fun weekend

Since I'm not even sure who reads this blog, this is kind of funny. I'm trying to be better at taking pictures, so this blog is proof of that. It's going to be really long and full of pictures.

Our great weekend began Friday night for me with Alex's bachelorette party! It was so much fun to hang out with the girls and celebrate with Alex! Here's our Bible study, the "Newcleus" :). These girls are the biggest blessing and the best confirmation that David and I are supposed to be in Chattanooga!

Next, David and I spent Saturday morning laying out in the pool at Becca & Keith's house. It was SOO fabulous and we are so thankful for their generosity. However, neither of us wore sunscreen and are still reaping the effects of a mere 2 hours in sunlight. My skin freaked out. After we got fried, we cleaned up and headed out. After window shopping for potential patio furniture for a long time and eating a scrumptious [and free, thanks to "entertainment shower" gift cards] meal at Olive Garden, we stopped by our house to check out the progress. Above you can see our sidewalk and the makings of 2 steps (aren't you so excited to be reading my blog about concrete?).

Garage. Duh. But, garage with driveway and driveway with retaining wall! Yipee!

Screened in porch and deck that will be 2x as long when they redo it, kindly :)

Yeah!! We love each other and our house! And, I'm so so red.

Next came Sunday, and yes, I'm still writing. You can just look at the pictures if you want to. We went to church at North Shore Fellowship and it was awesome. It's been a while (due to travel) that we've been able to worship together, and it was much needed. After church we ate lunch with a bunch of random people who were really cool. However, David and I learned that making new friends is an interesting thing and something that we need to be prepared to put some effort into. After lunch we went up to the Bryant's so I could hang out with MS and hear about her trip to Costa Rica with SCORE International. She had an amazing trip and 125 girls came to know the Lord through their soccer ministry! It was really encouraging to hear about her growth! After a while, we all piled up and headed to the lake for the afternoon! Here are some pics:

Thanks for tuning in :)

David got a JOB!!

Yeah!! David just found out that he has a job with Gordon Biersch!! I am SO proud of him and excited for him! He is starting on Monday :)

The Mystery of the Missing Laptop: Solved

It's true. The "stolen" laptop was merely hidden in the Accord. In fact, I put it there. Yep. Oops. We were packing 2 cars full of stuff and people in Birmingham and I moved it to my car to give my mom room to sit. I did tell Ashley where it was going, but as you can imagine, it got lost in the shuffle. So, just in case you were losing sleep over Ashley's missing laptop, you can rest at ease :).

So, tonight (after much deliberation... I'm such a bad decision maker) I'm going to Alex's lingerie shower! It will be a fun time to hang out with some girls, and David and I will get to hang out Saturday night and Sunday. David is going to the lake with some of his old campers (Woo), Will Bishop and Matt Pirkle, for the day on Saturday and I'm praying that it doesn't rain for a little bit so I can lay out at the pool and get some sun!!! We'll see how that goes. I'm just SO excited for a completely travel-free weekend! Get this- this is the first weekend since APRIL that I haven't had to travel! PTL for being in one place!

no more

So, Ashley's laptop is gone :(. Tuesday night as the Jenkins' household was winding down, the doorbell started ringing kind of out of control. It was a little bit disturbing, so we looked out all of the windows (for approx. 30 mins.) and called the police to just drive by and check it out. I guess we should have been more clear because that's exactly what the police officer did- drove by. Not even slowly! Anyways. We figured everything was fine and at most we might find a brown paper bag of poo on the door step in the morning. Unfortunately, the "Slow, Children Playing" sign in the yard was ripped down and thrown in the woods and Ashley's laptop is missing out of the back of her car. Granted, her car was unlocked so they didn't break anything to get in, but its gone nonetheless. So, the Jenkins (hopefully having a fabulous time despite my somewhat panicked phone calls) are at Disney and Ashley is filing a police report (from Columbus). Boo robbers.

On a lighter note, I think my blog posts are boring without some pictures. So, here are some pictures:

Me & HayHay

What the heck is wrong with my neck?
And whoa, I need a tan. Pray that it doesn't rain on Saturday so I can get one.

Is it Friday yet?

Sisterly love. I promise, that's what you're seeing here. Plus, we match. Plus, we're twins. Ok not really, but lately everyone has been thinking that we are! Isn't that strange?! I am loving having Ashley here! Please don't leave, SisterKate! She's spending time getting acquainted with Chattanooga and all of the important landmarks (particularly in relation to the wedding festivities), hanging out with her soon-to-be brother (yeah!!) and helping me think about some wedding stuff (she has a meeting with the florist at 1 today :)). Also, we got to take Ashley (and Shelby!) inside our new house last night and they were a huge help in talking through where stuff will go and what we need, need to do, etc.

