Surrounded by Boxes

So here I am... Sitting in Clinton, bored out of my mind, on a beautiful Saturday afternoon.  My sweet hubs had to work this morning so I'm just waiting on him to get off so we can enjoy this lovely day together.  I need out of this apartment in a baaaad way!  I'm surrounded by boxes.  Everywhere I look there is a box.  And I've already unpacked like a million of them but they just don't seem to disappear. EVER!  I've considered picking up a few unpacked boxes and just tossing them in the dumpster.  Probably wouldn't miss the stuff anyway.  I've also thought about just dumping everything out into the floor just so I can get rid of the mountain of boxes that sit in front of my face.  I found myself just starring at them yesterday for a good 30 mins.  It's like I was frozen and couldn't move.  All I could do was stare and wonder where was I going to put it all?!  I'm definitely going to be having a yard sale in the near future, that for sure.  Heck, maybe I can just have a "yard" sale now and let people come in a buy a whole box. Wanna buy a box??

On a good note though, I live in walking distance to Hamack's Perkadeli (best chicken salad ever!)  I've already bought a pound of Darlene's Chicken Salad.  Yes, a pound. 

On another good note, I also live in walking distance to the Git-N-Go market, which sells really good Fried Pickles.  I had those for dinner last night and I wish I had them for breakfast and lunch today too.  They are THAT good.  (I don't know why I say that things are in walking distance to our apartment... I have a car and I plan on always driving to both of those places.)  

Speaking of apartments... It's been a bit of an adjustment moving from a house with tons of privacy, to an apartment with no privacy.  It hasn't been that bad though.  I keep telling myself, "It's only for a year."  I don't like the rules they have here either.  They have some really dump rules... 'No grills allowed', 'Don't shake your rugs out of your windows', 'Walk your pets at least 20 feet from the buildings', etc.  I don't like rules.

Well, I hope you folks have a wonderful weekend!  Let me know if you wanna buy a box.  ; )  Kidding. Kinda. 

xoxo
Kelli

Bittersweet

This is the post that I've been wanting to write for about a year now, but now that I'm finally writing it I feel a bit of sadness in my heart.  We are finally moving... THIS WEEKEND!  Finally getting to move is a bittersweet feeling.  I'm really excited, but at the same time I'm sad to leave this place I've called home for nearly 8 years.  Brad got a job at the Anderson County EMS a few weeks ago and he's been traveling back and forth to work.  But after weeks of searching for a place to live we finally found something... so no more traveling for him!  He actually got a job in CC too but he's only doing part time for them.  He's apparently the "Man Candy" of EMS because he's been offered a job for 4 different counties.  If only his job hiring skills would rub off on me now. 

Today was sadly the last day of my job at ETSU.  I loved that job so I hate to go, but I know that God has something amazing planned for me.  Like maybe a future career in photography?!  Brad bought me a new camera for Valentine's Day and I super excited about it.  Hands down the best gift ever!  I'm one lucky lady, that's for sure. 

my new camera



We were not supposed to get to move into our new apartment until March 1st, but we got a call yesterday telling us that we could move in this weekend.  So I went from having 2 weeks to prepare to move to 3 days.  It's a bit overwhelming trying to get our entire house packed up in just a few days.  I'm just glad that I took a couple of days last week to pack some. And I'm sad that we won't get to say our goodbyes to Johnson City the proper way.  We had plans to go to all our favorite places before we left, but we obviously don't have time to do it now.  And worst of all, we won't get to say goodbye to our church friends on Sunday.  But I know we'll make plenty of visits to JC. 

I guess I should give you a pregnancy update... Baby is doing fine and growing like a little weed!  I'm 15 weeks.  My belly has really popped out and I don't like it one bit.  Everyone says how cute it is, but lets be honest- It's not cute.  I feel so blah.  And I've had my belly patted uncountable times in the past week.  Baby is the size of a navel orange.

It's been fun, but I gotta go pack some more.  I'll keep you updated on the big move!  The next time I blog, I'll probably be sitting in Clinton.  Woo-hoo!  Nite-nite blog bugs!

Snow Days

See, I do keep my promises sometimes.  It's been less than 24 hours since I last posted... that's gotta be a record or something for me.

