New Job

Sorry I haven't updated in a couple weeks; it's been a busy few!

On the 16th, we welcomed a new baby to the family, Quinn Brookelyn.  She's a beautiful blonde, just like her cousin Cami! :)

On the 18th, while we were on our way to Michael's to do laundry, Kolin got into a little fender bender.  That's what we get for leaving the house, I guess.

Last week, Mom called and told me she was heading my way for a while - SURPRISE!  The first day she was here (Wednesday), we just spent the day wandering the streets of Savannah.  We ended up on River Street where we stopped at Wet Willie's for a (STRONG) margarita.  Needless to say, we had the giggles for a few hours afterward.

Thursday was "Bring Your Mom To Work" day for me.  Mom was nice enough to be the star of a promo we were shooting.  We ate lunch on the beach:

Friday, Mom was on her own all day, so I gave her The Lovely Bones to read; she liked it so much she took it with her.  Once Kolin and I came home, we invited Michael over for a family dinner with Mama:

We had lasagna and it was DELICIOUS!  After dinner, we headed to Target, because Mom wanted to buy us some house-warming gifts.  She got us a lot of stuff we needed (and some that we wanted ;D).  Thanks again, Mom!

All week, we had been watching the weather reports for Saturday diligently, because we were planning on going to the beach.  It NEVER said ANYTHING about rain until Saturday morning once it was ACTUALLY RAINING.  It was a huge bummer.  But we had a fun day anyway.  SCAD was having their annual Sidewalk Arts Festival.  After we saw everything that the festival had to offer, Kolin joined us for a trolley tour of the city.  It was a nice way to end Mom's trip (but I know she would have preferred going to the beach).

Since it rained, it's been sort of chilly in Savannah, but I like it.  I got to ride my bike for the first time Tuesday after I epically failed at WOF callbacks -  sorry, you won't be seeing me on TV any time soon.

I've been looking for a new job, because I can't afford to drive to Hilton Head and back everyday.  I got offered a job at Time Machine, a old-time photography place, but they were only going to pay minimum wage.  Yesterday, I had an interview at Grainger Honda for an Internet Coordinator position (making/answering calls, social networking, blogging, video work, etc.), and I'm happy to say I start on May 17th!  It comes with great pay, full benefits, paid vacation time, 401k, etc.  Oh, and did I mention, it's less than 10 minutes from my apartment - VERY awesome.

Keep praying.

WOF

First things first: I made callbacks for Wheel of Fortune, so I'm that much closer to being on the actual show and winning lots of money, trips, cars, etc.  BONUS.

I got my first Savannah sunburn a week ago, but you probably already know that since you follow Project 365, right?  RIGHT?!  Good.

Last Saturday, Kolin, Michael, Amanda, and I (we need to create a name for our group of friends, so I don't have to write all of our names out every time I talk about us.  How about MACK?) had a picnic in Forsyth Park right by the fountain, and it was DELICIOUS.  I made turkey pinwheels and pasta salad; Amanda make fruit salsa and cinnamon chips; and Michael brought pizza and wings - BEST PICNIC EVER.

We've been spending a lot of time with Michael and Amanda, and we're loving every minute of it!  On Sunday, we went to Michael's apartment to use his washing machine and dryer (another perk of having friends: laundry doesn't cost a thing).  While we were there, we fed the turtles that live in the creek outside of his apartment; there were so many of them, and they LOVED being fed.

I finally got a paycheck on Monday and went to our favorite antique shop to buy a lamp we had been keeping our eye on.  The seller didn't bring the price down far enough, so I ended up buying this instead:

The picture quality is a bit crappy, because I took it on my phone, but it's a beautiful, HUGE mirror with a thick, black frame.  It was our first (but won't be our last) antique shop steal.  It's the first step in turning the apartment into our own.  Next: a couch.

Finally, on Tuesday I got ma hurr and ma 'brows did (translation: I got a haircut and eyebrow wax).  I had to get my hair off of my neck, because it's getting hot (and will only get hotter), and I was tired of putting it up everyday.

Keep praying.

Old and New Friends

On Friday, two of my former Emens co-workers (Becky and Lori) came to visit, and we had so much fun!  We ate dinner at The Lady and Sons with their friend Amanda (who moved to Savannah the same week we did and is a Ball State alum - small world!) then met our new friend from church, Michael, at Club One to see a drag show.

Some of the queens were really beautiful...

(I was checking to see if her boobies were real; they weren't.)

while others were borderline terrifying...

but we all had a lot of fun!

After the drag show, we headed to Venus to have some drinks and hang out.  They were having an Easter raffle and Kolin won a $15 gift card, so we came back on Saturday with Michael.  After we got our drinks, we went down to the river and walked around:

It's so nice to have new friends!  We had our first Ruby/Movie night on Sunday (this is where Amanda and Michael come to our apartment to watch Ruby and a movie and eat snacks that are bad for us); it's so much fun!

Keep praying.

Working from Home

This week I've been working from home and am LOVING it.  At the beginning of the week, I must admit, I was slacking.  On Monday, I got up at 8 so I would be ready when the plumber showed up at 9.  At 9:30, he still hadn't shown up, so I called to see what was up.  The receptionist said he was at the store picking up parts and would be at my apartment shortly.  He finally showed up at 10 and didn't leave until 12:30.  Instead of me getting any work done, I just cleaned the apartment, played a little guitar, and ran a few errands.

