a thing. God has really blessed us this past weekend. : )

Feeling Lucky

Chad and I have lived on our own for over 2 years now. We've learned how to manage our bills, and keep a home on our own. Since I was old enough to to put on my mom's dress, I kept my own house. I cooked, cleaned, and wore high-healed shoes. Well, maybe I wasn't old enough quite yet, but I thought I was doing a good job keeping up my make-believe home. I can't say that Chad and I have struggled because we have done pretty well paying our bills and still having the few things we want. Now.... we don't go out and but cd's every weekend, we live without cable, and we only go out to eat every other weekend, so we are pretty good about saving our money. More recently we have tightened up even more since the "idea" is to get married in Vegas, in June, 2010. But this weekend was different than any other weekend in our past 2 years living on our own. It was like the stars aligned just right, or like we played a game of poker, and not only won, we had a full house.

I don't know if any of you have ever had a weekend that worked out like ours' has but let me say, our weekend was unreal! First, on Thursday a huge dream of mine came true, I finally went out and bought a DSLR. All of the photos in this blog are from my new camera. I went with the Nikon instead of the Canon. The man at Wolf Camera said it was all about how it felt and how I wanted the controls to be. Well, lets just say the Nikon ruled over for me which was weird because I have always wanted a Canon. I bought the camera on Thursday but never got around to playing with it, Thursday or Friday. This is where our next bit of news comes in. Chad came home from work on Wednesday asking if we wanted free PSL seats at a Panther's Pre-season game. I had never been before so of course we accepted. He came home on Friday with Row 1A seats, front row! Perfect chance to play with my new camera. After we got settled on Friday night we went out on a date to Texas Land and Cattle, I had a few Texan Margaritas, Chad had a few Texas beers, we had fried jalapenos and an awesome dinner. Perfect way to start our weekend, because we had a long one.

We have not had great time with beds. Well, I have always had a nice mattress to sleep on so when I first met Chad's mattress, I learned that all mattresses aren't nice and soft like mine. I had a premium top of the line $900 Original Mattress and Chad had a 30 year old one that probably didn't have a working spring in it. He slept on it every night but he didn't know any better, that's all he had and he wasn't going to ask his parents to go out and buy him one. Chad's not one to complain. So guess what, we moved the mattress with us. I learned to sleep on it as well, but I dreamed of the mattress we would have in the future. My cousin moved in with my parents about 17 months ago and didn't have anywhere to store his mattress. My parents said they would buy us a new bed frame if we agreed to get rid of the antique mattress so we could keep Daniel's. So we did, and his was a step up but it had a huge dip in it from him sleeping in the middle, and it couldn't be flipped. About a week or so ago Daniel moved out, so you'll never guess? We had a bed frame without a mattress, so we pulled out our aero-bed and slept on it for a week and a half. I was really missing my bed now. But Saturday came, and we went looking for a mattress. We went three places, and who would have thought it would have been like buying a car? This guy was going to pay my sales tax, and this guy was going to give me 2 free serta sheep, and the third guy was going to give us free delivery. Well, I got the BMW of mattresses, free sales tax, free delivery and a free sheep. Who says I can't wheel and deal?

I was definitely in heaven now, Panther's game that afternoon and free delivery on our mattress. We chose a Serta mattress but it's a new line by Vera Wang. It's comparable to my other mattress at my parents house. Chad didn't know how to act sleeping on a new mattress. But he didn't because guess what, he bought a Play Station 3. Starting to see my weekend? Yeah I don't know? The stars must have aligned like I said. But, guess what else? It still doesn't end! Since I got such a good deal on our mattress I went ahead and bought a new bedspread. I went to Belk's and they had a bunch of red-dot clearance items plus you get an extra 50% off the red-dot merchandise. I found a Biltmore bedspread set that was originally almost $400 marked down plus I got an extra 50% so it only cost me $75, A BILTMORE SET! What are the chances? After I got the bed made it was time to leave for the Panther's game. I had to pry Chad from his PS3. I was looking forward to just coming home to sleep in my new bed.

