Business and Pleasure

This has been such a busy week for me!  Nothing out of the norm, I've just worked 5 out of the last 6 nights!  That's exhausting.


I didn't have to work Monday night though, so some of the girls and I went out to dinner at P.F. Chang's (yum!) and then to see The Vow.

I was not impressed.  The ending was so bland.  You know they are supposed to end up together so I think they could have done a better job at showing just how far they actually ended up.  I did like how they showed the picture of the real family.  And Channing Tatum was a really nice piece of eye candy!  He's a good looking guy! :)  It was definitely nice to hang out with some girls, too!  I'm enjoying the fact that I'm finally starting to settle in to Greenville and making girlfriends that I can do stuff with.

The rest of the week I've just worked.  I was on call Thursday night and just wasn't feeling it.  But I ended up getting called in and was a little upset about it. My sweet husband showed up after work with these:

He is so amazing and so thoughtful!  It really did make a difference. :)  I survived and slept until 3 this afternoon.  I love rainy days! :)

Today marks 5 months of marriage for David and I and we couldn't be happier!  We have settled in to marriage nicely and I love having such a wonderful companion to come home to everyday!  We celebrated by picking up our curtains from Pottery Barn (we ordered them last week and had them shipped to our nearest store!), had a quick, early dinner at Copper River, and saw This is War with Reese Witherspoon. 

 LOVED IT.  Reese is just so cute anyway and the guys in the movie were pretty darn good-looking!  I definitely suggest seeing it!  Now we're home, babies in our laps and enjoying our time together!  I hope everyone has had a wonderful week! :)

Honeymoon: Day 7

On our first full day in Maui, we decided to drive the road to Hana.  Anyone ever done this?  Let's put it this way, they have t-shirts in Maui that say, "I survived the road to Hana!"  Ha!  It was a 3 hour drive there....and back.  The longest road trip ever.  It goes to the complete other side of the island and it is the curviest road!  And there are curves that are literally one lane so you have to make sure no one is coming from the other direction!  But it was a beautiful drive!  And I can imagine that it is even more beautiful during the rainy season!  

There is a look-out along the way so we stopped to get some pictures.  The waves were pretty big here so there were quite a few surfers out there!  I just couldn't get over how gorgeous the weather was while we were there!

 The handsome hubby :)

 There was another honeymooning couple at the stop and so we took a picture of them and they took a picture of us!  Teamwork! :)

 We drove another hour or so and made a pitstop at a restroom along the way.  (Totally disgusting by the way...and there were roosters, chickens, and wild cats roaming all around...)  But the view was beautiful!  You could see how the island curved and the water was just as blue here!

 The water is so clear!  This was looking straight down from the rest-stop.

 One of the waterfalls we saw along the way.  We were in Hawaii towards the end of the dry season so the falls weren't as bountiful as they should be!  I can only imagine how beautiful they are when the water is freely flowing!

 There is only one place to eat in Hana, and once we got there we were starving!  As was everyone else who drove the road to Hana that day, ha!  But we threw up the shaka sign to show we were going with the flow!

 David throwing up the shaka sign!

 On our way back, we found a place off the main road called Pa'iloa Black Sand Beach at Wai'anapanapa State Park and decided to check it out.  And I am so glad we did.  It was absolutely gorgeous!  The plants were so green and the rock structures were so black.

 And we made our way down to the black sand beach and that's exactly what it was!  Black sand beaches form when lava flows out under the water and hardens, and over time gets beaten down by the water and waves and creates these black sand beaches.  They don't stick around for long (I think a couple hundred years?) but they are beautiful!

 At the tall point to the left of my head, there were campers who were swimming out to this structure, climbing all the way up and jumping off.  Oh my gosh, I was sure they were going to smack into the rocks, but they didn't!  It was fun to watch!  We started our long trek back to our hotel to get ready for dinner.  Dinner that night was at a sushi restaurant called Sansei and it was delicious!  We were so exhausted we forgot to take dinner pictures before so we took them after dinner and this is what we got:

 Hahaha :)

So our final picture was of us cracking up.  We were delirious, haha!  Unfortunately we didn't buy the shirt that says, "I survived the Road to Hana" and now I'm kicking myself for not getting it!  Oh well, I guess that just means I'll have to go back! :)

What's Going On?

First and foremost, Miss Nolynn made her debut into the world on February 13 a little after 8 pm at 8 lb. 3 oz.  She was a big girl! :)  And now her daddy shares a birthday with his little girl.  What a great present!

I happened to be working the night she was born, and around 7 am (the end of my shift) I got a text from the new parents that said, "You still here?  If so, come by!"  I felt so lucky to get a sneak peak at that precious girl!  And she is absolutely beautiful.  Casey handed her to me and said, "Nolynn, you have to meet Aunt Erin!"  OMG.  Melt my heart.  I love being an "Aunt" already. :)

"Aunt Erin" and sweet Nolynn :)

David and I went back to the hospital later that evening so he could meet her.  After we left he said, "well, that felt more natural than I thought it would..."  Ha!  Sweet boy.