Here we are standing inside the front door! Yeah!! We will live here in less than 3 weeks! Actually, I will live here. David will live with the Bryants until after the wedding. What a trooper! Though, here's a picture to demonstrate how living at the Bryants won't be half bad for him:

David (with really short hair) and Johnny boy. They love each other and love playing together. It will be fun for everyone!

PS- Just so I can vent a little... Ashley and David are spending the day picking out our new appliances, meeting with the florist, going to the mall, and picking out our towels... I am spending the day in my office. This stinks!

Another big weekend!

Well, this weekend marked the last shower (#5!), and the last weekend to travel for a while!! Friday after work I got to see Sarah who was beginning her recovery from wisdom teeth removal (ouch!), but she is a trooper! Then, David and I helped Forrest and Alex (along with the help of RayRay) begin to move into their new home!! It is so cute and it was so much fun helping them out! The five of us walked to dinner at The Pizza Place and then got dessert at an adorable little shop next door. It was such a great night! Then, Alex decided that she was too wired to go home and go to bed, so she came back to the Jenkins' and spent the night with me! We kept Shelby up way too late boring her with wedding talk and then talked for several more hours after we had gone to bed! We slept in Laney & Ellie's room with them, so we all enjoyed a full-out sleepover! It was awesome!

[I just realized you might not want to know every detail of my weekend... but oh well... this is kind of fun.] Saturday morning we got up and went to the Clothes Closet and I got a J.Crew sweater and a skirt from Target for $4 total! It was really exciting! The rest of the day was spent cleaning out, moving, and unpacking at the Walker's, which was really fun!

Sunday, I got up and headed to Birmingham! I made a stop at my house there and then met up with my family at the house Ashley is going to live in next year. It needs a lot of work, but once they get it all fixed up it's going to be awesome! After that, Ashley, Mom and I headed to Sheri's house for the shower!! It was so much fun and so nice to see my sweet friends. Here are some pictures from the day (Laine- will you email the ones from your camera??):

Ashley and Mary Beth (who came all the way from Columbus!)

Me with the "Tussie Mussie" that Judi gave me.

Pretty bowl. Fat arm. But seriously, I love the bowl.

Wonderful Birmingham friends! We've got: Ashley, Laine's (friend, co-worker at Samford, running partner, photographer extraordinaire and hostess for the shower) little head poking out, Christy Allen and Taylor, Meredith Haughton, Suzanne McAdams, Judi Aucoin, Sheri Ransome (sweet friend, boss at Samford, Nathan's mommy and hostess), Mary Beth (bridesmaid, friend from home and Samford!), me, Sharon (bridesmaid, friend from Samford), and Bonnie Hamiter.

What a wonderful blessing these people are!

We have a HOUSE!!!

Yeah!! That's right! David and I accepted the counter offer letters today and we will close on July 14! We are soo excited and relieved to have this living situation squared away! The Lord has truly blessed us and we are so thankful!

Here she is:


This is the one from the listing online... it's super fuzzy (obviously), but you get the picture.


David just sent me this one- they have added topsoil to the front yard so they can make the steps off the front porch and start paving the driveway and the sidewalk off the porch.

Stats:

• It is on Lawson Street which is so fun because one of our ring bearers (a kid I babysat) is Lawson and we love him!
• It's only 4 1/2 minutes from Amigo's (definitley a selling point).
• It is in a really great location between downtown, the foot of Signal, and the 153-Northgate area.
• 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths (and yes, this means we want guests ALL of the time!)
• front porch (obviously), back screened-in porch and back deck (but not much of a back yard at all)
• and a bunch of other details that aren't really important

It is brand new and the construction isn't finished yet, but they assure us that it will be ready for our July 14 closing! That is 3 1/2 weeks away!! Woo hoo!
David and I will be married in 52 days and living in our new house! TOGETHER!!! AH!

The glory of Mark

THE MAN... THE MYSTERY... THE LEGEND... it is none other than TIMOTHY MARK JENKINS!

This is a post totally and completely in honor of the patriarch of the casa de Jenkins. Timothy Mark, affectionately known by all as "Mark", is the doting father of Laney and Ellie and loving husband to Shelby. He originally hails from Soddy Daisy, Tennessee but left to attend college at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Post college he went to Wake Forest University School of Medicine to become a Physician Assistant. Mark currently works at _ (Mark, please comment and fill in the blank) and in his free time he enjoys serving on the CVP camp committee, playing church league basketball for 1st Pres, working in the yard, cooking dinner for his family, shooting at obnoxious birds, hosting a homeless 22 year old, and religiously checking facebook.