The Panther's game was fun but people weren't as up-beat like we're used to at college football games. I wasn't going to complain because we had the best seats and they were free. We were very grateful because how often does that happen? We had never been to an NFL game either. They were row 1A in the front row right where the players come out onto the field. Perfect seats for first-timers. Not anything to obstruct our view. We also met some people beside us that live less than a mile from where Chad's parents live and they went to Piedmont high school. Small world. We had so much fun that night. Drinks, Friends, and a football game. We tailgated for a couple of hours with some guys Chad works with. We were also able to see the Westin hotel downtown because a few of them were staying there. It's a pretty hotel. We would definitely go again if we were offered seats. I would recommend it for any other local Charlotteans. Something so close to home, and a little out of the ordinary. I was so ready to get home to my new bed. We got home around midnight, not too bad. I went to bed after a much needed shower and Chad, well you all know what Chad did, he played video games until 3 am. I had to get some much needed rest because our weekend was still not over. I had to leave for Columbia at 7am to get our next surprise!

7am rolled around and it was time to get up, well time for me to get up. Chad stayed behind to prepare our living room for our new couch. This couch was actually given to us by some Gamecock tail-gating buddies. I went to Brueggar's for breakfast at 6:45 and I was contemplating Coke or Mr. Pibb and when I spoke I said "could I please have a Mr.Coke?" You could tell I was sleepy. But, never-the-less I trucked on to go get our much needed couch. We have been living with a futon that we bought from Wal-mart 2 years ago, it was falling apart and uncomfortable. Now we have a very nice sectional that really makes the room much more homey. It is in very good shape, it almost looks like it was never used. You kind of sink into it when you sit down. Perfect for afternoon naps, just what I have been waiting for. And... it was free!

And so ends our wonderful "lucky" weekend. And just so you know we didn't really spend that much money, the stars just lined up for us. Everything worked out perfectly, and we finally received some much needed/wanted "accessories."

"Good things come to those who wait..." Abraham Lincoln

Happy Birthday to me!

My birthday is not now, it's next Friday, a week from tomorrow. But today I treated myself and celebrated my happy life by buying the best present ever, a Nikon D40! waaaaaa!!! I have a Film SLR and a compact digital but I have only been dreaming of a DSLR, and today I got one. I went to Best Buy last night to play with it and it was marked down from $499 for $449, what a sign. I already knew I was going to buy it this weekend but that really made me want to buy it even more.
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I can go to Best Buy and play with the camera for hours and no one ever bothers me. So... needless to say I did not want to buy it from Best Buy, I don't think they know anything about cameras. As soon as I got out of school today I called Wolf Camera, and guess what? They had it marked down from $499 to $449, but you also have to buy a memory card too. I told them to throw in the best one they had for high speed and I was on my way! This all happened in my favor too, because guess what? I got a 10% discount for being a current UNCC student, what are the chances? So it was all only $446, meant to be I would say!
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I had school 8-12:30 today and then had to be at work at 3 to work until 9pm so I have had NO time with my camera, but Chad has. He knows more about it than me, and it's my camera, well, I guess it's ours. I did promise him we could call it the C-camera since my other one is called the B-camera. Get it? B (Beth)-camera, C (Chad)-camera, inside joke I guess. I promise to post pictures from my new camera on Saturday, tomorrow is a busy day too, but I plan on taking my camera with me wherever I may go. I promise I will post some goofy shots, hehe. Hope you all have a great Friday! B.

Happy news in my little household

Friday was a great day for me, I was off, I picked up my school books, and my stomach felt a little bit better. The best news came when Chad got home, well for starters we finally got Chad's car back after being in the shop for 2 weeks (we were rearended by a lovely hispanic gentleman). All is well now and a "depreciation" check is on the way. It makes me happy that we have his car back but this news is even better. Chad has been struggling with his work situation, he has been working his butt off for 6 years, is on time everyday and never uses all of his paid vacation. He always talks about getting a new job where he feels better appreciated. Well, on Friday he was offered a promotion at work. He would no longer have to work in the shop, he will have his own office and will be learning a new computer program for the company called Auto CAD. He will also be the manager of the new "side" company where they sell metal by the inch. This was exciting news for us because it will be more money and Chad will be getting paid salary now. He is more excited about his job than ever and I couldn't be more happy and proud of him.

