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.

We still aren't positive about what we are doing or where we are going. It still looks like we are heading to North Carolina, which we really want to do. There were some problems with a math license in that state, but Ryan thinks it is all worked out now.

I got my hair cut today. It is chin length in a cute bob cut. I like it so far. We'll see when I have to style it myself come tomorrow.

Today when I was packing I found an old journal from senior year of highschool. It is very humerous to read. I really should be packing. Instead I'm reading that and Ryan is watching football.

This past week we headed to Michigan for Melissa's wedding. Ryan and I flew out on Wed. We stayed at Phil and Sandy's in Garden City on Wed. and Thurs. night. We played some Super Mario Brothers, ate a lot of good food, played a lot of cards, and went to a comedy club. On Friday morning Ryan and I drove to Port Huron. I went to lunch with the females from the wedding party and the mothers at Olive Garden. Then Ryan and I met up with 2 friends from CMU, Krista and Laura. We got some desert at Bob Evens. Then we had the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. I had some raspberry beer-very good. Excellent steak and veggies. After that we headed back to the hotel. The girls from the wedding party plus Maren met in Melissa's hotel room and we laughed all night. We were up until 2:00 I think. It's always a good time when me, Allyn, Melissa, and Maren get together and reminisce about old times.

The morning of the wedding was busy. One girl did 6 girls' hair. But she got us all done in time, for the most part. The girls loaded in a big conversion van with the wedding dress and sped to the church. We quickly got dressed and got some pictures done. Let me tell you...get married in an air conditioned church. This church wasn't and it was HOT. During the ceremony we were all dripping sweat. And poor Melissa who had about 10 layers of dress. The ceremony was beautiful and so was Melissa. It was so cute how Ryan (groom) watched Melissa the whole time and won't take his eyes off her during the ceremony. It was really sweet.

We took a limo bus to the reception. There was really good food there and we danced the night away. The Cipriano's, old teachers from highschool, were there. It is strange being an adult now and having old teachers treat you as one. It was also nice to see Melissa's family who I haven't seen for many years.

After the reception we had an after-party at the hotel. Then we hung out with some people from the wedding in the lobby until 4 am. There was a lovely dance off between a groomsman and a 70 year old drunk stranger. It was great! "Rap is crap," as he likes to say.

Sun. we had lunch with everyone and then did present opening. We didn't stay for much of that. We headed back to Garden City. I took a nap, boys played Nintendo. Then we went out to dinner and played more cards.

Now we are back on MN. It looks as if there is a good chance we will be moving to Greensboro, NC, where the lovely Joylynn lives. I will update when I find out more.