I'm snowed in... AGAIN!  But at least my cute hubby is snowed in with me.  He tried talking me into going to Knoxville today (He's crazy!)  I had to talk some sense into him like always.  In case I haven't told you this 100 times already, I'll tell you again.  I hate winter.  Hate is a strong word, but its the only word that describes my feelings for it.  It's terrible.  I just want to see some sunshine!!  The snow is only good for getting me out of work, but then I don't get paid so that's not good.  It's a win-lose situation.  I'm trying to make myself be productive and get in the mood to clean today, so I'm watching HGTV for a little inspiration. 

I was thinking about my post yesterday and I want to clear a few things up.  I sounded bitter about being pregnant and I'm not.  I'm happy about it... I'm just trying to get adjusted to the idea of a baby.  We were not trying to get pregnant right now.  We had plans to wait until we had our own home and were settled into careers and were married a little longer, but the Lord has other plans for us.  And I know that his way is ALWAYS the right way.  No questions.  I will say that it was amazing hearing (and seeing) baby's little heart beat for the first time.  Baby is sooo tiny right now and it's crazy how fast it's developing and growing.  These next 30 weeks are going to be interesting to say the least.  This will be an exciting journey! 

~*~Introducing Baby Holt~*~

I will leave you with my favorite bible verse and I think it fits perfectly:
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." -Philippians 4:19    

I'm inspired now, so time to clean!!
Have a wonderful day in the dreary weather! 

XOXO
Kelli

This One's for Ash

I didn't realize how long it had been since I've posted on here until my friend Ashlee said I needed to give an update.  So here it is.  Just for you Ashlee.  : ) 

Ever since I started working all day on a computer, I stopped even opening my computer at home.  That's my reason for lack of blogging lately.  Plus I've been avoiding telling the world my news.  But I need to face it, this can't be avoided.  Not at this rate anyway.  So here it is.  My BIG news.  BIG. NEWS..... Brad and I are expecting our first baby.  Yep, I'm pregnant.  Our little (BIG) surprise!  I'm still trying to figure out how this happened (laughs)!  I'm due on August 7, 2011 and the time is already flying by.  I tend to freak out a little when I think about it.  I don't even like to hold babies, they scare me (haha.)  I'm only 10 weeks and I have already gained so much weight and and I can't fit into most of my jeans.  And I can't even describe how tired I've been the past 10 weeks.  All I want to do is sleep.  The upside to this is that I have not had one single day of morning sickness (I'm one of the few luckies.)  So I guess I'll take the weight gain and tiredness over the sickness.  But on a serious note, I am excited.  Shocked and scared, but excited. 

Another new addition to our family is Oscar.  Oscar is our new puppy that Brad brought home on New Year's Day.  He's another surprise.  He was a lost puppy that had been sleeping in a wood pile for 2 days and Brad rescued him.  He's a full blooded Shih-tzu.  He's sooo cute, but my goodness he's so much work.  And Macie hates him.  She's not adjusting well.  So he may not get to stay with us too long. He's so tiny and I love him.  But I don't love him that much when he wakes me up at 5am. 

Happy New Year by the way...  (I did NOTHING exciting for New Year's Eve so I have nothing to say about that.)  We did have a good New Year's Day though.  Brad and I went to visit my family in CC and we played Apples to Apples all night.  It was a blast.  And my favorite part was that my Dad played (he NEVER plays games.)  He was hilarious.  Every card he put down he would say "I know this is the best card and it's going to get picked."

Brad finished his EMT school and applied for a job in Anderson County, so please pray that he gets that job.  It would be nice if I could move closer to my mom now that I'm pregnant.  I know nothing about babies and I'm gonna need help.  We have been wanting to move for a long time anyway (as you know) so this would be a perfect time.  We just can't move without jobs.

Well, I better go for now but I promise to blog again soon.

I will leave you with something I learned in our community group at church on Sunday...
 “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off?  And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish."  -Matthew 18:12-14.

Happy Friday, Happy Me

Can you believe it's the 3rd of December already?  I'm still trying to figure out where Thanksgiving went.  Life the past week has been a roller coaster ride and so far I'm only climbing the first hill.  Some pretty exciting things are going on and I can't wait to tell you about them soon. 

I love the way that God works.  It's so amazing just to witness his work in action and be a part of it all.  One day your life can be heading in one direction and the next day God throws up a sign to go another direction and all of a sudden every thing just falls into place.  I love it.  Words just can't describe it.

Brad and I have met amazing people in the community group we joined at the new Church we've been going to.  It's a group of young married couples.  We are one of the youngest couples in the class so we are learning so much.  I wake up every Sunday morning so excited to go because I know God is going to teach us something new.  I will be sad to leave them when we move.