"Uncle" David and Nolynn!

For Valentine's Day, I got these lovelies from my sweet hubby!

 I also got a Starbucks card. He knows me too well. :)  He also made a surprise reservation at my favorite restaurant, Nami!  We had such a good time.  I just love spending time with my husband.  It was such a wonderful first Valentine's day as husband and wife.

I have a few days off so I have been catching up on all my dvr'ed shows.  Does anyone watch Revenge?  I have become obsessed with that show!  It always leaves the biggest cliff hangers and I'm dying because they don't have a new episode until Feb. 29th!!  And Castle this week was part 1 of 2 so that was a big cliff hanger as well!  I'm also doing laundry and cleaning up the house.  Nothing new there, haha!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful week! :)

The Random 11

This must be the week to be tagged in blog stuff!  Michelle tagged me in "The Random Eleven" and I thought it would be fun to participate!

The Random Eleven

The Rules:

• Post these rules
• Post 11 random things about yourself
• Answer the questions set for you in their post
• Create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer
• Go to their blog and tell them you’ve tagged them
• No stuff in the tagging section about you are tagged if you are reading this. You legitimately have to tag 11 people!

11 Random Things about Me:

When I was a little girl, I used to use whole boxes of band-aids on my baby dolls and my life-size big bird doll.  My mom says she always knew I would do something in the health-care field.  Lo and behold, I'm now a NICU nurse!  I guess my mom was right!

•  

I love to travel.  I was fortunate to grow up in a family with grandparents who took the three grandchildren all over the world.  I enjoy skiing in Beaver Creek, CO, swinging in Central Park, and learning about the cultures in Italy, England, and the Caribbean.  And because they instilled this passion in me, I have studied abroad on my own in Brussels, Belgium and am up for the adventure of having to move to Germany in a few years for David's job!

• I have inherited my mom's love of Target.  It will probably be my financial downfall, ha!  I normally grab a Starbucks and walk around the store for about an hour.  It's amazing how I always find things I just "have to have". ;)  I do have to say though, that I've been pretty good about not over-spending lately!
• I am deathly afraid of the ocean.  I love the beach, but can't stand the water!  On the east coast, our ocean water is murky and you can't see anything.  I'm petrified to think about what is swimming next to me and I don't even know it!  And David's cousins will go fishing and catch sharks of all sizes and I am not a fan.  In the bahamas and Hawaii, the water is crystal clear and while I'll venture into the water there, I still feel so uneasy because now I can see what is swimming towards me!  If something is going to attack, well, I'll see it coming...it's just awful to think about, haha!
• 
• Friends is my all-time, favorite show.  I just love it!  I've turned my cousin Amy on to it, who has turned her boyfriend Tyler on to it!  We all use Friends quotes daily. :)  In Amy's toast to me at my rehearsal dinner, she even quoted Joey!  And when David and I first got engaged, my mom got us lobsters with our engagement date on them because David is my "lobster".  They sit on the dresser in our bedroom. :) I do share my blue eyes with my handsome granddaddy! I am the only one in my family with blonde hair.  My entire family has brown hair, although my mom started out with dirty blonde hair as a little girl.
• 
• Speaking of my hair, I am a serial hair twirler.  It started when I was a baby and at 24 I still do it.  My mom tried to get me to stop multiple times when I was little and my 12th grade teacher called me out during class one time for twirling my hair so much.  I can't help it.  I honestly don't know that I'm doing it.  I do it a lot more when I'm concentrating hard and when I'm tired.  And because of this, I constantly have split ends.  Woops. 
• The only fast food restaurant I eat at is Chik-fil-a.  Occasionally I'll get fries and a milkshake from McDonald's, but as for actual food, Chik-fil-a it is.  I don't trust other fast food restaurants and now that I haven't eaten at other places in a while, the food doesn't even taste that great anymore!  
• I have had major jaw surgery.  I had severe TMJ with headaches and my jaw would lock- the whole shebang.  So in 2008, I had a Le Forte 1 osteotomy done to my upper jaw (The Le Fort I osteotomy involves separating the maxilla and the palate from the skull above the roots of the upper teeth through an incision inside the upper lip. The maxilla is fixed in its new position with titanium screws and plates.)  I can feel the screws on both sides of my nose and I can see the scar on the inside of my mouth! 
• 
• I love to read.  And I almost always prefer the book to the movie.  
• If I could go back and do my wedding all over again, I would.  In a heartbeat.  The whole day was perfect and I find myself wanting to put my wedding dress on quite frequently, haha!  But of course, if I went back and did my wedding all over, I'd have to do the honeymoon all over again, too. ;)

Questions from Michelle:

