Hokie, Hokie, Hokie, Hy!

Tech, Tech, VPI

Sol-a-rex, Sol-a-rah

Poly Tech Vir-gin-ia

Ray rah VPI

Team! Team! Team!

When I went to orientation at Virginia Tech ~12 years ago, we learned this cheer... then we proceeded to NEVER USE IT! But everyone still knows it, so it's fun to say it!

The weekend of October 5th, Laura and I packed up and headed out to Blacksburg, VA for the weekend. We were going to the homecoming football game at tech! We met up with Laura's friends from college and had a great weekend!

Hokie Alumni Tailgate! We got a photo with the Hokie Bird!

Just a little barbecue, beans and mac&cheese breakfast

Lowe's took this photo and sent it to us

Laura and Kyle (dude he is so cute!)

Mmmmmmmm

Mmmmmmmm

My makeshift way to block out some of the sun - it was shining pretty bright!

Go Hokies!!

Yesssssss!

Ohhhhh CapTech sponsors the Hokies - Love it!

Me, Sara and Laura

Here we all are with our "babies" - I have Chef, Laura has Kyle and Sara has Caesar

I apparently missed the memo that I was supposed to wear blue - whoops!

 Love me some Hokies!

User Error

I am a good driver.

Weeeelll... I'm starting to disbelieve that statement. Maybe it's more like... I WAS a good driver. This week was a purely user error week with CJ and the car.

Apparently drainage ditches and my car and me just don't get along. Tuesday, as I was turning down a street in downtown Richmond, I hit a curb and the noise was loud enough that people halfway down the block looked back at my car like... "what the heck was that". By the time I arrived at my destination, 6 blocks away, my tire was completely flat. My good work colleagues changed it for me and I went on my way home.

Wednesday I went into the car place and ended up replacing all four tires because it was starting to get close to them being done. No worries, I also got myself a donut for breakfast.

Then Thursday, exactly one day and roughly 35 miles on my new tire, I was in my friend's neighborhood. I did a three point turn and apparently hit another drainage thing that made another loud noise. I drove a little and heard a weird noise. I couldn't believe that when I got out of the car one of my BRAND NEW tires was flat. I mean... come on! So since I was still close to Laura's, I called her up, called AAA and she came to get me so I didn't have to sit in the rain by myself. Poor thing had to deal with me as I was soooo mad at myself and the tire! Thanks Laura!

So today your post is coming from sears auto as i patiently wait for them to put another tire on my car. Soooo I'm going to try and stay away from drainage curbs for a while... and the moral of the story is to always buy the roadside protection on tires because you never know when you will have a user error moment!
#epicfail #thankslaura #gobacktodrivingschoolcj

Well it's about time!

That I updated you on what's been happening in CJ world lately... Let's try to do this mostly in picture form! Since it's been a while I will ONLY do two weekends ago, but don't worry, you'll get a post from last weekend soon enough! :)

State Fair! My first ever!

Fried Oreo or Fried Peanut Butter Cup... YUMMY (or at least the oreo was better)

Only at a fair in the south...

Then the next day I had a LOT on my list of things to do! Remember a while back when I had my yard "cleared out"? Wellllll... I sprayed it all with roundup, but thought it would look nice with some shrubs/plants that were LOW MAINTENANCE, but nice looking. It looked really bare without anything, but I didn't want all those weeds that used to inhabit the area... Five azaleas, three hydrangeas, one crepe myrtle, 23 bags of mulch, two bags of top soil, one bag of peat moss, three pairs of socks, two showers and lots of bruises later... see below for some new pics of the yard! 

Laura taught me a trick to put down newspaper and it supposedly
keeps out the weeds... we shall see

Two new hydrangeas

Crepe Myrtle (over at the edge), a little TOO much view of the
neighbors yard 

Five new azaleas

Lots of mulch

Six Lilies and lots of mulch

Mulch and another hydrangea

Then hung out with these two for a little while!

Hanging out with this guy! (Gizmo)

Annnnd this one! (Brutus)

Then on Sunday I got to meet my new little baby "niece" Bethany Claire! Look at how cute she is!!! Congrats to Mike and Kristi!

