Meet Luca!

Meet Luca, he's the newest addition to our family! He's an Italian Greyhound! He is a much smaller version of the Greyhound. He will only be between 12"-15" tall and weigh in between 10-15 lbs.

We got him when he was 8 weeks old and only weighed 4 lbs. He's now 5 months old and weighs 11 lbs. He has been a joy to our lives!! He's full of energy and makes us laugh quite a bit! Whether it's the position he sleeps in or the way he takes something he knows he's not supposed to have and make a run for it. Luca is a very picky boy and gets tired of his food quickly! We've given him many varieties of dog food and have yet to find one that he likes for more than 2 weeks. So we just get samples of food now since we've spent money on food that we think he will like and then he tricks us! He is a cuddler, he sleeps in the bed with us (something I said from the beginning he would never do and everynight like clock work he's in the bed waiting for us to get there), he starts out sleeping at the foot of the bed and then works his way up in the middle of Paul and I and sleeps on one of our pillows until it's time to get up at 5:30 and go for a walk. Crate training has gone ok for the most part. He normally goes right in the crate and sometimes he will go in take the treat out that we put in there for him and he tries to get away. This apartment is only 680 square feet so he can't get too far away!

His favorite thing to do is look out of the window!!!

He loves to travel!

He likes to wear shirts

He's a cuddler

We take Luca weekly to Paul's grandparents house so he can run his little heart out in their back yard. He gets really tired from that and sleeps all night! He's good with other dogs too! He loves Paul's parents dog, Bella! They play so good together!

Here's some little tidbits about Italian Greyhounds:

• They are light shedders.
• They like to have their teeth brushed.
• They are great walking companions. (Luca loves to walk!!!)
• They love to cuddle
• They get stressed out easily.
• They are very affectionate.
• They are playful!
• They can run up to 29 mph.

Greek Festival! OPA OPA!!!

On Saturday when I got off work I went with my friend, Emily to the Greek Festival. She's Greek so it was really neat to go with someone that knew about the culture, food, dancing and the beer!!! The Greek festival is held at the Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Norfolk. I forgot my camera so I couldn't take pictures of any of the dancers, the food tables or of friends!

I got my mom a really neat gift there for her birthday! Can't tell you what it is because I think she reads my blog and her birthday is right around the corner and I don't want to ruin the surprise! I had lots of food and dessert and watched some really neat dancing!!!

For dinner I had Pastitsio which is a macaroni casserole with ground sirloin topped with a creamy cheese sauce, Spanakopita which is spinach and feta cheese baked in filo pastry, and then I had Tiropita which is a blend of cheese baked in a filo pastry. It was all so yummy!!! Then I got Loukoumades which is the Greek donuts!!! I know it sounds like a lot of food but I didn't eat it all I brought a lot of it home for Paul to try since he couldn't go with me!

Loukoumades

This will be a festival that I go to every year for the rest of the time we are in the area!

Thoughts for Thursday

This was my facebook status a few days ago, but I really like this "thought" and felt it was appropriate for my thoughts for today!


.be a best friend.tell the truth.over use i love you.go to work.do your best.dont out smart your common sense.never let your prayin knees get lazy.&&& love like crazy

It's Been A While!

It's been a while and we've had a lot going on! Here's a small re-cap of my life since my last blog.
***Just a warning, some of thie pictures may gross you out...if you don't like it, then don't read it!!!***

Surgery- I had minor surgery on my neck back in March. I had a cyst on my neck under my chin. I've had it for about 5 years and it was the size of a pin head when I first notice it. Then over time (about a month's time) it grew to be the size of a golf ball! It was inflammed really bad and looked really nasty so the doctor ordered some tests and then cut it open and drained it. He taught Paul how to clean it and pack it. I had to pack it everyday 2 times a day for about a week. Now, it's closed and all that's left is some scar tissue. I go back to the Doctor on Thursday for a check up. Concert Fun- Paul and I, along with a group of PA students went to the 3rd Eye Blind concert at the Norva. It's a little small concert hall in Norfolk downtown. There's no seats, it's all stand up. So we stood about 2 rows back from the stage and listened to a great concert!
Work- I really enjoy my job. When I first started, I lacked the confidence of getting people to lease apartments. I would do this really awesome tour of the building and of several apartments and would end with just, "Thank you for coming in and I hope to hear from you soon." I went from that to, "Out of the apartments you saw today, which one did you want to reserve in your name." My co-workers are amazing and gave me a pep talk that made me want to earn some extra money. There is a bonus for every apartment leased and I'm finally at the point where I have earned a couple (once the people move in).