• What is your favorite vacation spot?  
• Hands down, Hawaii.  Specifically, Maui.  I would move there if I could.  It's beautiful, time means nothing and the atmosphere is so relaxing.  I can't wait to go back.
• What are the 5 items you cannot live without?
• I can't live without my phone.  I married a technology freak and I caught the bug.  I love staying connected!  I also can't live without my planner.  It's color-coded and my life line.  No surprises for this girl, everything has to be in the planner!  As weird as it sounds- I can't live without my toothbrush.  I don't like to have dirty feeling teeth.  It's gross.  I can't live without Pandora (or any music avenue for that matter).  I love music and I love to sing- in the car, in the shower, while I'm cooking.  And I can't live without a book to read.  I always have one with me and now that I have my nook, it's a much lighter load! :)
• What are your top 3 favorite movies?
• My favorite movie ever is Elf.  It's good all year round, not just at Christmas!  Second favorite is Pride and Prejudice.  I love the story by Jane Austen and the movie is wonderful!  My third favorite movie is a tie between A League of Their Own and That Thing You Do.  I like both of them for such different reasons, I couldn't just pick one!
• Chocolate or Flowers?
• Hmm, tough one!  I love chocolate to the point that I eat two pieces every.single.day.  But I hardly ever get flowers.  I think flowers are just beautiful.  I'd say flowers since I don't get them often enough. :)
• What are you most proud of so far in your life?
• I think I am most proud of myself for landing my dream job.  I worked really hard in school, graduated Summa Cum Laude, applied for a summer internship with 160 other people and was 1 of 15 chosen, and was offered 2 jobs on one day.  One of them being my dream job of working in the NICU.  And I wouldn't trade it for anything.  I love taking care of those sweet babies!
• What is favorite cocktail/drink of choice?
• I don't drink many cocktails.  I'm more low-key I guess!  But I really like a good Riesling!
• Do you prefer the beach or the mountains?
• The beach!  I love tan lines and the smell of the ocean.  (Not the actual ocean...).  I love going out to dinner, and warm weather!
• What's your guilty pleasure?
• Dessert.  Bottom line.  I love sweets, probably too much!  Whether it's a handful of m&m's, a bowl of ice cream, or pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving, I always have to have dessert!
• What is your dream job?
• Being a NICU nurse. :)  And I'm living the dream!  Although, I do think it would be cool to have a job where you sit at Starbucks on your computer all day....who are those people?!
• Ballet flats, boots, or heels?
• I'm a boots girl!  I can hardly walk in heels (graceful is my middle name..) and I don't have too many cute ballet flats (maybe I should invest in more!) but I love all of my boots.  Cute with most everything!
• Would you rather run outside or on the treadmill?
• I enjoy running outside.  I'm a people-watcher and while there are always people in the gym, much more interesting stuff is going on outside!  Plus, fresh air is always nice and I feel like I get a better variety of hills and I don't have to run at a set pace!

My questions for you:

• Dogs or cats?
• What is on the top of your bucket list?
• What are your three favorite books?
• What do you like most about yourself?
• If you could interview anyone past or present, who and why?
• What is your favorite childhood memory?
• Yoga or zumba?
• What is your favorite meal?
• What do you wish to accomplish in the next year?
• Favorite piece of clothing?
• Favorite sport, to play or watch?

I don't have 11 people to tag, but here you are! :)

Lauren

Leslie

Anna

Happy Birthday, Aunt Diane!

My Aunt Diane is a wonderful sister,

(My mom and Aunt Diane)

(Aunt Diane, me, and mom at the Southern Christmas show)

(Me, Aunt Diane, and mom at dinner before Jersey Boys)

She is an amazing daughter, 

(Aunt Diane, Granddad, and Amy)

(Granddad, Aunt Diane, mom, and Grandmom)

An absolutely incredible mother, 

(Amy and Aunt Diane)

(Aunt Diane and Scott)

(Amy and Aunt Diane at Amy's high school graduation.)

(Aunt Diane, Scott, Amy, and Uncle Mike at Scot's graduation from GA Tech.)

(Aunt Diane, Scott, Amy, and Uncle Mike at Scott's graduation from Duke.)

But to me, she's the best Aunt a girl could ever ask for, want, or need.

 (Putting my veil in my hair for my wedding.)

 (At Christmas)

She has been there for me from the beginning. Thick and thin. And loves me just the same.

(Uncle Mike, me, and Aunt Diane) 

  

 (At one of my bridal showers)

 

(Sledding down the golf course hills)

(Celebrating getting my braces off)

(Celebrating birthdays.)

(Me, Aunt Diane, Scott, and Uncle Mike at the fair.)

(My graduation from Clemson)

And, she brought two of my best friends into the world.

 (Amy and Scott)

Happy Birthday, Aunt Diane!  Thank you for always being there for me and supporting me in everything I do.  You are the best aunt and God knew I would need you to be mine.  I love you so much!