I know it has been months. I apologize to the 2 of you that may check this and who continue to find it never updated. As I have said before, I just haven't felt like writing anything. Life has had some ups and downs lately, but I will be vague and for that I apologize as well. I guess I just don't feel like putting everything out there for the world to see sometimes. As for the "ups" in my life right now, at some point, hopefully soon, I will elaborate more. So you guys will have something to look forward to. Until next time...

What a beautiful day. It is in the mid-70's today and sunny. Ryan and I have been outside for a few hours doing yardwork, which I am surprisingly enjoying. It is probably because it is such a nice day, so doing anything outside would be pleasant.

Leia is still doing good. Potty training is time consuming. It is discouraging hearing that a lot of puppies aren't fully trained until they are a year old. We are using a crate, which is helping a whole lot. When we got her she was 4 pounds. Now she is 6.6 lbs. She can climb up the stairs of the porch now. Our little girl is growing up so fast :)

I know it was been forever. For some reason, I haven't had any desire to write on here. Let's see if I can remember some highlights.

We got a puppy. Her name is Leia. She is 6 weeks old and since she's so young, the breed is uncertain. We think she is 1/2 golden retriever, 1/2 something else. We got her on Friday, so we are still learning. She is quite the handful, but a ton of fun too.

Work has been good. For the first time since Sept. all of our animals are in their normal exhibits and everything is "back to normal". We had some construction going on, which threw stuff off for quite a long time.

It's pathetic, but I really can't think of anything else that has been going on. I'm sure there is, but again, I just don't feel like writing on this thing. :( I'm a bum. Time for me to get come cleaning done while the puppy is actually sleeping.

We got to go to Hancock for Christmas this year. It was a bumpy start, but we had a great time. Our plane left Greensboro on Christmas Eve. We arrived in Detroit in the morning to catch our flight, however they informed us that we wouldn't be getting on that flight and that we couldn't get to Marquette until the next morning (Christmas). What? Because of the cold weather in Marquette they had to put extra fuel on the plane, therefor bumping 8 people off the flight. At least they treated us well. We got free tickets to use later, a hotel room and lots of food vouchers. There were 6 of us that wanted to rent a van together and drive up to Marquette, but it would have cost way too much. Crazy what you will do when you are desperate to get home for Christmas. I was very upset. I just wanted to be home. I fought the tears in the airport, but then as soon as we got to the hotel I broke down. We did get to see Phil and Sandy. They picked us up at the hotel and went out to lunch. I went to bed at 6:00 that night so I didn't have to think about it. We had no problems getting out the next morning. We had a delicious Christmas breakfast at the airport and headed to Marquette. Dad was there waiting for us at the airport and drove us back home. Josh and Amy were at the house waiting for us. (Gracie too). Mom was at work so we headed to the hospital to see her. When she got home we celebrated Christmas. The next day we went out to dad's to celebrate. We went snowshoeing, ate a lot of food, had hot cider, played with the doggies, etc. There is always something special about dad's. I can't explain it. Maybe Josh knows what I'm talking about. The rest of the week was good. I got to hang out a lot with Josh and Amy. We ate at my favorite restaurant and ate my favorite pizza. Josh's band, Senator Dexter, played at a bar. It was really fun seeing them play, even if it was a lot different than it used to be. There were a lot of familiar songs and they played my favorite. It was so nice to be home for Christmas. Who knows when I'll be able to again.

I got promoted at work! Since my supervisor retired this summer, my co-worker got his position, opening up a Keeper II position. I had applied and had an interview in December. I found out on Wednesday. For the most part my job is the same except more responsibility...training people, making sure tasks get done, etc.

I know it's been a long time. Let's see...what happened over the past month? My birthday was Nov. 16th. I had to work on my b-day, but afterwards we went out dinner with some of my co-workers. On the 17th we went to a Casting Crowns concert. I wasn't sure how much we would like it, but we really enjoyed it. And thanks to Chris and Tish, we had great seats. Ryan's parents came that night for a week. We did some shopping, went to Duke University in Durham, played a lot of cards, baked cookies, and ate a lot. They were here over Thanksgiving. I worked so Ryan and his parents cooked. We also had friends over as well, so they helped with the cooking. We had 12 people over and it was a blast! I love having parties at our new house. We don't have place settings for 12 people, but who cares if you have to eat off paper plates on Thanksgiving! It was great to have them over. We love visitors!

The beginning of this month we went to Maryland for a weekend for the Angel Christmas party. It was so great to see everyone. This was the first year that Ryan and I got to go. And it was the first time he got to meet some of the family. We stayed at Jerri's.

We have been busy getting ready for Christmas. There has been Christmas parties, Christmas shopping, lots of cookies (almost to the point where I never want to eat a cookie again). On the 24th we are heading home to Hancock and I can't wait!

This past weekend my mom came to visit. Her plane arrived on Thursday afternoon. What I like about the Greensboro airport is you can pay $ .25 per 15 min to park, then go in the airport to wait for the people to deplane. It is so much more exciting seeing them walk down the hall and greeting them in the airport, then driving around and picking them up at the curb. We went to Ryan's school, TJ Maxx, and then out to eat at McAlister's Deli. On Friday I took her to the zoo, then that evening we headed to Bat Cave, NC. We got a cabin and a campground there. We roasted hotdogs over a fire and just relaxed. The next day we went to Chimney Rock and hiked the long/strenuous trail, which isn't too bad once you get past the first 15 minutes. It was the film site of "Last of the Mohicans" so that night we rented it and got to say "we were there!" In Chimney Rock we bummed around the stores and ate some good ole' Southern cooking. Sunday we went to church and then out to eat with people from church. One night we watched "Mean Girls". Tuesday we went out to eat and hit the mall and a few stores. I took the day off on Wednesday to take her to the airport. It was sad to say goodbye, like always.

Ryan and I had a few busy days. On Friday we had youth group. We did a "video blast" night with video games for the kids to play. It was a hit and the adults had fun too! Saturday we went to my co-worker's Katy's for dinner and to play cards, and of course play with her 5 week old baby. It sure makes me have the baby itch. :) Last night we had a potluck (or covered dish as they call it in the south) with the church. It's always great to just get together since we don't do it as often as we used to when we met on Sat. nights. Ryan and I had the day off together today. We slept in, went to Saw IV, bought a lawn mower, caught up on tv shows, and baked. I love having days off together.

