RAES AND WAVES FROM VA BEACH

Bachelorette Par-Tay

2010-10-28T16:22:00.000-07:00

All of my best girlfriends came into town at the beginning of the month to celebrate my last months of bachelorettism. I'm not going to lie, Scott and I met each other at such an amazing time in my life that I've gotten all the pointless partying out of my system and am ready to move on to the next stage of life with no regrets. Don't get me wrong, I still love to go out, but going to bars doesn't interest me unless I'm with great friends having great conversation. Therefore, that is what we geared the weekend around :-) We started frinday night by going to Chicks Oyster Bar, one of my favorite places in Va Beach. Unfortuntely, we didn't have an outside seat or a water view, but the company and food was great! On Satuday, we went to Amanda's where she threw a lingerie shower, then we went wine tasting at Fire and Vine, and went out to dinner at the oceanfront. The entire weekend was amazing and something I will absolutely never forget. Thanks to all my amazing friends who were able to come and to everyone that wasn't able to travel, we missed you and can't wait to party it up at the wedding!!!

God Bless our Little Angel Logan

2010-09-27T17:20:00.001-07:00

My cousin WJ and his wife Lauren lost their 21 month old son, Logan, after a 5 month battle with leukemia at MCV. He was a precious child and we are all so thankful we had him in our lives for even the short time we did. Logan endured chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant. He ended up getting graft-host disease which presented in his gastrointestinal tract. After much strength and courage through many up's and down's, the Lord called him home to be with Him. I know my grandmother is up in heaven right now playing with him and singing "There's a whole in the bottom of the sea" :-) I will miss watching Callie and Logan play together on Christmas Eve, but I hope we can all rejoice at the holidays knowing that Logan is at the best birthday party ever, right with Jesus.

Pa celebrated his 88th Birthday this Thursday! With everything going on this week, we decided to celebrate on Sunday. Lynn, Walter and Pa came and had lunch with Mom, Dad, Matt, Amanda, Callie, and I. Then we went to the oceanfront to see the Neptune Sandsculptures which were amazing!

Virginia Tech won their second game of the season. And I am now off to cheer for the Bears :-)

Week in Review

2010-09-22T13:31:00.000-07:00

Last week was amazing- minus Thursday ;-)

Scott was in town Saturday through Wednesday and we went toPa's for lunch, had our first premarriage session with our minister, showed Scott all the wedding venues, watched football with the other VB Spiers, and RELAXED. The only thing that would have made it more relaxing would be if my AC was working........ I got it fixed on Wednesday and Scott was able to enjoy a cool home for about 2 hours before heading back to Indy. Thursday was horrible. Our policy at work needs to be changed. Currently no one fully covers the nursery unless I am gone for a full week. Soooooo when I got back on Thursday, I had 42 babies to see within 2 days. It was all better on Friday though when I left for Blacksburg with the fam. The outcome of the game was much better than I expected and I got to hang out all day with my brother :-) We had a great time tailgating, watching the game, and going downtown after. We went to TOTS for old times sake and got rails. You know you're taste palette has matured when something you remember tasting like fruit juice now just tastes like a bunch of liquor all mixed together....... I also learned the secret of Gumby's unclaimed pizzas and feel as though I missed out on a very important aspect of college life at Virginia Tech. Did anyone else know about this??? I can't wait to have a similarly amazing week again in October :-)

Fun, fun, fun

2010-09-10T17:38:00.000-07:00

I had a great past week! I got to spend Monday night with Amanda and Callie watching the VT football game. We played outside, I gave Callie her bath, and we tried to teach Callie to say touchdown. I think she'll have it down by the ECU game next weekend. She's such a quick learner! Then on Wednesday night, Amanda had volleyball. Since Matt was out of town I got to babysit :-) We had a blast. Callie and I played outside, read books, sang songs, watched Mickey, and built a little tent. I even got her to sit still while watching top chef and she let me buff her nails. I'm trying to get her trained for manicures ;-) The only downside from the night, besides leaving to go back home, was the mosquito that I saw two seconds too late sitting under her eyebrow. She has horrible reactions to skeeters and Amanda had to take her to the doctor the next day because it was swollen to the point that her eye was a little slit. Poor Callie!
Scott and I haven't seen each other for 2 months! It has been the longest 2 months ever. He flies in tomorrow evening and flies back Wednesday night. It's going to be such a great weekend, even though my AC decided to completely die on Wednesday........... Hopefully it will be cool and breezy the next 5 days. On Sunday we will have our first pre-marriage counseling session with the minister in Richmond. We'll go by Pa's for lunch to spend time with my dad's family before heading to Richmond. At some point we'll go by to see Matt, Amanda, and Callie too. I talk so much to him about how Callie has grown and what new and fun things she is doing everytime I see her. I can't wait for him to see it all himself.
I'll try to remember to take some pictures to post!

Too cute

2010-08-05T20:27:00.002-07:00

I had to post these from Amanda's Blog.
These were taken on July 4th at her parents house at Smith Mountain Lake.

Happy Father's Day

2010-06-29T17:13:00.000-07:00

My parents were able to come in for Father's Day and stay through Wednesday since my mom is now on Summer vacation. We had a great time playing with Callie's new wagon that my dad made for her, grilling out, playing with the bubble machine, and getting ice cream.

I wonder where she learned to do this?!?!?!?!

The Callie Wagon designed by Grampie with a food grade coating so she can gnaw away.

Pictures and video of Callie Mae

2010-06-29T16:50:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures from the evening I went with Matt, Amanda, and Callie to the beach for Amanda's beach volleyball game. There is also one thrown in from their trip to the lake to visit Amanda's parents. I was not there for it, but it is too cute to not post :-)

Funny confirmation of the day

2010-06-28T20:31:00.000-07:00

Scott filled out our "about us" section on theknot.com yesterday. One of the items he mentioned I love is reality TV. I know this statement is completely true, but it did not hit me just HOW true it was until I looked at my weekly DVR list. It consists of: The real housewives of ANY city, the bachelorette, the hills, the city, so you think you can dance, top chef, bethenny getting married, and say yes to the dress. I am officially a reality show junkie. I need some suggestions from my brother. I kittysat this weekend and watched "mysteries of the smithsonian" and was interested in watching "the universe according to Stephen Hawking" among many other educational shows that he DVR's.......... My brain is going to turn into mush! HELP!!!!!!