Speaking of moving.... I think it's finally settled.  We are moving as soon as possible after the first of the year.  I've been in Johnson City for 7 years and it's time to move back home (or close to home.)  We will miss our friends in JC and our new church family, but it's time.  Unless God throws up another wrong direction sign and then we will follow our chosen path.  But for now moving back towards family is where we are feeling lead. 

I can not wait until next weekend!!!  The boggtrotters will be holding our annual Christmas Party and I am so full of joy and I can't stand it!  It's my favorite get-together of the year with them.  I'm trying to come up with a great dirty Santa gift this year.  Last time I gave a whole bag of chewed double-bubble gum and the empty wrappers.  This year I'll try to contain myself (mostly because my jaw hurt for a week after chewing all that gum.) 

It's a wonderful time of the year!! 
Now if only I could get motivated to put up our Christmas Tree....

Have a happy weekend!!!
XoXo

Things That Make My Heart Happy

Catch Up Time

Wow, it's been a loooong time since I've blogged.  I've missed you blog world!!  So, I guess I have a lot to catch you up on. 

I will start by saying.... I GOT A NEW JOB!!!!  Woo-hoo!!  And I LOVE it.  It's at ETSU in the Office of eLearning.  I started on October 11th (which confirms how long it really has been since I blogged.)  I help build and fix ETSU websites.  It's something that I have never done before, but it's fun.  Really, it's a great place to work.  The people I work with are super nice and they all rock.  They have made me feel so welcome since day one.  And I can honestly say that I do NOT miss my old job. Not one bit. 

I am a cartoon on our ETSU staff website... how cool is that?!

Another biggie I should mention is that I celebrated my big 26th birthday!!  Yuck to getting older!  I mean, don't get me wrong... I'm so thankful that I am blessed with another year and I pray for many, many, many more.  I am proud to say that I did not have a melt down like I did when I turned 22.  I took it like a grown up and celebrated with happiness.

I got to do one of my favorite things of fall.... We went to Fender's Corn Maze with Travis and his girlfriend Amanda.  It was a blast as always!  It was probably the easiest corn maze I've been to yet, but still fun.  And I must say that I love Amanda... She's perfect for Trav. 

A couple of weekends ago, me and my hubs went on an amazing hike at Roan Mountain.  It was such a beautiful day and you could see sooo far.  It was perfect.  It was a nice day to just spend with Brad while taking in the beauty of God's creation.

 

Something else that I must mention is Halloween.... It came and then it went.  Of course, Brad and I hosted the Halloween party that I've been planning for months.  It was fuuun and great to get caught up with my friends.  I spent way too much time decorating the house and then I forgot to take pictures of it.  And this makes me so sad.  All that work and not one picture.  Of course!  But I can tell you about it. First, we put up a graveyard next to our sidewalk... with a nice grim reaper that pops up at you as you walk by and says scary things like "welcome to my graveyard," and we topped it off with a fog machine... We very successfully scared everyone that walked by it.  Allie even screamed (Hehe!) Second, we hung a flying ghost between two trees in our yard that flew from tree to tree moaning.  Third, we hung the obvious spider webs everywhere in the house.  Fourth, in the bathroom we hung a white shower curtain and put bloody hand prints all over it and left a bloody knife laying on the shelve, and we took fake blood and wrote REDRUM (murder) on the mirror.  I must mention that the mirror has been cleaned several times since the party, but when the mirror fogs from the shower you can still see that it says murder, SCARY!  Fifth, we put things like fingers, eyeballs, teeth, etc. in jars filled with water and food coloring.  It looked creepy.  Sixth, we covered the living room furniture with white sheets to make it look like an old abandoned house.  And finally, we put a "potion lab" on a table in the living room with a witch's cauldron filled with dry ice.  Can you believe I didn't take pictures?  I'm a doof. 

Brad and I finally found a church today that we loved!  We've searched for a church in JC for a long time now that we really feel lead to be at and today we visited a church that we amazing.  It had great worship, a great message, and great people.  We both just felt it was the church for us when we walked it.  We were invited to go to the young married couples bible study after the church service and it was amazing too.  I'm very excited to go next week and hopefully make some new church friends.  It was a great day!  Not to mention that I bought TWO dresses from Forever 21 today that cost me a total of $17.31.  Oh how I love great deals.  :-) 

Well, I think I've covered all the biggies that have happened in my life recently. It's been fun catching up blogger-boos!  I'll try to keep up this time.
Night!