My Favorite Things

"Raindrops on Roses, and whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens, brown paper packages tied up with strings, these are a few of my favorite things. Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels, door bells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles, wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings, these are a few of my favorite things. Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes, snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes, silver white winters that melt into springs, these are a few of my favorite things. When the dog bites, when the bee stings, when I'm feeling sad, I simply remember my favorite things, and then I don't feel s bad...." Julie Andrews "My Favorite Things"

I think I am coming down with something, I have been sick for a week. Chad thinks it's just the stress I have been experiencing recently. Who would have thought stress could make you feel this bad. How do you relax? I don't really, work, sleep, clean house, work, sleep, work, day off, ok time to relax. But, I can't relax, looking at these Calculus problems is making me cringe. I keep telling myself, I am going to make it through this. I read a description of a person with my horoscope and I don't always believe those things but this description was me in a nutshell, "The perfectionist, worries, very smart, dislikes noise and chaos, eager, hardworking, loyal, easy to talk to, practical and often shy." Me in a nutshell, pretty scary. How do they know that? Most of those things I agree with, perfectionist, I have been told that all my life. In fact, my sister and her friend made homemade egg roles last night, 100 of them, and they wanted me to help, they said my first one was perfect, and so was every one after that. They said it took them 10 to get it right, what are the chances? But the one that sticks out the most in the description is "worries."
I would have to say, worry is an understatement.

Oh well, so how do I get past this? I have decided that on payday next week, I am going straight out to get a pedicure, that's always fun. Maybe I will go to a yoga class? When I took yoga I was a changed woman. Ok so yoga, pedicure, maybe buy that David Cook CD, and maybe a new purse. Material things, lovely, it's going to take material things to calm me down. Maybe I just need to skip the pedicure, the CD, and the purse and go straight to the hard stuff, THE SPA! I will let you know how this fight with myself ends up. I think maybe I'll call the doctor.

Something Good

"Perhaps I had a wicked childhood, perhaps a miserable youth, but somewhere in my wicked, miserable past, there must have been a moment of truth. For here you are standing there loving me, whether or not you should. So somewhere in my youth or childhood, I must have done something good. Nothing comes from nothing, nothing ever could, so somewhere in my youth or childhood, I must have done something good." Julie Andrews "Something Good"

Whoever says life is easy, well there is no way in the world that could be true considering what I've been through this week. These past few days have been so challenging. It's hard seeing my parents having a hard time too. My dad has been out of work for almost 6 months. Having three girls in college definitely puts a hurting on their income. Thankfully all of my schooling has been paid for by grants so I don't owe anything and I don't have to struggle to pay my tuition.
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One of the things that has caused a lot of hardship this week is paying for my books and parking. Financial aid doesn't pay for books or parking. So $800, where do I get it from? Money surely doesn't grow on trees and I don't have any hidden in my couch cushion. Everything is taken care of now but it has caused so much stress. Chad has been so wonderful, always offering to help pay but I hate to ruin all that we have saved. I have figured out alternate ways of paying so all is well now. I don't understand why they have to make it so hard for students, they know we don't have any money. Oh well, how else do you learn? Life wouldn't be any fun if we had everything given to us on a silver platter. I guess I will look back one day and think how silly all of this worrying was. Now that it is all settled, I will have confidence in the coming weeks, Bachelors degree here I come!