This guy is amazing!

2010-06-23T12:05:00.000-07:00

Go to google images and type in George Vlosich III
There was an article about him online and he has been doing etch a sketch art since he was little.
What a unique talent!!!!

Back in Virginny

2010-06-18T18:47:00.000-07:00

I am officially back in Virginia and Scott is now a resident of the state of Indiana. I miss him like crazy! I have a new laptop that I LOVE and we skype and talk on the phone, but it doesn't compare to sitting next to each other watching TV or eating dinner across the table from one another :-(

Wedding planning is going great...... I have a dress, it looks something like this:

and a reception site, photographer, and soon will decide on a DJ. I am having so much fun planning and it's everything I always thought it would be :-)

I went to the beach last night and met up with Matt, Amanda, and Callie. Amanda had a volleyball game and Matt and I took Callie to the playground. She was interested for a while and then, as my brother said "like a baby seaturtle", she found her way to the ocean. She walked slowly through the sand while maintaining her balance on the new turf. When she got within sight of the water, she made a beeline. She splashed around with Matt for a little while, then Amanda came and joined us, took Callie's clothes off, and she splashed away in just her diaper. I will have to post pictures when I get them from off their camera. Then, while Amanda was playing, Matt put Callie up on the boardwalk and she walked along like it was a tightrope. There are fabulous pictures and video of that as well. I think she will be going to cheer for Amanda on a weekly basis!

A month of celebrations, love, and relaxation

2010-05-26T07:31:00.000-07:00

What a month this has been! 2 vacations to the beach, 2 weddings, a week of amazing graduation festivities, and Scott and I got Engaged, have set a date, and booked the church! Hopefully by this evening we will have a reception venue and photographer in mind as well. I have so many pictures from this past month I think my blog might freeze up if I try to load them! I'll do it a little at a time.
A few items to discuss:
1. Logan is still in the hospital, doing well, but still fighting so your continued prayers are very appreciated!
2. Callie just gets cuter every day and is snuggly and funny and becoming a little copy cat. I realized the other night that our wedding is going to be a week before her 2nd birthday so I may be flying from the Honeymoon back to Va Beach to celebrate before officially moving to Indy ;-)
3. I have to say a million thanks to my mom and dad who are doing a lot of legwork for our wedding today! I could not plan this wedding from afar without them. I promise once we get Scott out to IN I will have all the time in the world to come home and we can do all the fun stuff together!!!!

In one hour I take Scott to go have surgery on his knee. He retore his medial meniscus and wanted to have the surgery done by the surgeon he knows here. I get to play nurse the next few days since it's easier for him to stay here than crutch up to his 3rd floor apartment. He already has his office set up in the living room for the next few days :-) Then, a week from today we get the moving truck and start packing up to leave on Thursday for IN.

May has been a wonderfully full month :-)
Off to the hospital.........................

Prayer Request

2010-04-22T20:43:00.000-07:00

Everyone who’s reading this, please say some prayers over the next few days/weeks for my Cousin’s son Logan. He turned one the beginning of December and was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia. After a long 4 months of waiting for test results, fighting infections, and finding a bone marrow match, he was admitted yesterday evening to MCV in Richmond for 7-10 days of chemotherapy to be followed by a bone marrow transplant. Please include little Logan and my family in your prayers.

Leavin'....on a Midnight Train to Indy

2010-04-22T17:59:00.000-07:00

Scott and I went to Indianapolis this weekend to find a place for Scott to live for the next 3 years while he's in residency. We starting the day off with two super fratty run down places asking WAY too much just because of the location. After seeing those two and some of the more scary southern streets, we found a keeper. The house does have a smaller kitchen than I am use to and don't even get me started on the lack of closet space :-) Luckily, we'll have a huge basement that I will be putting shelves in and rotating my clothes out seasonally. I'm already working on bags to give away to Goodwill in preparation for my move out there when the time comes ;-) The house has a detached garage, a sunroom, and a covered back with a fenced in back yard for our imaginary puppy that I think will appear within the next year.

The weekend was a huge success. We arrived at 3:30 Friday afternoon and signed the lease at 2:00 Saturday. It was perfect! Scott and I were able to explore the Broad Ripple area where the house is located, went out with Isaiah (Scott's friend from college and our gracious host for the weekend) and his friends, went to College Park Church which was fabulous, cooked lunch and dinner, watched movies, played cards, and explored the downtown area all before we left at 6:00 on Monday.

Here are some pictures with descriptions......

Front Yard

Kitchen

Wall opposite the sink

Stove across from the Fridge

Dining Room

Living Room (with their 13 week old Golden)

Sunroom

Bathroom, it does not have cloud wallpaper, it's still being remodeled:-)

Guest Room

Backyard, Deck, and Garage

Master Bedroom

Callie Mae Turns One

2010-04-22T17:39:00.000-07:00

I feel like just yesterday I started this blog in anticipating of all the fun and exciting events of 2009. One of my favorite posts was when Callie was born on April 8th :-) We were all able to celebrate her first birthday together this year- Mom, Dad, Don, Donna, Me, Scott, and Amanda's friends Ginny and Harry. Even the Schumachers were able to sing Happy Birthday and have cake and ice cream with us via Skype! Matt grilled out, dad brought his bubble machine, and Callie sporadically opened gifts until she was too overwhelmed to open any more. Here are just a few of the many wonderful pictures from the day......

EASTER

2010-04-20T20:03:00.000-07:00

Callie and her Grampie

My Mom and Dad were able to come in for Easter and we all went to church with Matt, Amanda, and Callie, then had a wonderful Easter meal at Matt's. Callie looked just like a doll in her silky dress, headband, ruffly socks, and peep toe white shoes. We attempted an Easter egg hunt, but Callie was more interested in the random sticks lying around, so the silk dress came off and the Yankees jumper went on.....Maybe next year.