Happy Halloween! We had our first Halloween in our new house. We had all the Halloween decorations on, candles lit, and actually had more than 2 trick-or-treaters. Since we've always lived in apartments together, we never got that many kids, but tonight we got a good number. We watched Charlie Brown's and Garfield's Halloween specials and snuggled on the couch.

Tomorrow my mom comes to visit!

This past week my dad came to visit. I had to work on Monday but took off an hour early to pick him up at the airport. Once I got him we went to Ryan's school so dad could see that. We then ate at a Japanese steakhouse. Lots of good food. There was a cute little boy that sat at our table that keep telling the chef, "you are a good chef and a good magician." He was really funny. On Tuesday my dad and I headed to Hanging Rock State Park in Danbury, NC. We hiked the longest and most strenuous hike at 4.2 miles. 1.2 of that being up the mountain. We got to the top to see the wonderful sight from the mountaintop and.....it was all foggy. :( At least we got some good exercise. We did see some good rocks that my dad drooled at since he wanted to climb them. We hiked down the mountain and had a nice lunch and headed home. That night Ryan grilled in the rain. We couldn't complain about the rain because we were in the worst drought in NC history. Then we watched a movie. On Wednesday I took my dad to the zoo where we had a good time. Toward the end it started pouring on us. That evening we just hung around the house and talked. On Thursday I had to head to work so Ryan took dad to the airport. We had a great time and I'm very glad he was able to come and visit. My mom is coming next weekend I am very much looking forward to that.

In the chuch bulletin, the pastor's wife put in a journal entry of her son, Greg, who passed away the end of September. I have a previous post about it if you need an update. It was one of the last entries in his journal:

"...Lord please help me to stay focused on you and give me the strength to go on. With all the crap in my life it is hard to remember the 2nd coming and that someday you will bring me home. I know I need to keep my eyes on this....WOW, how Awesome to know that one day I will have no more sadness, no more crying and no more FEARS!!!!!"

Greg now has no more sadness, crying or fears. It is a blessing knowing where he is, but there is obviously still a lot of sadness. Please continue to pray for his family, friends, and church.

Yesterday Ryan and I took the youth group to the Dixie Classic Fair. Barlow Girl, a Christian band made up of 3 sisters, was playing at the fair. The concert was really good. The boys in the youth group were pretty skeptical of the concert at first, but walked away impressed at how those girls can rock out. The youth went on some rides. Ryan and I just watched them get dizzy and queasy. There were "fireworks" which were pretty pathetic, but Josh B. and Amber Q. screamed for each one, like it was the best thing they have ever seen. We had a lot of strange looks shot our way, but hey, they were having fun. Then Josh B. and Ryan would randomly run up to food vendors and yell "turkey legs rock!". Good times. Please pray for Ryan and I and the youth group. We have been temporarily taking over, but have not made a commitment for the youth group because we don't know yet if that is what God wants us to do. Please pray for discernment in this situation so Ryan and I will know either way if we should commit, or just continue being the interim youth group leaders. Any advise or insight would be greatly appreciated.

I had a friend pass away this past week. His name is Greg, and Ryan and I knew him from church here in NC. His dad is our pastor. He died in a fire on Wednesday night. I just got back from the funeral. I've been to a few funerals, but they've all been grandparents. In a way you "expect" those, but this is someone who is my age. How can you prepare for something like that? This was the hardest funeral that I've been to. There has been a lot of tears shed from everyone. I remember at my grandma's funeral, my dad and I were at the casket together and he said, "This is normal. Going to your parent's funeral. It's expected. What's not normal is if I lost one of you." That's one of the hardest things about this. This parents, Chris and Tish. They have been through so much in thier lives. It sometimes seems like a black cloud is following them around at all times. But I have never met people so focused on God and His direction for thier lives. Each tragedy they have dealt with while focused on Christ. And they are so open about thier lives and what they've gone through. We always joke that they are our "North Carolina parents" since we don't have family here. And when we have children they are our designated "North Carolina Grandparents". They are always sending us home with food when we go to their house. It's just hard to see them suffering through another thing. Greg was going through a rough time in his life and he cut out a lot of friends during this period, so Ryan and I haven't talked to him in awhile. In a way for me that is good, because the memories I have were of the good, funny, sober Greg. But as much as he was recently going through, there is no doubt in my mind that he is in Heaven with Christ right now. He knew Christ, and followed Him, but was just in a rough patch of his walk. Greg was passionate about the teens at our church, but once he started drinking, he had to stop leading youth group. Since that time Ryan and I have been helping with the teens. We were really concerned about them because they loved Greg a lot. The last time we met with the teens we were talking about things they wanted to do. One of those was to do something for Greg in this difficult time. They did take is death hard, and it was hard to see them hurting so much. Greg wanted the teens to see the mistakes he had made in the past and how you can overcome them, but unfortunately he slipped back into that lifestyle. Ryan was a pallbearer, which was truely an honor. When Chris had asked him he said something along the lines of, "I know you and Greg weren't really good friends yet, but I would've liked you to have been." They had a slide show at the end of the funeral with pictures of Greg. There was a picture from last Christmas with me, Ryan, Greg, and his wife, Danielle. It was the only picture in that slideshow that didn't have family in it, so again, we were honored to be apart of the "family". My head hurts from crying and my eyes are tired. On Saturday we went to Chris and Tish's house to spend some time with them. That was hard because you are always concerned about "what do I say", etc. I knew we needed to go. Tish does better surrounded by people and we know it would mean a lot if we went. So we pushed our stupid selfish reasons aside and visited them. On Sunday they had the visitation. It was a closed casket due to the fire but there were pictures all over of Greg, showing of his personality. Today was the funeral, then grave site service, and then a lunch at the church. Again, it was so hard to see the family...parents, wife, siblings. I was hurting but couldn't even image what they were going through. I am grateful for my family, my heath (physical and mental), my friends, my church, my job, my house, my food, the clothes on my back. This was a good reminder of the things I have and how it can be gone in a heartbeat so don't take it for granted. I am thankful that Greg knew Christ. His life isn't over. He's probably having a party with Jesus right now, filling up the room like he always did. You will be missed, Greg, but we will see you again someday. I'll never forget your chinchilla impression.