Easter Weekend/Birthday Celebrations- Some of Paul's friends had birthdays at the beginning of April so we got together to celebrate! We went out for drinks when i got off work and had dinner. Then we went over to Plaza Del Sol for kareoke! Paul sang Margaritaville and there was a surprise visit from the Easter Bunny! Paul and I went home the next day when I got off work to celebrate Easter with our families!
Family Weekend- Paul had family weekend at EVMS and that was fun to be a part of! On Friday they had a Pot Luck lunch at school and we mad an Italian Dip for him to take. It was all gone when he brought the dish back so it must have been a hit. Then on Saturday they had sports day. He played flag football and did an egg toss! It was fun to sit outside with other families and support our PA's! 1st Semester Down- Paul survived his first semester of PA school. He finished with ALL A's!!! I'm so proud of him! We had an end of 1st semester cook out at our apartment. We cooked on the grill, set the theater room up with Rock Band and had several games of pool going on. His class is a class of celebrations! They like to celebrate the little accomplishments! He had a week break and the 2nd semester started this week. We'll see what kind of celebration they do this time! Break in between- Paul had a break in between semesters. So we went to DC for a few days just to relax and have fun. My sister went with us! It was her first time going to DC! She had fun, I hope!!!
Next time, I won't wait this long to write!!!

Married Monday's: Describe Your First Date

I'm not sure if you could count our first date as going to dinner with a bunch of friends. When we met and would hang out, we were around friends together for a while. Or he would bring me dinner at work so that didn't really count as a date. Before we went 'out' on a date I did go to his house to watch a movie. It was late at night, I had actually just woken up around 9:30 that evening because I had a rough night out with my girlfriends the night before. So Paul called me and asked if I wanted to come over. I didn't want to at first just because it was so late, but I was finally ready to give in and give it a chance! But later that week just he and I went out for lunch. So that's what I called our first 'real' date. We went to a cafe' in downtown Rocky Mount. We went to lunch because you guessed it, I had to work later that afternoon. We went to lunch and then went back to my parents house and hung out for a little while and talked before I had to be at work. After he left, I was smitten! I couldn't wait until we were together again. After work that night, I went to his house. Then, you know the deal...we got married!!!

Almost Wordless Wednesday

I saw this and it made me think of where we live. Whenever it rains here, it pours. Rain floods everything!!! We like to walk just about everywhere, but when it's raining you either don't go anywhere or you drive. Driving here is impossible sometimes just because you either have pay for parking, park in a garage and walk another mile from where you parked, or you parallel park and hope and pray that you're parked in a spot where you will not get towed! Since it's starting to rain here I figured this was an appropriate picture to post.

Married Mondays

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So, I've gotten pretty good at looking at other blogs and ran across this from following Ashley's blog. I decided that I would join in with doing this Married Monday blog so I could continue with blogging on a regular schedule, and it lets people read about Paul and I and our love for each other!

How Did You Meet?

This should be fun! How did we meet? Well let's see if I can sum this up and not confuse anyone!

This is him and his mother! He's a family man!

It was the Summer of 2003 and I was working at the YMCA. Paul would come in and work out with his guy friends and he would say hello and for a while that was it. One evening while I was working I couldn't leave work but it was time for me to take a dinner break. Paul was standing there, so I asked him if he would mind going to pick up my dinner that I called in from an Italian Restaurant. Of course, his response was, "Well you can buy me dinner too since I'm picking yours up." So, I bought his dinner that evening. We ate dinner during my dinner break together at work and just chatted and got to know each other a little bit. After dinner a little time passed and we would just casually talk when he would come in and work out. I wouldn't say that I "stalked" him while he was working out but I always knew where he was in the building. He started taking a life guarding class there and on the last night of class, he asked me to write a note to the pool supervisor asking for her to give him a call to talk about a job. Then, he threw in there while I was writing the note, "Oh yeah and I want you to have my number too!!" Of course I was smiling inside, but I had to pretend like I wasn't interested even though I was interested...somewhat.