Match Day

2010-04-20T19:25:00.000-07:00

Scott with his parents and MillieMe and my favorite New Kid on the Block (how my hair did this I have no idea)
Ghostbusters and Karate Kid

Med School Halloween

Jersey Shore Girls

Pre Match Events

Scott opening his envelope, if I had taken a video you would see his hands shaking <3

Soooooo, I have good news. Scott got into his first choice for residency which is Indiana University in Indianapolis. He will move in June 4th, start orientation July 1st, and be there for 3 years. It's a great program for him because academics and sport medicine are two of their strength in which he is interested. It's great for me because when he interviewed there he found out that the wives love to cook and they have dinner parties and cookoffs. Also, the shift work is based on circadian rhythm so he won't be flip flopping from nights to days.

We're both really excited. I've decided that rather than worrying about when I'll join him in Indy or what to expect in the upcoming months, i'm embracing and enjoying the anticipation. I think I might look for a job with the parks and rec department with Leslie Knope or be Kendra and Hanks nanny.

I've included a few links to show how crazy match day was. Match day is when all med students across the country, after 4 months of interviewing, find out where they are going to be for residency. EVMS chooses a theme each year and everyone dresses up. Their name is called and they go on stage one by one to get an envelope with their match listed inside, but they can't open it until everyone has been called. Doctors definitely don't do anything half way either. The theme this year was "Characters Welcome" and I think Scott and his friends worked on theirs for a week straight. They did Ghostbusters, then changed into Top Gun, then changed into NKOTB- with a Mich choreographed routine ;-) The jersey shore girls did some serious and expensive tanning. You'll also see dodgeball, avatar, back to the future, Mr. T and a bunch of other cool costumes.

Here are some links for your enjoyment:

NBC Coverage (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0w75iPAvEA) notice at the 26 second mark, Scotts friend Tyler gets nailed in the privates in the yellow dodgeball outfit. Also, at the end, the broadcaster says "I'm just glad that wasn't the OR"

ABC Coverage (http://www.wvec.com/video/featured-videos/Match-Day-at-EVMS-88404382.html) Go to where there's 1:23 second to go and you will see a very Top Gun volleyball-scene-esque Scott shirtless high-5ing . I couldn't be more proud :-)

US air, Airtran, and Southwest fly super cheap to Indianapolis ;-)

Rapid Pride Runs Deep

2010-04-05T17:19:00.001-07:00

For those of you who follow my blog, you will remember my 10 year high school reunion was this past fall. It was great to reconnect with everyone and to see how we have all changed over the years.......... My good friend Beth wasn't able to make it so she started an email chain and coordinated a girls weekend at our friend Shelley's river house. It was such a fantastic girls weekend. We did all the typical girly things like fixing dinner, catching up on stories, watching girly movies, visiting a winery, eating at a fantastic restaurant and stopping by the local 7-11 ;-) Except for my Sunday morning in and out of bed session from 3am-7am due to some type of food borne illness, it was a wonderful weekend and a tradition that I hope we continue!

Callie's walking

2010-03-31T13:09:00.000-07:00

Well, she actually has been for the past 2 months. I'm just horrible about blogging and am finally getting around to putting up the pics and the news. I promise to get better about updating, especially since I may be far far away within the next year.......(to be explained in a later post). If I could make up my mind about a laptop, then maybe I would blog while I watched one of my 8 shows I DVR weekly. It's so boring sitting here in my office, at least the sun is shining in today!!!!!

Callie now gets free reign of the house and is good about what she gets into. I know this may change with time as she gets taller and more curious, but right now she loves walking back and forth from living room to bedrooms. She likes to climb in and out of the laundry basket, climb on top of you if you lay on the floor, and she is an incredible eater!

I just had to include this photo becuase it is so adorable. I have it as my computers background and it makes me smile everytime I sit down. Amanda painted for a cats and dog themed artshow and she dressed up Callie to go with the theme :-)

Meeting Liam Gallagher

2010-02-19T08:08:00.000-08:00

I was able to take a trip up to Northern VA before the crazy blizzards hit to stay with Krista and Kevin and meet Liam. Jen and Lauren came over to Krista's on Friday night and we were all able to catch up and have a relaxing dinner courtesy of Jen :-) Saturday, Krista and I went shopping in the morning and went to dinner with Lauren at Eventide in Clarendon. I got up Sunday morning and went to Breakfast at Jen's and was able to spend time with Aidan and Reagan who are the most adorable kids. It is so amazing to see my friends lives and families grow and to see loves ability to get even bigger and deeper within marriages and for their kids. Snuggle time Saturday afternoon with Liam

Houston (January 2nd-4th)

2010-02-19T07:51:00.001-08:00

After an all day drive from Atlanta, with a stop at Crawfishtown USA along Interstate 10 for dinner, we arrived at Scott's Uncle Phil and Aunt Linda's home in Houston. The next morning we got up, went to church, had a wonderful lunch at a mexican restaurant and toured Houston with Phil. We went to Discovery Green, the medical center, the location where the battle of San Jacinto occurred, and the water wall by the galleria mall. After a fun day of sightseeing, we arrived home and Linda had made an amazing dinner of crablegs, crabcakes, and homemade tomato soup. Phil made homemade tartar sauce and cocktail sauce, which I hope Scott learned how to do while he was there because it was really yummy! We also made Happy Birthday videos to send to Scott Cousin Kara and his Grandfather who were both having birthday's the following week. I'm sure they wondered who the random girl in the video was since they have never met me, but I was honored to be a party of the Birthday wishes! I left for an all day flight back to Virginia on Monday morning and spent a chunk of my day reading "Captivating" and exploring the Atlanta airport.