"What will this day be like, I wonder? What will my future be, I wonder? It could be so exciting to be out in the world, to be free! My heart should be wildly rejoicing, oh what's the matter with me? I've always longed for adventure, to do the things I've never dared. Now here I am facing adventure, then why am I so scared? .... Oh I must stop these doubts all these worries, if I don't I just know I'll turn back. I must dream of the things I am seeking, I am seeking the courage I lack. The courage to serve them with reliance, to face my mistakes without defiance, show them I'm worthy and while I show them, I'll show me. So let them bring on all their problems. I'll do better than my best. I have confidence, they'll put me to the test. But, I'll make them see that I have confidence in me. Somehow I will impress them, I will be firm but kind .... With each step I am more certain, everything will turn out fine. I have confidence, the world can all be mine, they have to agree I have confidence in me!" Julie Andrews "I Have Confidence"

The best love

"The best love is the kind that weakens the soul and makes us reach for more. It plants a fire in our hearts and brings peace to our minds, that's what you've given me, and that's what I hope to give you forever..." ~Nicholas Sparks "The Notebook"

My day off, paper flowers and "Mo"

So today I had the day off. I never get Fridays off, but I did today and it was so nice. My sister moved up to Raleigh this weekend so everyone was gone. Since she's living in the dorms at NC State she can't have all of her animals so I inherited one. His name is "Mo," like a Mohawk, because it looks like he has a Mohawk. He is a guinea pig. He is not quite full grown yet so he's small and sweet. It kind of satisfies my urge for an animal with fur. So since I can't have a dog or a cat, I will have a guinea pig. He's so cute, he talks too, sounds just like a baby pig. I love his face, when he looks at you it's just, awe.... I have a new little cuddly bunch of joy to take care of. So on my day off I tried to figure out which of the bags of stuff I feed him and which time, and filling up his water bottle. He always wants attention to, so good thing I was off, so he could get better acquainted with me.
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I love to watch Martha Stewart, I don't always get to watch her because she comes on a noon time but when I am home I love to get good tips from her. About a year ago I saw her make these flowers out of crepe paper, they were so pretty. She said you could buy all of the stuff to make them at Michael's. So I went straight to Michael's but they didn't have any of it. On Thursday Chad and I went to Michael's because we were in the shopping center and I found the packets of stuff to make the flowers. I was so excited. While I was baking a cinnamon cake to take to Chad's parents for our cookout I made a few for Chad's mom. They look so real. Martha says that they don't require water, attention, they don't make a mess, and they last forever. How perfect! Sorry I don't have a real picture, I took what ones I had made to Chad's mom. I also got these cute little galvanized watering can pots to put them in. It's so cute. I have a bunch to make. I have enough for all of the special ladies in my life, my mom, Chad's mom, and Chad's brother's wife, or my future "sister"-in-law. No matter how much she hates me I still include her because I don't hate her and neither does Andy's parents. If she only knew how we felt, but she doesn't take the time to think about how her "in-laws" feel. We still care about her, none-the-less. Pointing fingers is not a way to solve anything. So I am making her some flowers too.
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We went for a cookout at Chad's parents' house Friday evening and we had so much fun. They even picked some crab apples off the tree and grilled them, how inventive! We filled our bellies to the brim so that we could sleep good because Saturday we went fishing. We had been out to Badin Lake before but this time we all explored to find new places to fish. We didn't catch much because we walked and moved around so much but it was fun. It's nice being off Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I have gotten some much needed rest on these days off. On Saturday evening we went on a hunt for my new camera. I would love to have a Canon but they are $100 more expensive and $599 is a pretty hefty price tag. So I have settled with a Nikon D-40 but get this, every place we went the camera either wasn't working or the store was closed. So I am hoping to go to Wolf Camera today because they know what they are talking about. So it's Sunday, today we are going to fly kites in Concord at Frank Liske park, then we are going to Wolf Camera. I want to be sure that this is the camera I want because it is very expensive. I keep checking the photography classes at UNCC, but they are all still full. I'll keep checking. I love photography, I would love to take the digital class so I can learn to use my new B-camera. Chad says we have to call it the C-camera because we already have a B-camera, oh poo!
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Well, now you know about my days off. They were wonderful and restful. Next weekend I won't be so fortunate because I have to prepare to go to school.
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God please watch over me, and let me get through these last couple of semesters.