He is a wonderful man who loves Jesus and his family. He is a servant in every aspect of the word and I am blessed to get to know him!

While we're at it... as I was perusing around on the Jenkins' computer (I wasn't snooping, promise, just looking for a picture of Mark), I stumbled upon this oldie but goodie. Check us out at Family Camp 2005- the summer my life forever changed :)

First of all, let's talk about how STINKIN' adorable the Jenkins and Harrison babies are!! They are so tiny and precious. Second of all, what the HECK is up with me? My dad would be appalled at my posture- I look like Quasimodo (sp?)! Additionally, I'm rocking some stellar shorts (that happened to be my little brothers) and a hairdo slash bandanna look that we maturely called "doo doo balls". Yeah... man, what did David see in that mess?! Geesh.

exciting mail

One really cool thing about planning a wedding is getting the reply cards back in the mail. Seriously! However, since David and I don't (yet) have a permanent residence (though this may happen in the very near future), all of the reply cards are being sent to my parents' house. They have been great to email me daily updates of the "can't come"s and "can't wait"s. It's really helpful too because we've been planning based on tentative numbers for so long, and now we're finally getting some concrete data in!! I love updating my spreadsheet and looking at the updated final numbers (ok, go ahead, laugh, I'm a nerd).

Every single response we get is exciting, but here are some particularly fun ones:

Can't Wait:

• Bob and Vicki Galloway- Bob was in the Marine Corps with my dad and they live in Boise, Idaho! We haven't seen them in more than 10 years!
• Dr. Matt Pirkle and Rev. Rachel Walters- ha ha! Matt was David's camper in 2005 and has worked up there ever since, including now as a junior counselor! We love him so much and we're glad he and Rachel will be there. He was a tad embarrassed when he found out my parents got these, not me and David since obviously, they aren't a doctor and a reverand as seniors in high school.
• 7 Rhodenbaughs- Andy, David's best man who has been his best friend since infancy, has an incredibly large family. We are honored that 7 (plus Andy) of them will be coming to Chattanooga!
• Mr. and Mrs. Jason Guin- Obviously.

Can't Come:

• Phil Harlin- Affectionately known to the guys at David's previous place of employment (the State of KY Transportation Department Right-of-Way Cabinet) as "Filthy Phil", we are pleased to know that he did not take us up on the courtesy invite and will not be attending.

Getting that email every afternoon is definitely a highlight of my day! Keep them coming, folks :)

this one will be long

So, I've resigned myself to the fact that keeping this blog up-to-date is going to be difficult for me! This post is going to be long because I should have updated it several times before now... oh well, here we go:

We'll start off with last week, so here are some pictures (stolen from the one and only, Shelby Jenkins) from our visit to CVP for family camp:

Here she is, folks! Me and Shelby, my wonderful friend and hostess while I'm homeless. I love, love, love this woman! I couldn't be more blessed by living with the Jenkins!

Here I am with my "new friend" Anna and the kiddos! I worked at camp in 2005 with Anna's brother Daniel, and I've known about Anna since freshman year of college when my fabulous friend Kara sported her freshman/senior sister shirt from high school! How fun to be friends now!

Anna and Emily Grace let me (and David) intrude on their family for the night. There's nothing like a CVP dinner!


Probably one of my new favorite pictures! Shelby, Emily Grace, Anna, Ellie, Maddie, Laney, me and Dave. Oh, Vesper Point... we love thee.


And, last but not least... the family pyramid. That's right, family. They are so sweet to love me!

Ok, so that was last week. Whew! I bet you're not even reading any more :). Well, maybe you are, Sarah!

Now, on to the weekend! On Friday, my family drove up from Columbus (GA) and picked me & David up to head to Ohio! It was a long drive (especially crammed in the back seat), but it was such a great weekend. We spent tons of time together and really enjoyed it! The shower on Saturday was soo nice! It was extra special that Sara (who is home from Thailand for 7 weeks) got to come and we spent some good time together in the car. There were so many of David's family members there that are so wonderful and that love me so much already. I'm so blessed to be inheriting such wonderful family members!!

