Life :)

Life is good and busy.  :)  We are still loving it here (and so thankful for that!). :)

Jared and I escaped for a few days and went to the beach! :) It was such a relaxing and fun vacation! We had a blast! :)  

Two weekends ago both of Jared's grandmothers were able to see our apartment and the two of them and Jared's mom camped out in our apartment...and were quite troopers considering a pipe in our air conditioner broke and we couldn't run it much and a large portion of our living room floor was soaked for TWO days until "emergency" maintenance could fix it on Monday morning...urgh.

This past weekend my sister came and stayed with me while Jared was in Bristol covering the race.  Brandy and I acted like typical tourists...took photos of buildings and sculptures downtown, visited the Visitor's Center to get a map of Charlotte and so on.  It was a TON of fun roaming the streets of downtown Charlotte...I don't think I'll ever get tired of it! 

This coming weekend we are looking so forward to seeing lots of orange and maroon as Tech fans come into town for the game against Eastern Carolina!  We REALLY miss seeing Virginia Tech stuff in every store we go into!  Seriously...you should see our reactions when we see someone with a Virginia Tech shirt on...we get a bit excited...picture a nerd winning a chess match...yup, we kind-a act like that.  :)

As always, enjoy your week! :)

Gas Prices and Other Stuff

I felt semi-intellectual today while discussing the recent drop in gas prices with my sister, Brandy. I was telling her my theory about the gas prices going down because a lot of people in China (at least in the Beijing area) have been prohibited from driving until the Olympics are over. So, since there are fewer people driving and less demand in China, it's helping our economy. Not a bad theory and perhaps if I looked online, I could find a few people who have the same idea. However, after hearing me out, Brandy mentioned words like "speculators" (big investor gurus) and some other highly technical things and I realized that I will never quite be as wise as her. But I'll also never be older than her...so I suppose it's fair. :)

In other news...

I went to Lynchburg this past weekend to spend some time with my wonderful family! :) It was so nice to be there especially considering I hadn't been home since Mother's Day. As seems to be the case quite often, Jared was not able to come because of his work schedule...however, we are leaving town Saturday morning and won't be back until Wednesday night! It will be a short, but fabulous beach vacation and we will have 5 whole days together!!! :)

I volunteered last night at a place that provides clothes - free of charge - to people who have very little incomes and/or are homeless. I sorted clothes, straightened the "store" and did a couple of other things while I was there. I worked with about 10 other volunteers and it was a lot of fun and very rewarding. There's something about volunteering that's amazing...for a couple of hours I get my mind off of myself, work, etc. and I am reminded that there are people in our community that really need far more support from those around them. I am so blessed and I am always aware of that...but volunteering always makes me step back and count my blessings even more.

Enough about me...my amazing honey is doing great! He is working hard and really enjoys it! He was able to be a "bachelor" this weekend and hung out with one his friends from Tech. They ate a bunch of pizza and talked sports...I am sure he enjoyed that conversation much more than the "How should we decorate the house?" conversations I sucker him into having far too often! :)

Anyway...we miss all of you and hope you're doing well!!!