Living Room 1

Living Room 2

Kitchen

Outside before landscaping was done and before porch was on. I realized I don't have an updated photo of the front of the house.

I'm still going to be posting house pictures. It's on my to do list for the weekend to download my pics on the computer, so they are still coming.

Things at the house are still going great. A few weeks ago we had a house warming party with people from church. We grilled out and had a ton of awesome food and good times. Everyone kept asking which room would be the baby's room. I'm not pregnant yet, people! We will be having another party the beginning of Oct. for our co-workers. We FINALLY have internet and cable. And some of our grass started growing in because it rained for the first time in a long time last weekend. I'm afraid it's going to fry today because it is supposed to be 94 degrees. At least the yard has shade part of the day.

We went to MN last weekend for Chad and Sarah's wedding. I was sick throughout part of the vacation, but we still had a good time. I got to visit the MN Zoo and see old co-workers and animals. I also got to see their new sea otters which are still in a back holding area. I also visited the Como Zoo and got to meet the marine mammal keepers, go out for a seal/sea lion training session and see a polar bear training session. Pretty cool. We also got to see a bunch of family and friends. Of course my favorite part was seeing my niece, Hailey. She is the cutest! She's such a well behaved child. And her smile is priceless. She scrunches up her little nose. We also got to see Chad and Sarah's newly remodeled house. It looks great and now it looks like a female lives there instead of 3 guys.

Work has been a bit stressful, but it is finally getting better. I have been hesitant to write about work stuff here because there is another blog that seems to find quotes from zookeeper's blogs and post them on his with a link. That just frightens me. If you're curious, just e-mail me.

Sorry it's been so long since I updated. A lot has happened since the last time I wrote. We moved out of our apartment and into our new house! We closed on Aug. 23rd and that evening Ryan and I loaded the moving van with our boxes and moved the first load over. Friday we didn't move anything to the house, just packed up the rest of the apartment. On Saturday I had to work, but Ryan had about 8 friends come and help us move the rest of the stuff. It was nice to come home from work and have everything moved in and in the correct room. It's been almost 2 weeks and the only thing left to put away are knick-knacks and then hanging pictures on the wall. We are having a house warming party on Saturday with people from church, so it'll be all done by then. It has been a lot of fun getting everything situated. A lot of work, but its OUR house, which is crazy. The cats are getting used to it. Triton still freaks out a bit when he hears different noises. We got a grill and have enjoyed it for two nights so far. On Labor Day a co-worker and her husband came over for grilling. Yummy stuff. I am now on my much needed 4 day weekend. Oh, the reason I haven't updated for so long is technically we don't have internet at our house yet, but we are able to feed off of someone else's in the neighborhood until we get our cable and internet. And for some strange reason blogger doesn't work at work. Anyway, I will be posting pictures soon.

I just played volleyball for a good 2 hours in 90-95 degree heat. Some may call it crazy, however, I call it pure insanity. There was an open house/party for the opening of the new elephant barn at the zoo. Us crazy Rocky Coasters plus a crazy Sonora Deserter scarfed down a hotdog and hit the court immediately. I was only planning on staying an hour or so...two and a half hours later, I was still covered in sweat and sand on the court. I loved it!

I can't wait to move out of our apartment. I was walking in the other day, looking at this gross milk jug that holds everyone's cigarettes and loose garbage, and thought, "I don't have to deal with this apartment living anymore." I don't have to hope for a close parking spot, or smell nasty cigarette smoke when I leave my apartment, or hear neighbors upstairs, etc. Don't get me wrong, this apartment has been great and has been the nicest apartment that Ryan and I have had, which we are grateful for. However, we are getting tired of the apartment life, since we've done it for 6 years. We can't wait to move into our own house, with our own parking spots, where I don't have to worry about the neighbors below when I play Dance Dance Revolution, and where I will never have to smell cigarette smoke.

Ryan and I celebrated our 6 year anniversary on Saturday. 6 years! That's pretty impressive. I was thinking just how long that is. When you think of your years from first to sixth grade, or seventh to twelfth, that is a huge chunk of time. And that's how long we've been married. On our actual anniversary we headed to Fayetteville with Joy and Thor to visit Laura and Krista Griffin. We ate a lot of good food, played some games, went swimming, and had some good old catch up time. Then on Sunday after church Ryan and I had some time together, watching movies, packing, and just hanging out together. It was a low-key anniversary celebration, but it was perfect.

I just got back from a very relaxing day on Lake Norman which is near Charlotte. A co-worker, Katy's, family rented a BEAUTIFUL house on the lake, and Katy invited me there for the day. I arrived around 11 and left around 9. We went out on the boat, layed on floaties in the water, ate a lot of good food, and played Bag-O (where you throw the bean bag in the hole). Katy and I were the champions!

Ryan and I watched King Kong yesterday and today. I'll have to say it's one of the most absurd movies I've ever seen. I don't know if Peter Jackson was intending it to be that way. It was a struggle to get through it. When characters do things that would kill them about 500 times, it gets a little old.

I was very excited because season 2 of Beverly Hills 90210 came out on DVD and I got it. Now, you may be thinking that 90210 is just as absurd or even more so then King Kong, but you are wrong. (I'll just keep telling myself that). It was my favorite show growing up. I was obsessed you could say so it brings back lots of good memories. And I got to meet Gabrielle Carteris (Andrea) from the show which I thought was pretty cool. Growing up I had a wall covered in 90210 posters, so to meet someone that you watched weekly and covered your walls was cool.

House is looking great! I'll post pictures once I load them on the computer. We started packing up some stuff in our apartment.

I started reading Harry Potter 7 but I'm not as far as I would like. Things keep coming up which prevent me from reading. I was hoping for a big long stretch of time to just sit and read, but that hasn't happened in a week. What can I say? I'm a busy gal.

Ryan lost his luggage when he went to MN but it came in the mail yesterday. Hooray! There was some valuable (not $, but personally) stuff in there. Nothing was missing.

