SNOW!!!!!!!!!!

In NC we usually only get one snowfall a year (if that).

Last night it snowed and we got about 6 inches (which is MAJOR).

EVERYTHING in town is shut down and probably will be for the rest of the week weekend.

But it is so worth it! Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure!

Gracie going out to inspect the snow...

She didn't really like it and was a little more comfortable in my arms
We do not have a sled so we used the top of one of these to go sledding with... haha

I made Justin try it out first...

(let me also point out that Justin is from FL and doesn't have ANY snow clothes... he is outside in the snow with CROCS on... hahaha)
Then I gave it a shot and it was sooooo much fun!!
Justin thought it was fun too!

Today we are going to make a snowman!

More pictures to follow!

To my fellow North Carolinians: be careful out there!!

A New Adventure!

In life before nursing school I was a residential property manager.

I got a random call yesterday about doing some "contract work" at some properties in town.

I am beyond excited because I can pick and choose which days I want to work (according to my school schedule).

PLUS, I will make as much money working just 8 hours than I would have made from working almost 24 hours (2 shifts) as a Nursing Assistant. I am not sure I even mentioned I quit my job as a Nursing Assistant -- it just wasn't worth it anymore.

This new "contract job" seems like the perfect fit for me! More money for less time... sign me up!

So in the meantime, I will leasing my little heart out on this street:

Wish me luck!

Love yourself

My husband took a picture of me last night and said it was one of his new favorite pictures.

He also posted it to Facebook with the caption "My Girls"

I think the picture is TERRIBLE and I immediately start picking it apart:

• My hair looks TERRIBLE and is accentuated by the shadows making it even worse.
• I have a double chin
• I have on NO MAKEUP
• My right eyebrow looks funny
• Gracie has demon eyes
• I look like I am choking the life out of Gracie
• One of my shirt sleeves is up, the other is down
• etc, etc....

When I mentioned these things, Justin said he didn't notice any of it... he really just loved the picture.

Its funny to realize that sometimes people don't see the things you see and can love you regardless of your flaws and issues...

We all need to learn to love ourselves a little more and stop trying so hard to always be "perfect". There is no "perfect"... we are who we are for better or for worse! If people don't like it, well they can just look away!

PS: For anyone wanting my health update -- Some of my tests have come back and some haven't. So far everything is NORMAL but the one test we are really waiting on takes awhile so I have no answers yet... thanks for all the messages, prayers, and support! I should hopefully know SOMETHING this upcoming Monday.

Silly Husband

I did NOT overhear the following conversation take place between my husband and our little dog yesterday:

Justin: "Gracie, you have the life. All you do is sit around and sleep all day... AND you get to spend a lot of time resting your head on Mommy's boobies. I know you are a girl and you don't appreciate that part, but it sounds like a pretty awesome life to me".

HAHAHAHAHA!!! My husband cracks me up.

Roll Call!

I am going to start a couple of different Blog Rolls on my sidebar!

Do you want your blog's url to be added to my Blog Roll for everyone to see??

Just comment below and tell me which "category" you want to be placed in!

Categories are:

• "Just Add Nurses"
• "Just Add Southerners"
• "Just Add Animal Lovers"
• "Just Add Friends"

You can only be in one category -- even if you fit ALL of the above categories! So let me know which one you would prefer to be in!

Or if you come up with a fun category I didn't think of, let me know!!

Awards & Shout-Outs

Awhile back I participated in Laura's White Elephant Swap.

Yesterday I received this from my swap partner.

Thanks so much.

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I love getting bloggy awards... unfortunately it takes me FOREVER to post about them.

I will be putting them all on my sidebar ASAP.

Thank you all so much!

Received from Preppy Pink and Green Puppy, Life of a Suburban Princess, Classy and Fabulous, AND Living in the Moment

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Received from Little BGCG

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Received from Silly Precious Piggies

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Received from Classy and Fabulous, The Ramirez Family, AND Mrs. MFC

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Received from Martinis and Madness

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Received from Keeping Up with the Schultz Family

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Received from The Truth about Me-self

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Received from Mrs. MFC

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Received from Ideologies of Melissa

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Received from Classy & Fabulous, Little BGCG, The Honey B Blog, The Preppy Pink and Green Puppy, Our Little Family, Black Labs and Lilly,AND Life as Eye See it

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Received from Keeping Up with the Schultz Family

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Received from Kathie @ My Net Finds

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Now for the pass on.

I am offering up all of these awards to anyone that commented on my post yesterday... you guys always know how to make me feel better when I am feeling down/scared/sad/whatever! You have no idea how much it means to me!!

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I also want to do a shout-out to my bloggy friend Christa who is currently 40 weeks and 1 day pregnant. She is so ready to deliver her little "Bean". Go wish her luck that little "Bean" makes his appearance soon!!

Scary...

I wasn't sure whether or not I wanted to share this information... but I am (although I may be a little vague in my descriptions).

Yesterday I had my annual physical.

They found something on my neck that shouldn't be there.

Today I went for an ultrasound to check the back of my neck.

They did not really find anything (aka: no mass). Thank God.

They do not know what this thing is on my neck but are doing TONS of blood tests to try and figure it out. One thing everyone agrees on?

It's not normal.

Ideas at this point are all over the place.... and it is really scary

I may not have results of my blood tests back for a week

In the meantime I will be praying... a lot.

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Even though my sweet accountant hubby is in the middle of busy season and working until almost midnight every night, he still surprised me with the most gorgeous flowers last night because he didn't want me to be so sad/scared...

He is the best.

Oh brother...

One of my brothers is a State Trooper.