As more time passed, he asked me why I never called him since he gave me his number. I didn't have a response really. I honestly thought he was too young. He had just turned 19 and I was getting ready to turn 23 that October. So, finally I called him and we made plans to go out. But this wasn't your average date, it was to go play Frisbee golf at 8:00am. Which I wasn't really into, but I thought that since he asked me I would give it a try. Well...not so much...I stood him up. I didn't show up and I didn't answer the phone when he called me to find out where I was either! We tried it again for the same place and same time about a week later and I stood him up again. I still to this day do not know why I stood him up but I did that for a good month. Finally, one night we had a good conversation over the phone when I left work that I decided that I really was more interested in Paul than what I thought. Little did I know that he was about to give up on me. I called him to really set up a date and show up and he didn't answer. He didn't answer because he was out with a girl...at the time I thought it was a date (and to this day I tell people he was on a date) but they were just friends. So, he called me back and we set a date for lunch before I had to go to work! Then I knew that I had to show up since I had to work right after and I wanted to give it a shot.

So, we went to lunch before I had to work and at lunch I knew that there was something about him that I really liked and that I was going to really see how far this could go. Time passed and we both really enjoyed spending time together and we got really close and became not only a couple but we became each others best friend! I know how cheesy, but it's true. He's my best friend. Before I knew it we had survived our first year of being together as a couple! We overcame a lot. Our age difference was an issue for some people. People thought I was too old and that I wanted to be in a rush to have children and that I wanted to be married right away. Little did they know, I didn't want to rush to be married and I was in no rush to have children!

About 5 and a half years passed and one summer morning at his family's house at Lake Gaston he was acting really strange. He dropped his breakfast that he just fixed all over the floor. I asked him what was wrong and he said nothing...so I didn't think anything of it. I had no clue what was about to happen! After breakfast, he asked if I would help him put our stuff in the car because we were getting ready to leave and go on vacation. I didn't really want to help him, after all it was one bag and all he had to do was put it in the car when we were leaving. I had no clue he was about to propose! So after a little fuss, I decided that I would go outside and help throw the one bag in the car (to this day I still joke about the bag). As I threw the bag in the car and got ready to walk back, he called me again back to the car. I got back and he came over beside me and said some really sweet stuff (I'll keep that private...between us :) ) and he proposed!

We got married August 8, 2009!

So, that's how I met my wonderful husband and our little story of us! Thanks for listening!!!

Thankful Thursday

At work this week our boss asked us on Tuesday morning what each of us were grateful for. So, I decided that I would change it up a little bit and keep the "Thankful Thursday" theme alive. When my boss asked me what I was grateful/thankful for I said:

I'm grateful/thankful for my husband, friends and my job!

Other things I'm thankful for...God, my family, my health, the roof over my head, chap stick, music, books (never thought I'd be thankful for them..I used to hate to read), my favorite TV shows like; Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, Survivor (I know reality TV stinks but I just can't give this one up), and The Young and the Restless to name a few. I am also thankful for Dave Matthews Band and am thankful that I can go to their concert every year. I am also thankful for the Girl Scouts that seem to come out once a year so they can make me gain more weight by selling those delicious cookies! Last but not least, I am thankful for my Wii Fit that I can use after eating those delicious Girl Scout Cookies!!!!


I am thankful for many other things but have to save some thankful thoughts for next week!!

Wordless Wednesday

Thankful Thursday!

In continuing on with my "themes," I decided that today would be my "Thankful" day. Of course I am thankful for many things in my life, but I am thankful that I met a wonderful man that's my husband. He is an amazing person inside and out. He's my best friend! He works so hard at everything that he does so he can provide a great future for himself and me as well and one day (a LONG one day away) a family. He studies late at night and sometimes into the early hours of the morning and goes to school all day just like a person with a full time job would do. Then he comes home and spends time with me eating dinner or helping me cook dinner and doing the dishes and gets right back to studying. Sometimes he thinks he's neglecting me by being away so much, but I understand. I never wanted him to feel that way because I am perfectly fine with some alone time (aren't we all). He had his first Therapeutic Patient Interview yesterday and he was really nervous, so we spent some time before he went to the interview going over what he would ask the patient and what to say and not to say. This class is a Pass/Fail. So you either pass interviewing your patients (he will have a different patient every week) or you fail. He came home from his interview and said he knows that he passed.