This past weekend I had Thurs through Sunday off. On Friday morning Ryan and I headed to the coast of North Carolina. We got to Carolina Beach around noon and laid on the beach for a few hours. It was windy which made it perfect, otherwise it would have been WAY too hot. The water felt perfect. We stopped at a few "beach stores" but didn't buy anything. Then we headed to Wilmington, NC, which is about 30 min or so from the beach we were at. I am a huge Dawson's Creek fan, so I was being a dork and wanted to see sights from the show. We saw Capeside High (actually a college) We weren't planning on going into town that afternoon, but we decided to drive through to check it out. The street next to the river was blocked off and there were vendors and stuff there so we checked that out. Apparently it was a Led Zeppelin cover band, but we didn't care about that so we walked around some more. Then we ate at Hell's Kitchen which was were Joey worked in college in Dawson's. We also saw the wall Pacey bought and painted for Joey and walked on the main boardwalk that is in the show a lot. The next morning we headed downtown again and ate at Leery's Fresh Fish (not called that anymore) and saw some more little stores and stuff that were used in the show. We took a boat over to the other side of the river and toured the USS North Carolina, a battleship used in WWII. Amazing how big it is, but I'm sure it felt super small with all those men on it. The self-guided tour brought you through a lot of the boat. It was cool to see but by the end I was really hot and tired from walking around everywhere. (wimp) Stupid me forgot my camera on this trip so I don't have pics except for on my phone. It was a cute town and I'm sure we'll be back some time because there was a lot still to see.

The progress on the house is going great. I stopped by today. I hadn't been there for about a week and a half. All of the siding is up and our shutters are up too. The sheet rock is up in the house and the ceiling was finished today. The will finish sanding the sheet rock, clean up the floor and then install our vinyl then cupboards in the kitchen. Our stone on the outside of the house should be started tomorrow. Unfortunately Ryan has the camera in MN so I couldn't take a picture today. We are trying to get pictures each time we go so we can track the progress. He'll be back next week so we'll go out then and get pictures. It looks great! I can't wait to move in!

Sleepy Willie

Me with my Abby girl

Cute, but sassy, Vixen

My pretty fox, Mystic

We did it! Ryan and I bought a house! It isn't the first one we were going to get, because we had major issues with the company and we didn't want to deal with them for 4 months while our house was being built. So, this one is it! We love it! It is located between my job and Ryan's job. It is in a nice neighborhood on a caul-de-sac. There are woods behind the house. It is two story, 4 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms. We will be able to move in the end of August or beginning of September.

Things here are good. Nothing much is going on, which is a nice break. I've been really tired lately. Not sure why. I'm usually falling asleep at like 8:00, which is pathetic. I have three days off for the 4th of July holiday. On the 4th we are going to a Greensboro Grasshopper's baseball game. They aren't the Minnesota Twins, but I'm sure we'll still have fun. Tonight we are going to see Disterbia in the $2 theatre in town. We've been watching a ton of movies because Ryan did the Blockbuster on-line for the summer. Problem is, I fall asleep through most of them. :)

Our new house!

You will be greatly missed, Jersey Boy.

You will be greatly missed, Masha Bear.

My stress level right now is probably at an all time high. Yesterday our seal died. A co-worker and I found him about the same time. We only had him for a month and a half. It was amazing to see him progress in his training. Since he was a wild animal, he would first snap at us when eating. Eventually he learned how to take fish from us nice and calmly. We also trained him to target, which is basically touching a buoy on the end of a stick with his nose. He was doing so well with it. I remember one of the last times I fed him and I was thinking how cool it was to see how this wild animal is learning and beginning to form a relationship with me. You will be greatly misses, Jersey boy. We also have another pretty sick animal in my dept. along with issues with almost every animal we have. Not only is work stressful, but we are having major issues with the house we want to buy. Well, not the house itself but the company. And to top it off, this stress is causing some physical issues to me, which is causing me more stress. Will it ever end? I ask that question, but I know it will. Just please pray for me so I don't have a mental breakdown.

This is the house we are looking to buy. The only difference is we wouldn't get the brick accent on the front and we would get a country porch, which extends infront of the front window.

This is the floorplan of the house we are hopefully going to buy. It is in the works.

Update time...two weeks ago Ryan and I headed to Michigan. We stayed with Tech friends, Phil and Sandy, for two nights. We ate good food, played boccie ball, played cards, and played a lot of Nintendo Wii. Good times. On Friday we headed to the hotel in Auburn Hills for Joy and Thor's wedding. Friday night I hung out with the girls in Joy's hotel room. I got to see a lot of dear friends from CMU that I haven't seen for a long time. Ryan hung out with Thor and saw a band. Saturday was Joy and Thor's big day. She was beautiful of course. The wedding was flawless. The reception had good food and good company. We will be heading back to Michigan in a few weeks for Allyn and Paul's wedding. :)

It is Memorial Day weekend. The weather is wonderful. High 80's. Ryan and I have been spending some time at the pool. We also saw Pirates of the Caribbean 3. I love the south...I get to go swimming in May!

I know it's been a long time. Work is going great. I love my new job! I'm learning stuff everyday. I will start doing behaviors with the bears tomorrow, but have already learned to feed them, service their exhibit, etc. I just learned the routine for foxes last week. I am learning behaviors for the female sea lion as I go. I know most of them now. She's a lot of fun to work. And...we got a new harp seal last week! He was a rescue animal from New Jersey that couldn't be released in the wild. I got to work with him yesterday, today, and tomorrow. The four of us at work take turns. We work him about 3 days in a row, four sessions a day. Since he was a wild animal, everything is from scratch. Even hand feeding him took him a bit to get used to. We are training some basic behaviors, such as following us, going in the pool on command, and using a target pole. He follows us like a shadow when we are in his area. He loves his fish!

This weekend we are heading to Michigan for Joy and Thor's wedding! I am excited that I was able to rearrange my schedule so I could go. Ryan and I are driving up Thursday and will return home on Sunday. I'm also very excited because I get to see dear college friends that I haven't seen in over 2 years! Hooray for weddings!

This is Willie...he's always playing.

These are the sea lions I am working with.

This is one of the 3 arctic foxes I am working with.