So, on our way home last night, David got a call from Jerry, the camp director out at CVP (you know, our fav place?). One of the jr. counselors, Hannah Venable (who David and I happen to love) had gotten in an accident on her way back to camp, and Jerry wanted to see if we could help her out. Well, of course!! It took us longer than we would have hoped to get to her rescue, but she was relieved to see us when we got to her at the North Valley Medical Plaza in Dunlap, TN (a place you never want to go). We met her grandparents there, got her luggage from the dilapidated car at the wrecker and returned her to camp. She was pretty sore, had a seat belt burn and a sprained wrist, but she was confident that she needed to go to camp. I would have to agree. There is no greater place to be loved on, taken care of and encouraged! Hannah is precious and David and I were glad to just get to spend some time with her (and her parents when they arrived from Franklin)!

One more thing: I just found out that my dad's side of the family is coming to the wedding! This may not sound like a big deal, but it IS. I have never seen my grandmother (dad's step-mom) outside of Charlottesville, VA (hardly outside of RoundHill Farm, where she lives). Plus, the Coopers, my aunt, uncle (dad's step-bro) and 3 cousins are ALL coming! I can hardly believe it!! I can't wait for them to share in this part of mine and David's lives (plus, none of them have ever met David). Yeah for family!! Oh, PLUS, this is the first time ever in my parents' 30 years of marriage that we are "cross-pollinating" as my dad said. The Bourkes and Buckleys in the same place! That didn't even happen at their wedding. How nuts?!

Thanks for reading :). This is fun!

*insert witty title here*

Well... here goes nothing! I've been talking about starting a blog for a while now, mainly because everything in mine and David's lives have changed or are changing over the course of the recent months. Granted, I don't know who will actually read this (other than probably Sarah... who needs a nickname, by the way), but I guess it's good for me to chronicle our lives anyways. Maybe we'll keep it up (and by "we" I mean "I") and use it to communicate with both of our families. Maybe.

So, I guess I'll talk about where we stand in life right now? Is that good? Who am I even talking to?...

Well, currently I am sitting in my office at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where I am the new Director of Development for Annual Giving. Sounds pretty great, right? Well, it is, and I'm sure it will be better once I know what the heck I'm supposed to do all day every day. For now- I'm blogging. But seriously, I really enjoy the people (though it's quite a change from all of my Samford friends, who I miss!!) and I think it's going to be a good job. Also currently (like literally, right this minute), David is in an interview with Steven D. Bell. Pray that it goes well! This is a second interview, so we're hoping for results!

As far as our living situations go... we are so blessed with amazing friends. David is living with the Falcon, and they are really enjoying each other's company (especially while FWalk is lonely now since Alex is gone). It's cool for them to spend this pre-wedding time (for both of them) together. Next week Forrest (who, by the way, I have yet to see!) will be finished teaching his summer school class, so they are hoping to get to run together a good bit and do some serious packing & cleaning!

I am living at "casa de Jenkins", and it's awesome. They are at family camp at CVP right now, so it's sad being there without them, but they are so generous to open their home to me (for like the millionth time). I've been feeding the demon cat and David has been coming over in the afternoons while I'm at work to water all of their plants. We have a good system going. I'm going to stay at their house at least through their upcoming trip to Disney World (pretty much the end of June), so I can a) keep my stuff in the same place for 3 weeks in a row, b) actually spend time with the family who's house I'm occupying, and c) continue to feed the demon cat while they are gone.

As far as our future housing situation goes, we're working on it. David and I are meeting with our wonderful realtor this afternoon and we're checking out 2 very viable options. We are trying not to get our hopes up since we've been burned twice in this process now... so, more to come on our progress as it develops.

Ok, now the fun stuff! David and I went out to CVP last night and it was such a blast! We wanted to have dinner with the Jenkins since I'm staying at their house without them and I miss them. Plus, there are tons of fun camp people that it is always great to have an excuse to see! Also, David wanted to see the Venable family while they were in town from Nashville. Sooo... we accomplished all of those things. We had a great time hanging out with all of our CVP friends and just being at that special place. It was a really special treat that my new friend Anna is the Jenkins' counselor this week, so she and I got to spend the night together too! As we were leaving camp we were (and still are) so thankful that we can really see how we can continue to have a relationship with camp even though we have to enter the dreaded "real world". We feel so blessed to have CVP as part of our lives since obviously, it (well, the Lord) is what brought us together and it is the reason we are starting our lives here in Chattanooga.

Ok, well, that's all for now. I'll try to play around with this thing a bit more, and maybe you'll get some pictures eventually. Again, since I'm at work, my resources are limited, but once Shelby gets back from family camp- I'll have some great ones to share!