New Years in "Hot"lanta

2010-02-10T15:51:00.000-08:00

Now that Scott has arrived back in Virginia with his camera, I can update the blog properly. I spent New Years Eve as Scott's copilot on the way to Houston. We decided to stop in Altanta since the Hokies were there for the bowl game and it was a good midway place to stop. Unfortunately, we decided not to splurge on tickets to the game and rather to spend the money on a nice New Years dinner at the Ritz. We got into Altanta around 5:30 and got a phone call from my Uncle David (who was suppose to be the head referee for the bowl game, but had to decline the offer since the one team he can't ref for is Tech). He had 2 tickets to the game if Scott and I changed our minds. Our dinner reservation was at 6:30 and we couldn't have possibly made it to the game so we sadly turned down the 4th row behind the VT players tickets (we had no idea at the time!)..... Dinner, however, was amazing and I'm so glad we made the decision that we did. Scott had Lobster, I had Filet, and the dessert and other 3 courses of ahi tuna, fried oyster with wasabi cucumber shooter, and potato leek soup with caviar were out of this world. I should also mention that while we were at dinner, I sent out a few Happy New Years texts to friends. However, the most exciting response back that I received was from Krista to tell me that she had given birth to Liam that morning around 6am :-) What a wonderful way to spend New Years Eve (the snuggly new baby part, not the giving birth part). After dinner we went to the "Official Bar of the ACC" for a private showing of the game. Scott and I each had our own personal bartender. Everyone was at the game! People started arriving after the game and we all rand in 2010 together. The next day we went to the Coca-Cola factory, toured CNN, visited Centennial Olympic Park, Had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe, and enjoyed another nice dinner at Ray's in the City.

Christmas in Staunton

2010-01-11T15:57:00.000-08:00

Saturday after Christmas I got up and packed my things to head to Staunton to spend some Christmas time with Scott's family. We had a wonderful day catching up with his mom, playing with Millie, and doing an all evening tour of Staunton. We started the day out with The Santaland Diaries at Blackfriars Theater. It was a monologue of a homosexual male who gets a holiday job working as one of Santas elves at Macy's in NYC. It was hilarious and amazing that someone can stand on stage for an hour and never break character. Then we went to a local theater in Downtown Staunton and saw The Blind Side....AMAZING movie! Next was dinner at an italian restaurant down the street. After dinner, we met up with Jim and Brandon, Scott's friends from Fort Defiance High School, to have a few drinks and catch up. Scott's good friend Courtney was home for the holidays, but wasn't able to come out since she and her fiance Mark were doing wedding planning until the late hours, sooooooo, at midnight when the bar closed we decided to go visit Courtney. I was so excited to meet her since I had heard so much about her. The next day we woke up, went to Church, had a wonderful lunch at his house, and watched some football before starting our journey back to the beach. The holidays this year were not traditional, and I missed being with the Blacksburg side of the family, but the days were relaxing and it was priceless to be with Callie on her first Christmas.

Christmas Day

2010-01-11T15:39:00.000-08:00

Dad's Christmas Tie "Christmas without Callie, I don't think so."

Christmas day this year started with waking up to fix homemade cinnamon rolls, which were so worth the interrupted sleep, plus I was anxious to see what Santa brought me ;-) Mom made sausage and grits casseroles and we headed over to Matt and Amanda's. When we got there, Callie had already opened a few presents and Don and Donna (Amanda's parents) had arrived. The day was spent eating, watching movings, and opening presents in between Callies naps. I could post a million pictures of Callie unwrapping presents because that was by far her favorite part of her first Christmas. My personal favorites were my earrings from Matt and Amanda, the Glee CD, Snuggies and travel scrabble, Red Door Spa gift card from dad, my bracelet and pendant from Scott, some fabulous tops from mom, and shoe and laptop money once I decide what I want. It was a wonderfully relaxing day spent with the people I love most.

Christmas Eve

2010-01-11T15:32:00.001-08:00

Callie wants to eat with the big people

This year Mom and Dad came to Virginia Beach to celebrate the holidays and Matt, Amanda, and Callie came over for dinner Christmas Eve. Mom and I made Ham, green beans, mashed potatoes, unleavened rolls (not intentionally, I killed the yeast), and a pear, blue cheese, and candied pecan salad. Mom also made yummy pies. We didn't eat them that night though because the rolls finally rose once they hit our stomachs and there was no room for deserts :-)

Tuesday Night 12-22

2010-01-10T17:53:00.000-08:00

My parent got into town on Tuesday night to spend Christmas in Virginia Beach. It also happened to be Matt and Amanda's 9th wedding anniversary. They went out to celebrate while Mom and Dad babysat Callie. Scott and I met everyone over at Matt and Amanda's and we did presents that included Scott since he was leaving the next day to go home. Scott got Callie a soccer ball and a cell phone of her very own so she won't try and eat his while calling random people at the same time.......... It was a hit

And, we LOVE our new slankets :-)

"Christmas Eve" at Pa's

2010-01-10T17:34:00.000-08:00

"Mommy, Daddy, who is this stranger?"

Riding Horsy

Christmas Eve has traditionally been spent at my grandfathers. This year, I was scheduled to work, but thankfully everyone was able to celebrate on Sunday night. It was a packed house with Mom, Dad, Matt, Amanda, Callie, Me, Scott, Katie, Luke, WJ, Lauren, Logan, Lynn, Walter, Pa, and my moms cousin. After some yummy food and football, Luke dressed up as Santa for Callie and Logan, and we opened presents. Pa's Christmas Eve is a tradition and I was so glad that Scott was able to be there to experience it and it's a belssing to have everyone together and to see Pa with his Great Grandchildren :-) We certainly missed the Missouri third of the family!

Christmas in Richmond

2010-01-10T17:20:00.001-08:00

The weekend before Christmas was The Big Snow in Virginia. Scott and I had planned to go to Richmond that weekend since I wasn't going to be able to be home for the holidays to spend time with my parents and see their decorations. Luckily, my new car has four wheel drive and Scott, having gone to college in Indiana, has experience driving in the snow. After a 3 1/2 hour drive home going mostly a safe 25 mph, we spent the rest of the weekend on the couch watching movies, opening presents, eating yummy potato soup, and hopping in and out of the hot tub thanks to my dad who would clear a path and open the top for us :-) We also got a surprise visit from my mom's cousin who lives in Germany. She called Sunday morning and was stuck waiting for a flight out of the Richmond airport to go back home. The earliest they could get her home was Wednesday so we picked her up from the hotel to come stay until then.