We are very proud of him.

And we always get to hear funny stories about his job on the road.

He recently posted this story on Facebook... so I stole it borrowed it to share with all of you!

So I pull up beside this Dodge Neon about 3:45 a.m. and this guy has his index finger 3 digits deep in his nose, completely oblivious that I am there. He pulls his finger out and looks at his treasure and then everything kinda goes into slow motion as his finger moves towards his mouth.

You know how you cringe when you watch those crash bloopers on tv? Well thats about how I was except I was yelling "NNNOOOOOOO!!!!" but the dirtbag couldnt hear me.

I reached down and just laid on the airhorn and he jumped pretty good. The guy looks over at me and the most disturbing thing was that I think he was pissed because when he got startled at the airhorn going off I think he dropped his booger on the floor. I was just shaking my head in nasty disbelief.

The guy gets flustered and inadvertantly runs the red light. I stopped him and told him if he would concentrate as much on his driving as he did his orrifice conquests and boogar expeditions he could save 4 points on his license.

The cost of a boogar has now been defined !!!!! Cmon people, lets not eat boogers ok?

Ask and you shall receive

Thanks for all the sweet comments about my "wedding photo" in my last post. Rachel sent me a comment asking to see more pictures.

Well, I posted some pictures on our first anniversary -- you can view those here

But....I can do even better than photos... I have videos!!

Pre-Ceremony Video:

Ceremony Video:

Reception Video (minus sound because YouTube took away the sound.. boo!!)

Weddings are so much fun!

At the Top!

Amy @ Keeping up with the Schultz Family tagged me for this super fun meme!

The Top 5's of 2009

1. My 1st wedding anniversary with my hubby, Justin!

2. Raising $7650 for the MS Walk

3. Getting into Nursing School

4. Spending Time with Friends and Family!

5. Starting a blog!! (and with that I got to meet some of my new bloggy friends IRL)

With Emily @ Tales of the Beaver Family

With M.A. @ The Duncan Dialogues

I tag these 5 Friends:

Cole @ All the Small Stuff

Anna @ Southern Champagne Wishes

Jessica @ This, That and My Blog

Kathie @ My Net Finds

M.A. @ The Duncan Dialogues

And ANYONE else that wants to play!!

Hiding

I'm in a funk.

My mom (and Thumper from the movie Bambi) always said if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all

so... I'm hiding out until the funk passes

I hope everyone else has a great weekend.

I'll be back soon I hope...

Dog Pile/WW

Gracie's entry for the "Dog Pile Competition"

The rules: take a bunch of stuff and pile it on your dog.

Gracie is such a good sport sometimes!!

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(PS: I am "double dipping" this post and using it for Wordless Wednesday too)

View other people's pictures at: Seven Clown Circus, 5 minutes for mom

The time I sent Justin to the hospital

Background: Justin and I met in college while pledging a coed service fraternity. A few weeks after we started dating, our fraternity had a pledge event at a hockey game.

When we arrived at the hockey game we were told that we (our fraternity) would be the halftime show. That is, we were invited to come on the ice and play broomball.

(SIDEBAR: Broomball is pretty self explanatory -- hit a ball with a broom into the goal)

Justin did not want to go.

Me being the pushy, overbearing, mean girlfriend tell him that all the other boys are playing broomball and he better get out there and play with the rest of them.

Justin did not want to go.

He said his shoes were not right for the ice (they were some sort of dress shoe -- not sure why he was wearing that to an ice hockey game anyway -- but whatever).

(SIDEBAR: They would not have skates on while playing broomball - they go out on the ice in the shoes they are wearing)

I tell him again he better go -- that he is acting like a little girl with all of his excuses.

Here is an actual picture of us most likely having this discussion:

So he decided to go.

I am not really paying attention because of course I am busy taking pictures with the girls

That's when it happened....

He FELL....

for most people this would not be a big deal.... for Justin, it was. He fell flat on his face, busted open his chin and had to be carted off the ice.

He was taken to the hospital and had to get 10 stitches.

The next week was picture week for the yearbook.

He was not happy with me (and neither were his parents) and has not yet let me live down the time I forced him out on the ice and sent him to the hospital.

Now head on over to Once Upon A Miracle to see more funny stories

Check it out!

I am a winner! Look what I won from Kathy's Jewelry

(photo from Kathy's Jewelry)

They are so pretty, dont ya think??

She has giveaways all the time (including right now) so go check out her site!

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I also won this monogrammed decal from Initial You (giveaway hosted by "The Wife" @ The Cobia Family)

of course my initial will be a "W"

(picture source)

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Wanna know about some other giveaways going on in the blogosphere right now?

Visit these blogs:

Brown Eyed Belle for her Girly Giveaway

A Blonde Walks into a Bar for her InStyler giveaway

Monograms and Martinis Cuff Giveaway

xoxoYvonne Make-up Giveaway

Good Luck!!!

Back to School

By the looks of it this semester is going to be tough!!

These are my books for just 2 of my classes this semester....

Yep, you counted right.... 10 required books for just 2 of my classes!!

Bless my little heart (and my back too).

PS: for anyone wondering which pair of shoes I picked... I picked #4. I may have on ugly shoes but I sure do have a pretty stethoscope and that's all that really matters right?? Haha!

My new kicks

Nursing school requires I buy some ugly, expensive, white, leather, closed back nursing shoes.

These are my options (I know you are jealous):

Let's see if you can guess which pair I picked?

PS: did I mention ugly?? And all of these shoes are over $65!?

(I am going to miss wearing my cute PINK shoes that I wore as a CNA)