Bethany and me in the hospital just hanging out

She's SO CUTE!

Rounding Out the Third Quarter

Soooo... for those of you who don't remember I gave myself a list of 30 goals to complete before the year. You can read that blog here if you want. But see below to see how we're doing here!

Honestly, I have some SERIOUS work to do!

1. Start a blog (check) AND write a post at least once per month (January, February, March, April,May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December)

2. Visit three or more new places - Ha! I visited 7 new STATES nevermind places!

3. Lose at least 15 pounds (I would love to lose 30, but I want to make a realistic goal) - ugh... this goal needs some help

4. Get back in shape or at least become more active by doing some form of exercise frequently - I have gone on a few walks here, AND did a 5k

5. Be specific about doing something kind for someone at least once per month 

• January  - I brought my older neighbor's recycling bin out to the curb for her 
• February - I sent a card/gift card to a family who is going through a rough time and needed some encouragement
• March - Went with my friend to go hang out with her mom, and brought dessert!
• April - Helped one of my friends out by emptying her dishwasher for her when she wasn't feeling well :(
• May - Drove to NC to watch my cousin graduate from college
• June - Made dinner for friends who had their baby! (Chicken Parmesan)
• July - Prayed for my friend every day while she was on her three week trip to China
• August - Helped my friend with last minute things before she left to go to AFRICA for two weeks
• September - When my nephew was here for Labor Day weekend he was so helpful, so when I sent him his sweatshirt back (that he left at my house) I also sent him $10 so he could do something fun!
• October
• November 
• December

6. Try six new recipes (Who saw the blog posts about Chicken Delicious, Turkey Breast & Turkey Tetrazzini?, Creamy Italian Chicken - Thing 5, Chicken Parmesan, Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies)

7. Make a new friend

8. Watch the sun rise - Saw the sun rise on our way back from Lake Gaston!

9. Enjoy a sunset - Totally saw the sunset on our road trip!

10. Swim in the ocean - Totally did this in Sandbridge!!! :)

11. Do a charity run or walk - April 6 the SCAN 5k See my Blog Post!

12. Raise money for a charity (Can be combined with number 11)

13. Donate to a new charity - I did actually donate to the organization for Sharon to go help orphans in China

14. Get a facial

15. Take a dancing lesson of some sort (salsa, country line, etc.)

16. Go to more than two Flying Squirrels games - so this goal will not be completed because I went to ONLY ONE game and then the season was OVER!

17. Go to at LEAST one Hokie football game - Totally hit up the VT vs. UNC HOMECOMING game last weekend!

18. Participate in a murder mystery dinner - Murder at the Juice Joint was AWESOME!

19.  Attend a horse race at Colonial Downs Look!

20. Pay off my car?!?! Or at least come close -Paid off last week!

21. Ride my bicycle more than once

22. Read a non-fiction book (I know this might not be a big deal, but I 100% stick to fiction books)I read Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand I would SERIOUSLY suggest it!

23. Build something

24. Go through my house and get rid of things/clothes/etc that I haven't used in the last year (This is partially complete. I went through my closets and got rid of 6 paper grocery bags full of clothes & shoes. I still have more things to get rid of but that is definitely a start!)

25. Organize my basement (especially the workroom) - I totally started this... I broke down SO MANY BOXES

26. Hang the rest of the pictures, art, and shelves that I haven't hung

27. FINISH UNPACKING from when I moved (yup, that's right folks, there are still boxes in my attic)

28. Volunteer for something I helped with Laura's Church (Third Pres) at their annual Stop Hunger Now event and we packaged 80,000 meals for kids in Haiti

29. Spend some serious time in my backyard weeding, killing weeds, and planting pretty things that don't take much effort to keep up - Totally paid for "16 Man Hours" of labor to do it for me, but it was an amazing change! you can check it out.

30. Have the BEST 30th Birthday party EVER!!! :) (Especially since Laura is planning it!) - Holla! This was REALLY fun! Laura's party planning was A-MAZING! Check out my Birthday Blog!