Christmas in Disney

2010-01-07T17:03:00.000-08:00

I know, I know. I am so very behind in Blogging. It's just that December was so jam packed with fun that I wanted to spend every moment enjoying it rather than blogging about it. So now it's time for updating....... December started out with a weekend trip to Florida. Scott had interviews in Gainesville and Jacksonville. Since he had to get a rental car, we decided to make a mini vacation of it and go to Disney in the middle. I can not even begin to tell you how much fun we had. LOTS!!!!!! We visited Downtown Disney, ate at planet hollywood, and spent all day Saturday in the parks. When I say all day, I mean from 9:00am when the parks opened to 1am the next day. In fact, Magic Kingdom closed at 1am, but we snuck into the last show at one of the theaters and technically we were there until 1:30 to closed the place down. It was indescribable to leave an empty park and be able to look down main street with NOONE blocking the perfect view of Cinderellas Castle. It's something that only the people of HGTV get to see and the handful of Disney troupers, an elite group in which Scott is now officially a member ;-)

Just to give you an idea of our day- we did all four parks in 16 hours. We rode (deep breath) expedition everest, animal kingdoms safari, spaceship earth, journey into imagination, test track, mission space, dinosaurs (with my eyes closed), winnie the pooh, mickey's philharmagic, snow white, buzz lightyear, jungle cruise, space mountain, peterpan, haunted mansion, big thunder mountain, splash mountain, pirates of the caribbean, tower of terror, rock 'n roller coaster, great movie ride, star tours, narnia, and the disney walking tour. 24 rides/shows in 16 hours. For anyone who has ever been to Disney, you know how amazing and almost impossible that is. It was a magical time and we hobbled out of the park with smiles on our faces.

Scotts interviews went well too! :-)

Christmas is here

2009-11-30T18:16:00.000-08:00

I was so anxious to get back to the beach to spend time with Scott on Sunday after not seeing him over Thanksgiving! Imagine my total excitement to arrive home and find my Christmas tree up and ready to decorate :-) Thank you so much Scott!!!!!!!! Here's the final product.......

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!

Thanksgiving

2009-11-30T18:01:00.001-08:00

The beginning of the holiday season was wonderful this year. I got to spend an amazing 4 days at home relaxing and enjoying my family. Wednesday was dinner out, then home to watch some TV and get some Thanksgiving menu items together. Thursday was filled with cooking, TV watching, sale paper perusing, and eating. Friday started out at 5 a.m. at Target and Kohls, then we regrouped back home and all went to the mall, then Mom and Amanda went home to nap while Dad, Matt and I continued shopping. By 4:30 p.m., Mom, Amanda, and I were ready for a little post shopping relaxation courtesy of my dad. We had facials at the Red Door Spa in Richmond and got home at 7:30 to crash. Saturday we watched football and went to look at Christmas lights. It was very hard to leave and even harder to go to work today!!!!

Callie playing with her favorite toy from Grampy

Helping Grammy cook

Training her early :-)

Ready to eat

My mom is AMAZING!!!!!!!

Meet Millie

2009-11-24T16:23:00.000-08:00

Scott and I went to the VT vs. NC State game this past weekend, but swung by Staunton on the way to see his parents and meet their newest addition to the family, Millie.

Millie is a 10 week old Miniature Labradoodle and is cute as can be. She looks like a little stuffed animal and feels like one too. She's learning how to hop up the stairs like a bunny and she already has the fetching down. I know Scott and his brothers are going to have a blast with her over Thanksgiving. On Saturday at 9:00, Animal Planet is has a show called Dogs 101 and they will be covering Labradoodles. Look out for Millies dad, Oscar, to be mentioned....... She's the daughter of a celebrity :-)

Doesn't she look like a little stuffed animal!!!!!

All Cute and Snuggly :-)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

2009-11-18T11:22:00.000-08:00

Since I'm going to be gone the next 3 weekends and spending Christmas at the Beach this year, I thought it would be best to get started this past weekend with my decorating. Unfortunately, I did it in a t-shirt with my screen door open cause it was in the mid 70's- I still played the Christmas music station though. Here's a picture of the VT tree in my office. The big tree will go up tonight or tomorrow since I always need assistance with that monster.

I've also been stopping by to see Matt, Amanda, the boys, and Callie a lot recently. She gets even more adorable every day and is doing so many new things. She's almost figured out crawling although she loves to stand so much that in order to move she tries straightening one leg which causes her to topple to one side and end up in a seated position. She can pull herself up in her crib like it's nothing by grabbing the rails. She's all about the cats and I know she's going to be a little terror once she gets the crawling down. There are many other exciting things going on that I don't want to spoil for grammy and grampy on the blog so you'll have to wait until after Thanksgiving break to get those updates :-)

Halloween

2009-11-08T16:23:00.000-08:00

Halloween turned out to be a last minute event....... Scott didn't find out until Monday what his rotation schedule was going to be, so until I knew he was coming, i planned on being a German Beer Girl thanks to my roomie letting me borrow her costume from last year. Scott had planned to be a German Baker in honor of his Grandpa Schmeissing, but the costume didn't come together. SOOOOOOO........ swine flu it was. I ran out Saturday morning and bought pink t-shirts- yes, i bought them- no, Scott did not already own his contrary to many of his friends jokes!!!! I sewed on the H1 and N1, made myself some hooves and piggy ears, and made us both piggy tails. Then, for a last minute accessory we added a bottle of purrell hand sanitizer around our necks. We had a blast going out down at the ocean front with Mary, Pat, Harrison and the old gang. It was an early night since Scott had worked the day and night before and morning of Halloween, but we packed lots of dancing and picture taking into our evening :-)

October

2009-11-04T14:58:00.000-08:00

October was a fun filled month of traveling. I went to the VT game and spent time with Kathleen, Lauren, Coleman, and Harrison. Lauren and Kathleen haven't sent pictures yet so I had to make one of my own...........