These are the polar bears I am working with: Willie and Masha

Great news! I got a permanent, full-time job at the zoo. I will now be a Zookeeper 1 at Rocky Coast Mammals, working with Sea Lions, Polar Bears, and Arctic Foxes. I am SO excited about it. I start there on Monday. I will be back and forth between there and Puffin for this month, since Puffin still needs my help. It's amazing how God works because a few months ago I was very upset because I couldn't even interview for the position at the Pavilion because I didn't have enough bird and reptile experience. If I could have interview, I probably had a good chance at getting the job since I was already working there. However, I couldn't even interview, meaning I couldn't even be considered for the position. Then at the beginning of March a position at Rocky Coast opened so I applied and it was offered to me on Wednesday. God is good. And it's not just that it's a permanent job, but it is a permanent job in the department of the zoo that was my first choice. I'm very excited. I know I said that already, but I am. I've been waiting a long time for a permanent position. I am proud of myself. I worked hard for this.

You know when you are sleeping and you wake up and say something that makes no sense at all? It's not that you are talking in your sleep...you are awake, but just really out of it? Well, last night I apparently thought I knew what I was talking about when Ryan came to bed and I said to him "How many Puffin packages did we get? I swear I'm making sense." Then I paused a bit and thought about what I asked and added. "Nevermind. I'm not making sense." And rolled over and went back to sleep. What the crap is a Puffin package?

On Friday night Ryan, Joy, Thor and I went to the FREE Chris Daughtry concert in downtown Greensboro. It was insane. There was about 23,000 people there. It was great to see him. He's my favorite American Idol contestant. He's from here so he did a free concert. His new video "home" was filmed during the concert. It was fun except for the fact that I was standing in a tiny 1 ft by 1 ft square for about 4 hours and had a smoker right infront of us that had to light one up every 15 minutes.

I love spring! Today at work we played volleyball at lunch. It was gorgeous, sunny, and hot. After work Ryan and I picked up some food and went to a nearby park and ate dinner, then took a walk around the walking/bike path. I don't know what the temp was during the day, but at 6:30 this evening, it was 76 degrees.

Today is a big day. Today is the first day I get to wear capris and flip flops. :)

With my new schedule at work, I end up with a 4 day weekend once a month. I lucked out and my first weekend was my 4 day. Since Ryan and I actually have a whole weekend off together, we are heading down to Charlotte today. We are going to go shopping, see the production of "Holes" at the Children's Theatre, and possibly go to Discovery Place, which is an interactive museum there. We are spending the night, so we'll come back tomorrow afternoon sometime. It'll be a nice little getaway.

Peregrin Falcon

These are murres.

These are Puffins

This is an auklet.

I have started my new position at Rocky Coast Birds. I am working with a Peregrin Falcon, Horned Puffins, Parakeet Auklets and Thick-billed Murres. I completed my 4th day today and it has been going good. I'm already trained and on my own. There's not a whole lot to it. What I need to get better at is the animal observations. With approx. 80 birds in an exhibit, it'll take awhile to learn what is normal and abnormal behavior. They have colored bands to tell them apart. The birds are very personable. Some even eat right out of your hand. I'm still waiting to get pooped on.

I know, I know...it's been a long time.

Yesterday was my last day working at the Pavilion. On Friday I head to the Puffin area. I was sad to leave. I like the staff and I'll miss my animals, but I am also excited to learn about a new area of the zoo. We went out to lunch for a little going-away party and I got some really nice presents from them.

I headed home Feb. 12 to help my mom after her eye surgery. There were definate highs and lows of the trip. My mom's surgery went well. Her recovery was a pain because she had to lay face down on a special chair all day. I enjoyed taking care of her that week. I think of all the times she took special care of me, like when I was sick or after oral surgery. It was good to play "mom" for once. I also went to a free Skillet concert at MTU. I've seen them at Cornerstone a few times and liked some songs but never really got into them. Then I heard some of the new stuff on the radio before the concert and then obviously at the concert, and I REALLY liked it. I bought their new c.d. and thoroughly enjoy it. I also got to see some friends that I don't get to see very often. I was able to go out to my dad's farm and go snow shoeing. Then Josh and Amy came out and we had our "Christmas" in February and had a wonderful dinner. Bad part of my trip was my grandpa on my dad's side passed away when I was up there. Unfortunately I didn't get to see him before it happened. I was very glad I was up there for the funeral though. He had a bad heart and we've been expecting it, but that still doesn't make it any easier.

Weather this week has been wonderful. Today it was 70 in the sun. I sat outside at Starbucks and read a book. Sorry for you guys in MN who are expecting a snow storm tonight. :(

We had a "winter storm" last week. All the schools were closed and I chose not to drive to the zoo. I didn't want to chance the icy roads. And how people were talking about the driving that day, I'm glad I didn't go in.

We had a Superbowl party last night. A few people from church came over and we ate a lot and drank a lot of pop. All I have to say is, sorry, mom...da bears didn't pull it off. I was worried after that first play. :)

Next week I am heading home to Hancock for about 6 days. My mom is having eye surgery so I'm going home to help out and to entertain her. I'll have to go out and play in the snow one day when I'm home.

It's cold. I don't like being cold. I've been cold all day. After work I stopped at a gas station to get a cappuccino to warm me up and it was gross.

Things here are going well. The weather has turned winter-like. It snowed yesterday and stayed on the ground for a good part of the morning. I had to work and when I headed out to work, the roads weren't too bad, but they were pretty bad in Asheboro. A truck in front of me slid on ice, turned around 1.5 times and smacked into a gaurd rail. Luckily I was far enough behind him that I didn't get hit in the process. I was the first car to reach him, so I was going to get out and see if he needed help, but then he drove off before I could pull behind him. I guess he didn't need help. The zoo was closed because of the weather so we got out at 3 instead of 5. Work is going good. I was able to catch meerkats and a fox last week at work. We needed to trim nails and frontline the meerkats and we switched our fox grouping around. It went pretty well. It looks as if I'm moving to the puffin area of the zoo. They also have auklets and muirs (all seabirds) and then a falcon. I'm excited for a new experience, but I will miss my area that I'm in now. I'm not sure exactly when I'm moving to the different department.

Tonight Ryan and I went to his school for the drama class' final. They all had one act plays. Wow, the kids have no respect for each other. There was so much talking and moving going on during each play. Anytime someone asked them to be quiet, they would just continue to talk. If they can't even respect their peers, I know for a fact Ryan gets no respect as an authority figure. The plays were pretty bad. The kids didn't project, so you could hear a line here and there. There were 2 good ones.