So, today, I am thankful for my husband and everything he does not just for me but, himself and others!

Before going to his Therapeutic Patient Interview. Of course I had to take a picture of him wearing that White Coat for the first time since he got the coat!

Wordless Wednesday

Themes!

I decided that it would be nice that if I really did blog everyday or a couple times a week that I would have some "themes" with my blog (You know like "Wordless Wednesday, Thankful Thursday and Fun Friday"). I've seen it on other people's blogs and wanted to start it as well to keep me into blogging. I started off really good at it and have slacked off a little bit. So, here goes, lets see how creative I can be.

6 Months Today!!!

Six months ago, I married my best friend! I know most people think it's crazy to celebrate a little anniversary like this but we were super excited to be able to celebrate this day! I never thought the day for us to get married or heck, be engaged would ever get here! We dated for a little more than 4 years before we got engaged, and were together 6 years before we got married. Paul and I would talk about marriage here and there but I never wanted to bring up the subject unless he did. We both agreed that when we did get married we had to be done with our Undergraduate Degrees first. So, we were done with our Undergrad in May and got married in August! I just wanted to take a moment on the blog to do a shout out to Paul! He does read the blog believe it or not!

I love you! Happy 6 months anniversary!!!

Snow Fun

Over the weekend, we had a little visit from "Old Man Winter!" Paul and I had our first snow in Norfolk. So, Friday night after I picked the guys up from school, we went to our usual hang out, Red Dog Saloon. The guys like to go there and unwind on Friday's after school and I pick them up on Friday's, so I get to go with them. After Red Dog, we came home and relaxed for a little while and went to dinner with Kenny and Jenny. Then, we came home and prepared for the snow!We prepared for the snow by going to Harris Teeter just to get the essentials, you know milk and eggs. All night Friday night I kept waking up to see if it was snowing (because I was so excited), but since we live in a high-rise building it was hard to tell and the street lights are at our level so I couldn't look in the light to see if anything was coming down. When we woke up Saturday morning there was snow all over the place and it was still coming down. Of course Paul and I had to get dressed in our warmest clothes and go for a walk.

We walked to Starbucks for breakfast (which is only 2 blocks from here) and then we walked back to Harris Teeter (which is 2 blocks over from our apartment and then about 4 blocks on another street) and then back to the apartment. We had a nice walk and we stayed warm. We went back to Harris Teeter so we could get stuff to make a big pot of chili. So when we came back I started on the chili and Paul met Kenny and his 2 sons in the park across from the apartment so they could play in the snow. After they played, they came over and Paul and I introduced them to a 'southern treat' SNOWCREAM! They had never heard of it so of course I made it and they seemed to enjoy it, now they have something southern to take with them back to Utah when they go home!

This is the park across from us, Paul took this picture on the top level of our apartment.

This is K and B taking time out from playing in the snow for a picure!!

The weatherman is calling for more snow up here this weekend, but I have to make it home to pick some stuff up. So, I'm leaving Wednesday morning to get what I need and attempt to make it back before the weather gets bad again!

Until next time...

Interview After Interview...

Before we moved to Norfolk, I came on the weekends and looked for jobs and plugged away at sending my resume to places on the Career Connection Website. Well, I never got any bites on jobs or interviews until the week before I quit my job in North Carolina. So, I scheduled my first interview in Virginia for the Monday after my last day at BB&T. I was super excited to have an interview and felt like this would be my step in the right direction for getting started in Norfolk! Boy was I wrong...I came to the area the weekend before, plugged in my GPS and Paul carried me away to the location of the first interview. I mainly wanted to find it before the interview so I could decide on how I needed to dress...professional or business casual. Once we found the place, I decided that business casual would be the better choice of the 2. I also decided that while we were looking around at the area, that on the day of the interview it would be best if Paul drove me and sat in the car just in case I got in the door and needed to have a fast exit plan. You can tell how I was feeling about this interview already! So, the day came...I got in my business casual attire and we were out the door! I got in the door for the interview and the lady who called herself the professional receptionist (which was wearing jeans and a sweat shirt might I add) handed me an application and said, "Here fill this out and when you're done you can wait for someone to call you back!" I was already looking for my quick exit but decided I would stay and fill out the application partially (I know, how professional), I didn't want all of my information out there for someone to come hunt me down later (I know my afraid side came out). So, I get interviewed and find out during the interview after several boring sighs and yawns that the next question the interviewer asked me I would answer it "dumb" so he would escort me out! The question was asked and it was..."So, tell me on a scale of 1-10, 1 being not interested and 10 sign me up, when can I start, what would you consider yourself?" I didn't even think I just said, "I'd be a 4 or a 5 because I'm not comfortable with this area or this city just yet." His response was, "Well, we only hire 10's!" Of course my response was, "Well you're not getting a 10 out of me!" So needless to say that interview was over really quick and I was never more happy to be out of that place!