Then the next weekend I went to D.C. to stay with Krista since I have to work this weekend and won't be able to make her baby shower :-( We had a great weekend consisting of dinner with Jen on Friday, a visit to the Rash's Saturday afternoon, and homemade dinner and a sleep over Saturday night with Kathleeny, Rash, and Krista.

The next weekend I flew back to Chicago. Scott and I went to his grandparents house for dinner Thursday night when I landed. Then we woke up early Friday to go to breakfast with Isaiah, Greg, and Ebanita and started the 14 hour drive back to Staunton. Saturday evening we went to a wedding of two of Scott's friends. His dad did the ceremony and the reception was at JMU. After Church and lunch with his parents on Sunday, we drove back to the Beach.

That's the fast and brief review of the past month. I'm on my way to Matt's right now to watch the world series so the Halloween post and pictures will have to wait until tomorrow ;-)

Happy Half Birthday Callie

2009-10-08T17:59:00.000-07:00

I got to spend last night with my girl while Matt was in DC and Amanda went to her Zumba class. We did a little of everything over the two hours I watched her, including a 30 minute nap. I worry that I'm going to make my own kids ADD whenever I have them because the slightest sign of her getting bored and we were on to the next toy or activity. She has turned into quite the mama's girl and I hate for her to get fussy without Amanda there to pass her over to. We had a blast though and there was no fussiness except when she got ready for her nap. I stayed the night over there to watch SYTYCD and Glee with Amanda and then I got to wake up and wish Callie a Happy half year birthday :-) I can't believe it has already been 6 months!

Here are some pictures of our play time and bath time last night...... Only the modest shots get posted on the blog, but don't worry, i did get some pics of her doing a naked Micheal Jackson grab in the tub that will get shown when she's a teenager ;-)

Pumpkin Bath toy from Grammy and Grampy

Happy 6 months :-)

Autumn is a mosaic of winter, spring, and summer

2009-10-05T17:59:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday was the perfect weekend day. After a nice quick morning at work, I went over to Matt and Amanda's for a family fun day. The three girls went to lunch and out shopping while Matt listened to the VT game on the radio and watched the UVA game on the tele. Callie isn't quite up to the full Spiers shopping potential yet, so after Amanda and I wore her out, she took a nap at home while Matt watched some more football and Amanda and I headed out to the farmers market. They had gorgeous mums, pumpkins, cornstalks, produce stands, and we may have even indulged in a little South Mountain Creamery ice cream :-)

When we got back home Matt and Callie were ready to head out to the Hunt Club Farms Fall Festival in south Virginia Beach. They had chickens, roosters, bunnies, and all sort of animals roaming around. There was also a petting farm, hayride, and lots of little rides, but Callie will have to be patient and wait a few years for those. She was actually thoroughly entertained and content looking up at the trees on the hayride :-) After the outing, we went home to watch some more football and go to dinner at a local mexican restaurant.

Side note- while we were in the restaurant, Amanda noticed a guy in the check-out line with a concealed weapon that was not so well concealed in his pants. It actually gave me a very uneasy feeling.

1. why did he need a gun in the restaurant

2. was he sane enough to be carrying a gun around

3. what if some other crazy person had grabbed it and started shooting.

I'm totally for the right to bear arms with obvious rules, restrictions, and guidelines, but seeing someone out in a public place that was less than 10 feet away from us while we're havng a quiet dinner was a little unnerving.

Besides that it was a GREAT day with my Brother, Sister-in-law, and Neice to kick off the fall!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The "little furry pigs" Amanda saw at the farm. Matt and I thought they looked more like bunnies ;-)

Notice Matt's Peanuts Halloween Tshirt :-)
Callie's not so sure about the scarecrow Cutie Pie in her little Ghost Onesie

Myrtle Beach Pics- Finally :-)

2009-10-04T17:59:00.000-07:00

Morning fun with Grampy and Grammy

One last moment of shut eye before fun in the sun Splish Splashin' on the beach

Ready to go out to dinner (after I spit up on Grammy)

Watching Baby Einstein

Chi-CA-go

2009-09-28T17:44:00.000-07:00

I've had a blast in Chicago this weekend! Scott and I woke up for a late breakfast Saturday morning and took the metra into the city. We got off at union station and walked to the ESPN zone taking in all the sights. Ashley and Ryan met us to watch the game (if you can call it a game, sorry U) and we decided a deep dish pizza was a must. After putting our name on a 90 minutes waiting list at Giordano's, we went up in the Hancock tower in time to see the sun set and then get some great night shots of the city. We got back to the restaurant in time to sneak into our reservation slot which was lucky for us because the pizza was amazingly good and the company even better :-)
After taking the metra back to Glenview where we were staying with Scott's Uncle Dan and Aunt Robin, we crashed from another funfilled day.
On Sunday, we woke up to meet Ryan and Ashley for Church at Harvest Bible, a Chicago mega church with Pastor James MacDonald. After church, we went to Ashley and Ryan's house for a wonderful lunch, a nailbiting Bears game, and some play time with their pet hedgehog, Coco. Scott's friend Tunie lives close by Ryan, so when we left after the Bears game, we picked up Tunie and grabbed dinner in Wheaton, Il. It was another wonderful day with the perfect fall football weather and spending more time getting to know Scott's friends from college.
Today Scott started his rotation, so I have been catching up with emails, updating my blog, obviously ;-) an spending time with his Aunt Robin. I leave tomorrow afternoon to head back to Richmond and will fly back out at the end of the month to keep Scott entertained on the drive back, a job I take very serious ;-)

Finally an up-to-date post!!!!