Tomorrow Ryan, Joy and I are going shopping. Maybe we will find some WEDDING stuff for Joy, since her and Thor are GETTING MARRIED!

Today the weather is sunny with a high of 75. I miss my family, but I don't miss the cold and snow.

Our New Year's Eve was uneventful. I had to work the next day so I ended up falling asleep on the couch around 10:00 and then Ryan woke me up at 11:45. I do hope 2007 is better than 2006. I realize compared to most people, our year hasn't been that bad. We have food, clothing, housing, jobs, etc. However, it just seemed like bad things kept happening, and they were all crammed into one year. I did a lot of crying, held a lot of bitterness, questioned God many time...but through it all I know He is good and things are going to work out. I am so blessed to have Ryan here with me because it would've been MUCH harder without him next to my side. I love you, Ryan.

Yesterday Ryan's family had to put their cat, Lucy, to sleep. Their other cat, Charcoal, was put to sleep last spring. Since I lived with those cats for many months, I grew attached to them very quickly, so the news saddens me. I can't handle any more animal deaths. In 2006, 6 animals I was close to died. And being that my profession is working with animals, I obviously love them, and it's a big deal to me.

"From the first time that you opened your eyes did you realize that you would be my savior? And the first breath that left your lips did you know that it would change this world forever" -Relient K

Happy Birthday, Jesus! Today I had to work but got out at 11:00. Ryan and I are about to open gifts now and then we are heading to our pastor and wife's house for dinner. It is not a white Christmas here...it's 45 degrees and raining. I can't complain since it was close to 70 the past few days.

And if you are wondering why you didn't get a Christmas card this year, is because we didn't send any out. I had made some and they are mostly completed, but Ryan and I just didn't feel like doing a letter and cards this year. Overall it's been a pretty crappy year, so neither of us could sound super positive in the letter. On a lighter note, I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas.

Dolphin show @ Minnesota Zoo

I found this random file on-line of me during a show at MN Zoo. Notice when I throw the fish and it smacks the window.

There is a baboon at the zoo named Sudi. One day she discovered that a ball we use for enrichment can fit on her head. So, she wore it around for 4 days. We called it her "special helmet". A co-worker got some great video of it. Check it out... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cx2jnJlpedU

Make sure you have sound.

Today we are having our Christmas party at work. We are grilling out and it is supposed to be 71 degrees. It is supposed to be in the 70's all this coming week...even up to 77 on Monday!

We finally decorated for Christmas. We put on a little "John Denver and the Muppets Christmas" and started the tree. We have so many ornaments and such a small tree. I love our ornaments though. Most of them have been gifts or else they were our ornaments from when we were children. They all have such a special meaning. It still doesn't really feel like the holiday season though. It's been cold enough here the past few days, but it is different without the white stuff. Although I don't miss the shoveling and cleaning the car off in the morning.

You will be missed, Ayla. You taught me a lot about patience and how to think more outside the box.  

My birthday was the week before Thanksgiving. I turned the big 2-5...quarter of century old! I had to work on my birthday, however there was a Thanksgiving dinner for the staff on that day, so at least I got a really good lunch. That night I opened cards and presents with Ryan. I don't remember what we did on Friday. On Saturday I went to a big pottery festival with Joy and 2 of her friends. After that Joy took me out to lunch. Yummy! On Sunday Ryan and I played disc golf, which was the first time I played and sucked. Then he surprised me with a picnic at a nearby park. Then that night we got all dressed up and went out to eat at P.F.Changs. Overall it was a nice birthday weekend.

On Thanksgiving our good friends from MN, Chad and Sarah, flew in. Ryan stayed home and cooked the turkey while I drove down to Charlotte to pick them up. When we got back home we cooked the rest of the goodies. Thor, Joy's boyfriend, also joined us as well. Right before we were about to pray I look at Sarah's hand and see a gigantic ring on her left hand. Apparently I was the last to notice, but in my defense, in the car I tried checking a couple times because we knew they'd be getting engaged in the future, but she kept sitting on her hands. It was very humorous and we are VERY excited for them. We had a good meal then watched Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. On Friday we left for the Asheville, NC area to go camping. We stayed in a cabin in the same campground that Ryan and I stayed at when we first moved here. We got our cabin set up then went to a little shop and got some cider. We got back to the cabin and had hotdogs, brats, and smores. It was REALLY cold out so we headed inside to play some cards and go to bed. The next day we went to Chimney Rock and hiked to the top of the waterfall. It was a very nice day out. T-shirt and jeans was good enough to wear. It was probably around 70 degrees. After the hike we went in the town of Chimney Rock for some lunch. When we got back home we went to church and then out to eat with people from church. On Sunday I had to work but they came to the zoo to visit me. I was able to show them around my building and we had lunch together. My first visitors! They flew out on Tuesday. It was so great to see people from home. I do miss it, I can't lie to you.

On Monday I noticed a rash that I had and ended up going to the doctor's on Thursday and found out I had a reaction to the rabies vaccination I had to get for work. So now I'm on a few drugs and hopefully it'll go away. I also was having joint pain in my hands in the morning, which is also a side effect to the vaccine. I started the medicine yesterday and didn't have the pain this morning, so hopefully it continues to work.

I was supposed to go to Maryland this weekend for the family Christmas party, but my grandma was in the hospital due to an irregular heart beat. She is out of the hospital and seems to be doing well, but they canceled the party.

Then to top off my already sucky week...I found out today that they had to put Ayla, a dolphin from MN Zoo, to sleep yesterday. She has basically been sick since June and hasn't been able to recover fully. It'd look like she's getting better and then decline again. In the past few weeks her blood work was messed up so they did some tests. She has been fighting a lung infection and they found bone spurs on her spine. She has scoliosis, so it already makes swimming difficult for her. In the past days she stopped eating and reacting to the medicine, so the zoo had to make a very very hard decision. I can't even imagine what they are going through. I'm not even there and I bawled. That is three dolphin deaths in a year. I don't think I can handle any more crappy stuff this year. Ayla was the first dolphin that I got to feed there. She was stubborn and picky, just like me. She had the most beautiful markings on her face. She loved her frisbees and aqua disks. She was very interested in things, but would often watch from afar. It took her a long time to warm up to you. I will miss you, Bo.

