Here's a picture of a fennec fox. You don't need to do a search. (refer to blog below) 

I started my job yesterday. I shadowed another keeper yesterday as she went through everything with me. The morning consists of feeding and cleaning and brief observations. The afternoon consists of doing diets for the next morning, feeding, and closing procedures. It doesn't sound like a whole lot, but you are busy all day. We have a ton of animals in the African Pavilion. For a full list go to www.nczoo.org, click on "about the zoo", then click "animal finder", "search by exhibit", and choose African pavilion. I am working in the lower tunnel, which has most of the species, excluding colobus monkeys, patas monkeys, baboons, and gorillas. The rest are in my department. The meerkats are very fun to watch. I got to feed one by hand yesterday. The fennec foxes are the cutest things in the world. I suggest doing an internet search for one so you can see a picture. We have one named Sun, that has 3 legs. I think so far she is my favorite. Today I had to get a physical and lots of shots. Luckily I had tetanus and Hep. B, so I didn't have to get those, but I still needed a TB test, blood draw, rabies, and Hep. A. Four needles in my arms today. I am covered with cartoon bandaids. I only worked a half day today because of my appointment, then I have tomorrow off, then I'm on a 7 day stretch. Then my schedule will start to get normal.

Yeah! I have a job! It's at the NC Zoo as a temporary zookeeper in the African Pavilion section. There are various primates, some amphibians and reptiles, and small mammals, such as foxes and meerkats. I start on Monday and am very excited. I will work 40 hours/week, in a rotating schedule. Since it's temp. I don't get benefits, unfortunately. Hopefully it'll be a good way to get my foot in the door.

My mom and I at my Uncle Jim's wedding. 

View from Chimney Rock...pictures don't do it justice. 

Dining room...new table 

Living room...new furniture 

Our Kitchen 

Woe to those living in Michigan and other snow-covered areas. Let me just say, yesterday I was at a UNCG girl's soccer game, in jeans and a t-shirt, with the sun beating down on me, causing Ryan's face to get a bit sunburned.

I had a very good week last week, but then it ended pretty crappy.

On Thursday I headed to Maryland because my uncle Jim was getting married that weekend. I arrived around 2:00 and met my mom at a mall. We bummed around awhile then had a little snack at a yummy Italian restaurant. It had the best dipping oil for your bread. Then we stayed at my Aunt Jeanne's house that night. Most of the other relatives came over for dinner. It was so great to see everyone. Friday mom and I ate at Bennigin's, my favorite restaurant, which we don't have in NC. Then we headed to the hotel. That evening my mom had the rehearsal dinner and I went to hang out with my cousins and 2 aunts at my Aunt Jerri's house. On Sat. a group of us went to the mall, then hung out in the hotel's hottub, then went to Jerri's for dinner. The wedding was on Sun. It was beautiful. The reception had appetizers and a string quartet playing. It was held at a mansion. Again the party was at Jerri's that evening. On Monday I went to the National Aquarium in Baltimore with Jeff, Colleen, Ryan, Jerri, Jordan, Jamie, and Sharif. It was a great aquarium. I got to see the dolphin show. It made me sad at first, because I really miss working at the MN Zoo. It was a fun show. We stayed at my grandpa and grandma's house that night. On Tues. morning we took a nice walk with grandpa as he showed us the area, got Starbucks, then had a lovely lunch. We stayed at Jerri's house on Tues. night. I headed home on Wednesday. It was sad to say goodbye to everyone. It's nice living 5.5 hours away from most of my aunts and uncles and my grandparents, but it sucks living so far away from my parents, siblings, and in-laws.

As I was walking in the house I got a call from the NC Zoo and found out I didn't get the job. Then I checked my e-mail and found out I didn't get selected for an interview for another job that I really wanted. I was really bummed. Now I'm back to square one and I'm not too sure what I'm going to do now.

We went to a Jars of Clay concert in Winston-Salem yesterday. It was at the Dixie-Classic Fair, so it was easy to get close enough for short little me to see. It was a really good concert. With all the concerts I've been to, this is only the second time I've seen them. It was ryan's first time.

In a few minutes I'm heading to Maryland to visit family. My uncle Jim is getting married, so my mom came down. I'm excited to see her as well as the rest of my relatives.

Ryan and I went camping this past weekend in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Asheville, NC. The mountains are about 3 hours away. We left on Sat. morning then ate lunch at Subway and then went to find our campground. We stayed at Creekside Mountain Campgound. We got a very rustic site which was near the high falls of the creek. Nobody was camping near us...all we could hear was the running creek. We went to a little place that sold apples and cider and had a corn maze. Then we went back to the campsite. I read while Ryan hiked up the creek to explore some. The fire took forever to start, but eventually we got it going. We cooked hotdogs and smores for dinner. On Sunday we broke down camp then went to Chimney Rock. It's a park with a bunch of trails with gorgeous views. We hiked to the waterfall, which was very pretty. We'd like to go back to hike on some more trails. The hard, upper trail, is where there were some scenes filmed from "Last of the Mohicans". Next time, I guess. After we were done at Chimney Rock, we went to the little tourist town at the bottom of the mountains and ate lunch and bummed around the cute little shops. We even got a few Christmas presents for people. :)