2009-09-28T15:46:00.000-07:00

Scott is spending the month of October doing an away rotation in the windy city and what better bonding experience than a 16 hour road trip!!!
We left Thursday evening from Norfolk, VA- stopped in Richmond to have dinner with my parents- then arrived at his parents house in Staunton at 10:00pm Thursday evening- cutting 3 hours out of the trip. Scott woke up at 4:30am to pack the car, recline the passenger seat, and perfectly position my pillow all in the midst of a downpour (Somehow a "terradactile sized bug" entered the car and it took us two highway pull overs to get the creature out of the car). He woke me up at 5:00 and we were on our way. I slept for 2 more hours then we found a Cracker Barrel in WV to eat breakfast. We sidetracked through Upland, Indiana to visit his alma mater Taylor University. After visiting the athletic department, prayer deck, cafeteria, bookstore, tennis courts, driving by his house, walking part of the loop, eating at Toppit Pizza, and getting ice cream at Ivanhoes, we were back on the road heading towards Chicago. We pulled into his Aunt and Uncles driveway at 10:30pm and had a wonderful nights sleep after the rain filled day long drive and LOTS of laughs and memories.

Competition for the cutest :-)

2009-09-28T15:41:00.000-07:00

It's a tie!!!!

VT versus Nebraska

2009-09-28T13:29:00.001-07:00

If you ask me what my favorite season is- with no thought or hesitation, my response will be fall!!!!! The food, decorations, weather, and weekends full of football is something that I am always ready for by late August. This year, I'm only able to make it back to three VT football games which, considering the drive, has become plenty for me. I was lucky enough to go to the VT vs Nebraska catastrophe where we stole a W from Nebraska in the last 2 minutes. It was Callie's first VT event and Scott drove in for the day to attend as well. Our tailgate was phenominal with a low county seafood boil, crablegs, and all the standards. That Sunday we had a family reunion with my grandfather on my mom's side of the family. It was the perfect "gear up for fall" weekend!

Go Rapids!!!!!

2009-09-28T11:44:00.001-07:00

My 10 year high school reunion was September 12th and above all I was amazed to see how little people had changed!
Friday night was spent at the HS football game and then a bunch of people met up at a sports bar down the road afterwards. Saturday, Scott and I went to one of my favorite places in the whole world, Maymont Park, in Richmond. This is where my mom would take my brother and I on nice days when we were out of school, or my dad and I would go walk around and spend time together. I've been looking forward to taking Scott and it was a beautiful day to walk around. We toured the mansion which I have never done, walked through the Italian Gardens, and got the Tech game update as we passed fellow Hokies that were checking the score on their phones. Saturday night was the big reunion event at a bar downtown. It was wonderful to see all of my best friends from elementary and high school and to hear everyone's accomplishments and successes.

August 22nd

2009-09-28T11:28:00.000-07:00

Scott and I celebrated our one year anniversary of dating on August 22nd with a weekend full of relaxation. Friday night, Scott brought me beautiful flowers, we cooked dinner together, and watched the sunset on the bay. Saturday we spent the day at the bay until it started raining, went wine tasting, rented a movie, and went out to dinner at One Fish Two Fish.
A year ago I couldn't have imagined the wonderful 12 months we would spend together and I am looking forward to all of the changes and growing we will encounter over the next year!!!!!
Even more important, I am so very thankful for God's wonderful and perfect timing in bringing Scott and I together :-)

Myrtle Beach 2009

2009-09-28T11:17:00.000-07:00

I haven't had a chance to update the blog from our Spiers family trip to Myrtle Beach that was almost two months ago. This trip was two weeks after Scott and my trip to Charleston. I don't have pictures with me right now since I am updating this from Scotts computer in Chicago and the pictures have already been transferred off our camera to my computer in Virginia, so those will have to go up later. The trip was one big photoshoot documenting the cute things Callie would do and I would send daily emails at night to Scott with pics from the day.
The trip was spent with Grampy and Callie time every morning, Callie trying to drink coffee out of Grammy's mug, and then naptime. When she would wake up we would head down to the beach and she would stick her toes in the ocean, leak her diaper all over my belly, sleep in her stroller, and try to drink the pool water. On the rainy days we all enjoyed the mall and outlet shops. Two nights were spent having dinner in and the rest were meals out and about. It was a wonderfully relaxing trip with my family and I can't wait to get home and post the great pictures for everyone to see.

Miracles

2009-09-10T09:45:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't even begun to catch up with the events of the past month and I am leaving out blogs from the Spiers Family trip to Myrtle Beach, Scott and my one year anniversary, and a weekend visit from Kyle and Janelle. However, in the spirit of trying to keep my blog current, I feel it's important to make a recent update.
Matt and Amanda's precious "little" Oliver is home from an 8 day stay at the vets office. It was pretty scary and I can only imagine how Matt and Amanda felt. He went in almost two weeks ago for surgery to take out little tumors in both of his ears. When he came out of being sedated and was sent home, he couldn't hear, walk, or eat :-( Matt and Amanda force fed him for 2 days which was a huge struggle and had to take him back twice to get fluid boluses and have the medications adjusted. In a nutshell, what happened was they think he had vertigo from the surgery which caused him to not want to eat or move. Because he didn't eat for 2 days, and is slightly overweight to begin with, he got fatty liver and that prevented him from getting any medications for the vertigo. Basically a vicious cycle with no positive endpoint so they took him into the vet, placed a feeding tube, and monitored his liver enzyme levels for 8 days. I went over to watch SYTYCD and Glee last night and Ollie had come home yesterday afternoon. He was opening his eyes, purring, eating, and walking. It was such a blessing to see him up and about and happy. He still has the feeding tube, but has an appointment tomorrow to hopefully get that removed if he's eating well. It was so wonderful to see him home and doing better!!!!
Our other little miracle, Callie, is continuing to grow and develop both physically and mentally and is so much fun to play with and watch!

Girls Weekend in Raleigh

2009-09-03T17:19:00.000-07:00

On our way up from Charleston, Scott dropped me off in Raleigh for our annual HT weekend and he headed to Wilmington for a few days to see a high school friend and Staunton for the rest of the weekend for a wedding.

Krista always does a fabulous write up of our girly trips that we hope to one day make into a book. Here is the first paragraph from her writeup:

"This year we decided to take our annual HT trip down to Raleigh, NC, the home of our very own Nadja Young. Most of us had never been down to see Nadja, and since she and Tones just had their baby girl, Gabrielle, three months prior…we decided this was the perfect place to go.
To summarize this trip quickly I’d say that we ate a lot of great food for not a lot of money, laughed constantly, got little sleep (especially Nadja), and left feeling even more blessed for the amazing friendships that we have."