I know I haven't updated in a long time and I have a lot to catch up on. I'm tired now and don't want to do it, but I promise I will update in the next few days. Peace.

I am making progress at work. The meerkats are now eating out of my hand. Even the little babies will come up and snatch some food from me. Yesterday I held a snake for the first time. I really don't like snakes, however I work with 4 of them, 3 ball pythons and one rock python. When the ball pythons are shedding, we soak them to help with the shed, which requires you to pick them up and put them in a tub of water. Well, I can't have someone else do it for me all the time, so I finally did it yesterday. It actually wasn't that bad...I just had to get past that first step and just do it. As for the rock python, she is 140 pounds, so I'll have to work my way up to her. Her mouth is the size of my hand.

I need to vent for a bit about bad drivers. And I know there will always be bad drivers, but it'll make me feel good for at least 10 seconds to complain about it.
1. People in NC seem to stick their nose out into the lane when they are waiting to pull onto the road. It has been to the point where Ryan or I have had to swerve to avoid clipping their front end, or quickly moving over to another lane.
2. Blinkers...it's not that hard. Use them, people.
3. Tail gaters...if I can't see your headlights because you are riding my tail, you are driving too close to my car. And yes, I will put my brakes on to let you know.
4. Left lane drivers! This drives me crazy! Ok, people. You are supposed to drive in the right lane and use the left lane to pass people. It just works better if people follow that pattern. I've noticed here (at least on my route to and from work) that the majority of the people drive in the left lane as opposed to the right. If you are going slow in the left lane and see a line of cars behind you, take a hint and scoot over and let them pass.

ok. I'm done, at least for now.

This past Saturday I went down to Charlotte with Joy. She has some family down there and her immediate family came down from MI. It was a gorgeous day...we took two walks. There is a little pond near the community where her relatives live, so we walked around there. We also had two good meals. The first was a semi-Thanksgiving dinner and then we went to a pizza buffet for dinner. It was a very rainy ride home, but we made it home safely.

The meerkats at work are starting to warm up to me. One group is very interested in me, and then the other, more timid group, is starting to come up to me as well. I was given permission to start trying to hand feed them. I also got to feed a Patas monkey yesterday for the first time. They just take the food right out of your hand and eat it. They are very cute.

My cats are doing well. Triton is becoming more cuddly, which I appreciate. He still hates to be held, but on occasion he'll take a nap on my legs and he definitely likes to be pet more now then he did before. Obi is still our "snuggle-bunny". He has a horrible habit of waking me up at around 4:30 in the morning. Usually he lays on my chest and starts purring really loudly. Just let me sleep until my alarm goes off at 6:15 am. As I type this, Obi is in one of those crazy cat moods, where he is chasing a ghost or something. He's cute.

I am on my first 3 day weekend. I lucked out with 4 3-day weekends in a row. I can't complain. I am just trying to relax a bit this weekend and enjoy the lovely weather. Today it is about 74 and is supposed to reach 79 tomorrow. I love the weather down here. :) On Sat. I am going to Charlotte with Joy to visit her family. I'm excited to spend some time with her.

Meerkat 

Here is a picture of a Debrazza monkey. Don't they look like old men. The two we have are named Butch and Mara.  

I have completed week 1 of my job and it is still going well. I'm getting the hang of it for the most part. I am now on my "weekend" today and tomorrow. I'm trying to get some cleaning and laundry done. And I have a roast in the oven. How domestic am I? It is hard to clean when I'm at home since a huge part of my job is cleaning. But, that's life. Yeterday was Halloween and we got a whopping 2 trick-or-treaters. And they only came up because Ryan ran into thier mother in the parking lot and told them I was waiting to give out some candy. We need a house in a neighborhood so we can get some kids. No more of this apartment crap with no kids. Ryan and I rented "Rest stop", a horror movie, yeterday, but it was stupid. Joey Lawerence had a part in it and was surprisingly was really good. He was very Bruce Willis-ish. He was the only positive thing I have to say about that movie.

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. :)

We got our new furniture delivered today from Ashley Furniture. We got a dining room table, coffee table, 2 end tables, love seat, and pull out couch. The plan was to put the pull out couch in the guest room, so it could actually be a guest room. However, the dumb thing is too big to fit in the bedroom door, so we had to put our regular couch in there an have the pull out couch in the living room. I wasn't too happy, because it is inconvenient when we have guests, but I guess we will survive. And, poor Triton is deathly afraid of this new furniture. Him and Obi were locked in the bedroom when the movers were bringing the stuff in. When the cats were let out, Triton took one look into the living and freaked out. He's been hiding in the bed since noon, and it's 11 pm now. He has popped out a few times, looks at the new furniture and runs back in the bedroom. I think I have a pycho kitty. Obi on the other hand, had now problem. There was a fly let in when the door was open, so he was running all around the new furniture trying to catch this fly. I always thought Obi was our scaredy cat.

I finished two more books. One is called "The thin pink line." It was stupid. It's about a woman who fakes her pregnancy. I realize there are ridiculous things in books sometimes, but this was so over the top it made me mad. I am one who has to finish a book, so I did, but I didn't enjoy it. Then I read the third installment to "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" series. I read it in two or three days. I really enjoyed it. I usually don't read series, but I quickly read this one. I'm anxious for the 4th book to come out. Now I am reading a collection of short stories that Ray Bradbury put together. The short stories are written by various authors. It's a book that my brother got from my dad's farm, and it has that old book smell that Josh and I love so much. I was flipping trough "Big book of helpful hints" or something like that the other day and it said to get rid of the old book smell, to put a dryer sheet in between the pages and leave it there for a week or two. Why would you want to get rid of that smell? If I wanted to smell dryer sheets, I'd just sniff my clean laundry.

Ryan had his birthday last Wednesday. He turned 28. He is feeling old. I know in the scheme of things, 28 is still really young, but when you are in your 20's and are reaching the end of them, it seems old. We went out to dinner, then I took him to mini golf, then we came back here to open presents.

On Thurs. I was invited back to the NC Zoo for a few hours so I could get a behind the scenes tour of the area I interviewed in, talk to the staff, etc. I was able to watch a sea lion feeding while on exhibit with them. The two staff members that I met were really nice and I would love to work with them.