Then Kolin had Tuesday off, so (naturally) I took the day off as well to spend time with him.  We worked out in the morning (Billy Blanks is a toughie!), and after we ate lunch, we walked to the river (which takes about a half hour).  We saw a steel drum band, Oberlin Steel, playing as we strolled along:

Then we just sat by the river and watched it flow:

It was nice, but my legs were SO tired once we finally got home.

Yesterday, I went to The Sentient Bean to work.  It was nice to get out of the house, and I got to walk through Forsyth Park to get to the coffee shop and back:

I had to stay home again today, because a guy was coming to fix our refrigerator.  To see my makeshift office, check out my new blog "Project 365."  I'll be posting on it daily, so be sure to check it out!

Keep praying.

PS: I was originally going to make this a blog about me finding out that I was pregnant as an April Fool's joke, but I thought my mom might make a point to come to Savannah and strangle me.

2 years

Two years without you and my heart still aches.  I only held you for a short time, but I still feel you.  I see your baby sister grow, and while I love her more than words can express, I feel jealous for you.  There are so many things I'll never know about you, so many questions I mull over.  I know you've grown in Heaven and God has enjoyed your perfect presence, but I long to have your perfection here on Earth.  We'll meet again in that holy place, but must it hurt me so much to have to wait?  Happy birthday, little man; Aunt Cami feels you smiling down upon her from paradise.

Keep praying.

Ew

Guess what I saw scuttling across my living room floor this morning?

A COCKROACH!

I knew that this would happen eventually; when we were in Savannah June 2008 for our honeymoon, we saw many-a-cockroach roaming the streets at night.  It was gross.  But having one in my house is even grosser.  I had to chase this guy from the living room into my bedroom closet, spraying him with roach spray all the while, then watched him suffer for about ten minutes before he finally called it quits; I actually began to feel bad for him.  No worries, though; I called the landlord and was informed that if they're big (and this guy was BIG), they're outdoor roaches and nothing to worry about (other than the fact that they may crawl up your leg, and (did I mention?) they can FLY).  Ick.

On to nicer news, this weekend was GORGEOUS, so we drove to Tybee and hit the beach on Saturday:

It was REALLY nice; I can't wait until it's warm enough to go swimming!

Sunday morning we checked out a church that's not too far from our house, New Covenant.  We really liked it a lot, so I think we're going to stick around.

After church, we hit up the mall where they were having auditions for Wheel of Fortune.  My name got drawn for a chance to be on stage, which was so cool!

AND I TOTALLY SOLVED THE PUZZLE!  My phrase was "The Voice of Reason."  And they gave me this sweet fannypack:

I find out within a few months if I made callbacks and have the opportunity to be on the real show.

This week has FLOWN by.  I'm really digging my job.  On Tuesday, I landed an interview with The Isaacs and can't wait until May 14th to do it.  If things go as planned, I will be traveling A LOT between April and June interviewing contemporary Christian bands this summer.  I'm living the life!

Kolin got a job on Tuesday at Azalea Inn, a bed and breakfast close to our apartment, and he's really enjoying it so far.  His main job is to create the menu and cook for the week, but they'll use him wherever else he's needed (front desk, cleaning rooms, etc.).

Keep praying.

Residents of Georgia

Sorry I haven't blogged in forever; we were busy packing and moving. So here come a plethora of updates!

March 6th was uber-busy for us. In the afternoon, Mom and I went to Rachael's baby shower open house to have a little food and watch her open gifts for baby Quinn. Then, that night, we had a HUGE farewell dinner at Kolin's mom's house and LOTS of people showed up.

Kolin's mom bought us the gayest cake in existence.

Dad and Renda bought me some champagne.

Yum!

After dinner, we headed out to Peru to catch Uncle Gary's band, Damrel, play and had a TON of fun.

JAGA BOMBS!

Gettin' down.

Jeremy helped the band finish out the show with "Free Bird."

After all the fun, it was time to get serious about packing.  We had everything packed and loaded on Wednesday, March 10th.  As I was carrying the last thing to pack, I rolled my ankle hard and sprained it pretty fiercely:

All of the swelling has gone down, but it's still REALLY bruised.

On our way to Savannah, we spent the night at Mom and Mike's where I took one last Harley ride before I moved away:

We finally made it to our new apartment on Thursday around 10:30 PM.

We had to sleep on an air mattress and our living room only had two camping chairs in it, but we didn't care; we were so happy to be HOME!

Kolin's parents made it to Savannah Friday evening and we got everything into the apartment within an hour.  It took a few days to get everything situated, but it now looks like a home.

I started my job at Shout on Monday, and I love it so much!  I get to cross the beautiful Savannah bridge to and from work everyday.

God is so good!

Yesterday was St. Patrick's Day, which is HUGE here in Savannah.  Kolin got to go to the parade.  Once I got home, we went to dinner at Huey's on River Street (it was delicious!) and walked around laughing at all the drunks.  We listened to a band play for about an hour in City Market before calling it a night.

Giving Johnny Mercer some love.

Keep praying!