Then we moved up here and my job search started seriously. I even asked the leasing agent that helped us with the apartment if she knew of anywhere that was hiring...she didn't. So, some time passed and I was still sending off my resume and walking around the malls and door-to door in our little community asking if people were doing any hiring. The only response I got was "Honey, we're firing, not hiring!" The majority of the places were laying people off from the holidays. After all, we moved up here right after Christmas. So, I decided that the week before last I would take the week off from looking so hard for a job and only send my resume to places I really thought I would have a possible future. I got a phone call on a late Friday afternoon from a Dr.'s office. The interview lasted an hour over the phone and she set up an informal interview with me for that next week on Monday. I went to the interview and felt more comfortable on the phone than I did in the office. So back to the drawing board I went! Time passed and finally I get a random e-mail from our leasing agent! She wanted a copy of my resume so she could pass it along to some of her contact that she thought may need help! Little did I know she was plotting to give my resume to her boss because they are hiring in the leasing office. While Rachel was here visiting we were in the game room playing pool and the Office Manager came over and asked if she could talk with me about my resume. So, she set up an interview for that next week on Tuesday. I felt so comfortable in the interview (minus the fact that she told me she still had to interview one more person) and she said that she would like to start the background check paperwork and find out if her boss would like to do a second interview with me since he would be here that next week (which is this week). I wasted no time on filling out the paperwork for the background check and rushed it back downstairs to her! She just said after I gave the papers back to her, "I'll just let you know something when I find out hopefully by the end of the week!" Well the end of the week came here and I heard NOTHING! I was starting to mope around and worry...Finally on Monday, she called and set up a second interview. So, I have a second interview on Thursday with her and her boss! Please cross your fingers that this goes well and maybe I'll have a job offer by the end of the week or beginning of next week!



Sorry for rambling on...this is just something I feel so strongly about. I'm getting cabin fever and running out of things to do! So, hopefully I'll have a job to take some of this time that I'm not so used to having off of my hands! Until next time....

Fun Filled Weekend

So, this weekend my sister came into town. We did lots of exciting and fun things! Friday while Paul and I were waiting for her to get here we went to meet a couple of his classmates at Red Dog Saloon.

We had a good time while waiting on her to get to Norfolk. We had a couple of appetizers and around 7:00pm she arrived. We went to the apartment to pick her up and came back out. We hung out there for a long time and went on our first adventure to downtown to check out the Norfolk night life scene. We had a good time at the other place we went, it was called Fahrenheit.

On Saturday, Rachel and I slept until noon while Paul and Kenny went to school to work on their cadaver's in the lab (what good students they are for going to lab on their day off from school). Once Paul got back from school Rachel and I got ready and we headed to the beach for the afternoon. It was a little cold but it was a nice day and it was nice to get out of the city for a little while.

After we left the beach we headed to the Greenbrier area and had dinner at Joe's Crab Shack. We all had crab legs and shared a dessert! It was some good food! The pictures do no justice from how good the food was. Oh, and Paul isn't mad in his picture, he was trying to dance the way the servers danced at Joe's. It was fun to watch that!After dinner we went to over to Kenny and Jenny's and watched the football game. On Sunday, Rachel had to go home. But we went shopping for a little while first at MacArthur Center. I hope she had a good time! Paul and I had a blast with her! Rachel, you're a star now(like I promised you would be) so do your happy dance and even if that guy you're doing your happy dance with says he can't dance with you because he has a girlfriend, remind him it's "only a dance" and dance anyway! I love you and hope you'll be back for another fun weekend soon!