Saturday I met up with Joy and we went shopping together at the Friendly Center in Greensboro. It is an outdoor mall. We ate lunch at a very tasty sandwich shop. It was nice to have some girl time. And I only bought one pair of gauchos.

Sunday we went to Joy's house. She took an 8 week pottery class and wanted to show off her work to her friends. She had a bunch of good finger foods. He pottery was very impressive. We were able to take a piece home, which was difficult because there were 3 that I had my eye on, but I was able to go home with my first choice.

Ryan and I are cursed. Everytime the Twin's are on ESPN (which has only been 2 times in a month) THEY SUCK! (But I still like my Mauer)

Yeah! Chad and Sarah are coming to NC to visit us over Thanksgiving. I'm so excited to see them. Hooray for friends! Hooray for school!

Today I had an interview at the North Carolina Zoo. I think it went well. It'll take about 3 weeks or so before I am contacted. I really hope I get it!

Yesterday Ryan, Joy, and I took a trip to the North Carolina Zoo. It is a gorgeous zoo. It's very large and the exhibits look great. The animals have a lot of space. And the trails that you take to the exhibits cut through the woods, so you don't have to walk in the blazing sun the whole time. There are 5 miles of trails, and we probably walked 4 of those 5 miles. I got to see the area that I applied to, Rocky Coast. Very cute sea lions and polar bears. They were basking in the sun.

Today I sat by the pool and finished my book, Second Summer of the Sisterhood. I now have to go out and buy the 3rd book. Ryan and I might check out the High Point Mall today. He has a lot of school work to do, so that'll be a nice break.

My poor kitty, Obi, has had a rough morning. First, he got sick. Then, he had his first shower. Obi likes to hang out between the shower liner and curtain when I am taking a shower. Well, I think he got a little too curious, because he ended up in the shower. Unfortunately I was rinsing my face wash off, so I didn't see what happened, and it also caused me to react slower then if I was watching. I opened my eyes and there is my poor cat trying to get out of the shower, but the liner suctions to the sides so he couldn't get out. I turned of the water and he was pretty wet. I couldn't help but laugh. Once I got out I was able to dry him off the best I could with a towel. Who would've though that wet dog and wet cat smell similar. As I type this, he is still licking off the excess water. It was a good laugh.

Yippee! My Minnesota Twins are on ESPN tonight. I haven't been able to see them for over 2 weeks. However, THEY SUCK TONIGHT. I'm very disappointed. Oh, well. At least I get to see my boys.

I got this idea from Liz, who I believe got it from Krista.

Here are some things that make me happy, in no particular order:
Laughing so hard your belly hurts
Getting an arm/back tickle
Getting a massage
When Ryan and I laugh together
Skiing when there is snow/ice stuck on the branches
Laying in the sun
Nice smelling lotion
When my cats cuddle with me
Working with my four very special dolphins
When a dolphin looks at you in the eye
Snuggling on the couch, watching a movie
Eating out
The smell of baby (Hailey, I miss you)
The smell of a cleanly shaven Ryan
Surprise dates
Decorating the Christmas tree while listening to John Denver and the muppets
Cuddling with my mom on the chair
Arriving at your destination on a long trip
Making cards for people
Looking at my old pictures

Allyn and I at Melissa's wedding. 

Ryan and I at Melissa's wedding. 

This is my niece, Hailey, at her first Twin's game. 

I hope everybody had a good Labor Day weekend.

On Friday, Ryan and I met Joy, Laura, and Thor at Joy's place for some sloppy joes. Then we played some games of UNO and watched part of "Big Fat Liar."

On Saturday Ryan and I went furniture shopping. We would like a kitchen table, a chair for the sunroom, and a futon for the guest bedroom. We were unsuccessful. You'd think that since High Point is the furniture capital of the world, furniture would be cheaper. Well, it's not. It's more expensive that in MN. I want IKEA again! That evening Joy, Laura, and Thor came over for tacos and we watched "She's the Man." I was VERY skeptical. I would have never rented it, but we watched it and it was REALLY funny. Then Thor headed back home and Laura and Joy spent the night.

In the morning we went to Joy's church and then ate some Vietnamese food-yummy. That night Ryan and I rented "Poseidon." We enjoyed it. I finished my "Freeing Keiko" book and now I'm on to "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants." I read half the book in one day. I also got some little things around the house done that I needed to do. So, here I am. Tuesday morning...watching Regis and Kelly in my pajamas. What I life. I need job...bad.

Yeah for Internet!

I whole lot has changed since I last wrote. Ryan and I are now living in North Carolina. We are in High Point, which is outside of Greensboro. So far we like it. It has been raining the past 3 days, but at least it cooled down some. Josh called me yesterday and said, "batten down the hatches. Ernesto is coming." My reply was, "Is that a storm or something?" That is uninformed me, not having internet, t.v., or looked at a paper for a week.

Here's how it went down. Everything worked out with Ryan's math license. (Well, at least I hope so since we are here now.) We packed up the U-haul on Sunday, with the help of a lot of great friends. On Sunday we stayed at Ryan's parent's house. We wanted a bed to stay in and also we though it appropriate to start and end our stay in Minnesota at their house. We headed out on Monday morning. That first day we made it to Louisville, Kentucky. We made the rest of the trip on Tuesday. The cats were GREAT in the car. I was very proud of them. We arrived in Greensboro that evening and met up with Joylynn and Thor for some dinner. Ryan had to start work on Wed. because the students came Friday. I was busy looking for apartments. We found one and moved in Friday. Well, I moved as much as I could while Ryan was at work. When he came back he helped with the rest. It is much easier with 10 people as opposed to 2. We love our apartment. It is 2 bed/2 bath, big kitchen, and a sunroom. The cats are enjoying it so far. We bought a washer and dryer and got that on Wed. We got our internet and cable hooked up this morning.

We haven't had much chance to scope out the scene of High Point. We did go to the Arboretum with Joy and Thor last week to have a picnic. This weekend Laura Griffin is coming up to spend the weekend up here. She is teaching in North Carolina now as well.

I have applied to two jobs at the North Carolina Zoo. We shall see.

If you did not get the e-mail that I sent out with our new address, let me know so I can get it to you.