Years of Love

Love doesn't make the world go round. Love is what makes the ride worth while.

~Franklin P. Jones

Now that we have told our closest family and friends I can blog about our good news. While on our vacation Chad asked me to marry him. We are so excited. I don't even know where to begin. We will probably be having our wedding away just with our immediate families in August of next year. It will give both mine and Chad's family a chance to get away together and celebrate as a family. When we get back from where ever we may go, we are going to have a big party or reception as it is called. We started making a list of our closet friends and family that would make the trip and it quickly grew to over 100. Chad is a very private person so we decided to take my family and Chad's family away somewhere that they have never been and get married there. It is all about our families and we want everyone to have a good time.

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Our party... well, it's going to be big because I can't imagine cutting anyone out. I am thinking it will be just like having the ceremony with everyone because we will have a projector screen to show pictures from the actual ceremony, maybe we will get someone to video record it, hmm? It's going to be exciting none the less because I already have people recommending djs and everything. I have even had people asking where we are registered already. It has only been a week! Everyone is so excited for us, they have been waiting in anticipation for so long I guess.

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I know you are thinking, what about the ring, and the proposal, how did it happen?? Well, the ring is more than I could have ever dreamed of. I have had people all week complimenting Chad's great taste. I think I have had the question, "Did Chad pick it out all on his own?" about 100 times. Yes he did. I also had someone ask if Chad could pick out her jewelry from now on. It's not your conventional solitaire it is actually two diamonds together I guess it could symbolize Chad and I and the union we are going to make? Then all around it, it has little stones lining the band. Very sparkly. I didn't want him spending a ton of money, but I guess it's ok, I am so happy.

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Ok so the proposal, well, we had been in Savannah all day but the sunset was gorgeous that night so we went out together for a walk as it was getting dark. I have had people ask "How did he keep it a secret all week?" Well, I had some banking problems when we got there. The bank never deposited my check, yeah, weird I know. So I was a big wreck at the beginning of the week so he couldn't see laying that on me until the bank settled THEIR problem. Anyways there are these cabanas on the beach at the place we stayed and they are $60 a day, yeah I know. So we didn't rent one, but we would go visit them in the evening because they were so nice. I decided to sit down and we leaned back together and there it happened.

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I was so happy I can't remember everything he said verbatim but it was mostly, that he didn't have me wait 6 years without reason, in our 6 years together we have built a foundation for a happy, healthy marriage and that he has loved me since he saw me at Guitar Center that first day and when we played in our cheesecake at the cheesecake factory and when he put his arm around me that first night. It's making me melt as I sit here thinking about it.

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I am so happy! My family is so happy, and Chad's family, well, words can't even describe. We are so excited about the future and I can't wait to have all of you there to celebrate! I will let you know when I have more details.

R and R

This is the latest that Chad and I have ever been on vacation and it was so worth the wait. I have almost 300 pictures from our trip documenting all of the fun we had. I did get into few fights with my camera but all is good because the love of my life is buying me a new camera for my birthday. I hope that my parents will get me a tripod so I can get some better moonlight pictures. This picture to the left is a photo of the bass pond and the indoor pool area. The photo to the right is a sunset picture I took looking through the sea oats. It is currently the photo on my computer wallpaper.

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While on the beach we listened to XM Radio and I found a new love fo David Cook. I love his new song "Come Back to Me." I took the photo to the left one morning after carrying all of our stuff to the beach. The palm trees are so pretty but with the Palmettos come palmetto bugs and they are huge nasty roach thingys. eeewww! The photo on the right is of a starfish I saved. He was stranded on the sand and I pushed him back into the water. We saw a bunch of these little guys. Since there is really no slope to the beach a lot of sea creatures call this beach home. There were 1,001 sand dollars which was really neat.

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Every night that we were at the beach it stormed but it only lasted 2 hours late in the evening. It always left behind the most pretty sunset and gave way to awesome sunrises. The photo on the left is me the morning we came home. Excited to get home to Jack but still sad to leave the routine we had created. The photo on the right is Chad and I at the most pretty sunset. We were both a wee bit tipsy from he 190 proof frozen beverages we had from Frosty Frogs. In Hilton Head as long as it is concealed like in a styrofoam cup you can take it from the restaurant, so that's what we did. I believe it was 22 ounces. It took me an hour to drink it I think.

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This picture on the left is a moonlight picture when we all went fishing, Emily, Dylan, Chad and I. It looks like it is bright outside but it is just a high shutter speed which allows more light into the camera. That is my sister, getting a little tired, we didn't catch anything that night, but we had a blast together. This last picture for this post on the right is Chad and I underneath the Oak Trees at Harbor Town where the Hilton Head lighthouse is. One of our last nights out. It is so pretty down there because of all of the spanish moss. I will have more pictures for you to see soon.

The Adventures of Chad and Beth

We returned today from a restful trip to Hilton Head Island. You would think that it was in Ohio because there were more people from Ohio there than South Carolinians. The locals make a joke out of it and have tons of Ohio paraphernalia for sale. It was so much fun and we had many wonderful moments together, as a family and as Chad and Beth (The Browns). We didn't really go anywhere but we did a lot. We spent 6 hours each day on the beach (we stayed on the beach from 9 until 4 basically). We are brown as brownies, well not that dark but pretty caramel. We ate in almost every night, everyone taking there turn to fix dinner. We ate out twice, at Paula Deen's and at a great seafood restaurant called Aqua Grill. I could go on and on and on about our trip because we had so much fun and so much happened.

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After being down there for two days and realizing how much room we had my parents wondered why we didn't invite Mike and Ann, Chad's parents. It was too late to invite them because his mom's schedule is so crazy but we had room enough for 4 more people. My mom, dad, my youngest sister Emily and her boyfriend Dylan, and Chad and I were all who went. The place we stayed was so awesome. It is a time share place that was given to us for a week by one of my dad's home owners. It was so nice, they even roped my parents into a meeting about buying but since my dad is out of work they declined. The property at Hilton Head is sold out but there is a new property at North Myrtle that is just as great. They are still two steps from buying it, dad said when he gets his job back they are going to call them. It would be awesome to have a Marriott time share.

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The biggest part of our trip besides going to Paula Deen's was spending every day out on the beach. Hilton Head is a very different beach than what we're used to. The beaches are so wide, so at low tide the beach is hundreds of feet wide so if you sit too far back you have to walk a quarter of a mile to the water. It is awesome. It doesn't slope much so when the tide is high the water is still very shallow. This makes it perfect conditions for sand dollars. However you cannot take live ones from the beach, it is against the law. There are thousands of them beneath your feet in the water. When you step on them it just feels like a bump in the sand but it turns your feet yellow. The only problem I had with Hilton Head was seashells, there are none! I found a little baby jars worth of seashells, little miniature ones. Oh well, we are going to Oak Island with Chad's family, hopefully in October.

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One of my most favorite parts of our trip besides the cabana and besides Paula Deen was the lighthouse. I have a checklist of all of the lighthouses in the Carolina's and I am determined to keep checking them off, well, Hilton Head gets a check, and it was beautiful. What made it even more grand was all of the live music and all of the great boats coming in. We went earlier in the afternoon but when I saw the sunset we made a quick run back to the lighthouse so I could score some good images. These are all my own photos. I took almost 300 pictures on this trip. If you need a photographer, here I am. We did not climb the lighthouse because we were so mesmerized by the music and the wonderful yachts coming in. Maybe when Chad and I are retired we will be blessed with a beautiful sailboat to sail around the world.

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There is so much to say about our trip, so many stories to tell, but I think I will scrap them (scrapbook). I am sure you will all get to see the pictures soon. After I pay $100 to have them all developed. We made some great memories together this past week and as every day passes I realize more and more than Chad and I are meant to be. People say, you've waited six years for him? Well, those six years mean more to me than anything and we have made a strong foundation for our future together in those six years. After this trip, it is for sure now that there will be many more where that came from.