The detials:

We all arrived at different times on Thursday and since I was the first, Scott and I got to fully take in Nadja and Tony's guest room called "The Young Hall of Fame" and spend some quality time catching up with the Young family. I could see Scotts eyes light up and the wheels start turning when he walked into the hall of fame (see picture below). By Thursday evening, everyone had arrived, we caught up briefly then headed off to bed.

Friday morning started with a yoga class where Amanda rocked our instructor to the point that the instructor was asking her what some of the moves were called. After going home and changing, we went to lunch at a famous BBQ spot called "The Pit" which has been featured on food network. In true HighTech style, we stuffed our faces and ordered pretty much everything on the menu, down to the grilled tofu. We then headed to the most wonderful farmers market I have ever seen. There were stands upon stands of fresh produce and they even had a pork shop with any part of the pig fixed any ways you could ever need it to be sold.

We all went home and slept for about 2 hours. When we woke up we headed to the Red Room for a wonderful Tapas dinner with sangria and then went to a bar down the street to do some dancing. The style in Raleigh is different than anything I have ever seen and I felt like I was at an 80's prom (but trashier). After Krista and Nadja made their radio debut with an MC that was broadcasting from the bar, we decided to call it a night.

Saturday started with a wonderful family breakfast where we all chipped in and Tony bossed us around in true polygamist style. Diva continued to sleep since she was his "trophy wife".

After breakfast we got ready for our hilariously yummy food tour of Raleigh where we saw houses of distant relatives of famous people and heard the history of the three presidents that North Carolina MIGHT be able to claim ;-)

The best part of the culinary tour was when a single male approached our table of -in his words-"attractive women" hoping that one of us would "be able to accompany him to The Sound of Music that evening". Being that the sound of music was amanda's favorite growing up, we nominated her to go and she happily accepted. When he arrived at the house we had a formal interview where we found out his last name, age, profession, family history, dating history, license plate, and even facebook friended him before he left to make sure our friend was safe. Long story short, the night went great, they still talk often, she has met his parents, and he is flying out to Texas to see her next weekend- seriously!

That night, while Amanda was on her date, we had a bonfire, smores, pizza, and played games at the house. We had a blast and stayed up until 2:30 or 3 catching up, watching old dance videos, and being silly.

Sunday morning was a magnificent brunch and baby shower for Krista who is expecting a little boy the beginning of January. After tearful goodbyes, we all headed separate ways to be followed by many emails, pictures, stories and plans of our next trip.

It was a wonderful weekend and we all missed Lauren, who wasn't able to make it to this trip, tremendously. It was not the same without her and we all look forward to spending our next trip together all healthy and happy.

Charles Town

2009-09-02T16:11:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the delay in updating. I know the reason for a blog is to let everyone far away know what you have been up to, but it's hard when there is sooooo much going on that you can't even find time to update the blog. I will try and post things in the order in which they occurred.

Scott and I went to Charleston at the end of July. He finished his step 2 of the boards (which he passed with flying colors) and we decided to get away for a mini vacay.

We stopped in Richmond Saturday evening for Drew and Lindsey's Engagement Party. Drew is one of Scott's medical school friends as well as a Hokie HNFE alumni (same major I did at Tech).

We left on Sunday to make the drive down to Charleston and arrived just in time for the daily wine and cheese reception. After taking in the beautiful surroundings and unpacking, we went to a late dinner at Vendue Inn's Rooftop bar with a view of the Cooper River.

Monday was our tour day. We started out with a harbour tour, followed by a carriage ride, and then concluded the day with a walking ghost tour. We went to dinner at Slightly North of Broad which is a must for anyone traveling to Charleston that enjoys food!

Tuesday was on the hot side so after a little shopping, sightseeing, and lunch at an Irish Bar called Tommy Condons, we headed to see a movies and visit the outlet malls. We went back to the hotel for our wine and cheese reception and then out to dinner at Southend Brewery for pizza and beer. We decided to do a walking tour called "The Darker Side of Charleston" which ended up being the highlight of the trip. Our tour guide had been doing tours since he was 16, had keys to all of the churches and graveyards in the historic area, and just told story after story after story from 10:30-Midnight. The tour ended slightly before midnight in the graveyard of The Circular Church and I made Scott book it out because I don't particularly get the warm fuzzies being in a graveyard at the stroke of midnight.

The next day was filled with shopping at the market place, lunch at Charleston Cooks (a mini williams-sonoma where they do cooking demonstrations and we racked up some fun new kitchen items for both Scott and I), then happy hour at High Cotton. After getting stuck in a downpour because I HAD to stop and get ice cream, we went back to the hotel to drop off our purchases and then headed out to a cute wine and cigar shop we had passed a million time. Scott taught me how to play chess while waiting for our dinner reservation time at Fleet Landing.

The trip was absolutely perfect, relaxing, and filled with wonderful memories. I would go back in a heartbeat and am secretly hoping it will be on the list of potential locations for Scotts residency :-)

Trip quote.....

2009-07-28T16:52:00.000-07:00

Women were made to carry babies, men were made to carry football.

My b'day on the beach :-)

2009-07-18T10:34:00.000-07:00

28 years and 1 week old

2009-07-16T10:47:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I have been 28 for a full week now, it's flown by!!!!! ;-)
The Toby Keith concert with Mom and Scott was a blast. Trace Adkins has such a fantasticly low country voice and I think Scott got a kick out of my "that's what he looks like?!?!?!" comment when Trace walked on stage with a long blonde mullet, tight white t-shirt, jeans, cowboy boots and a cowboy hat. In my opinion, I would take the crowd at a country concert over any other genre. It's such a mix of people with all different wardrobes and some very interesting tattoos.
On Saturday, Scott surprised me with a "cake" filled with candles to blow out in the shape of a 2 and an 8. He got me the perfect gift...... a Garmin nuvi for my new car with traffic updates and rerouting. Plus, it has all different voices (american english male and female, british english male and female, and australian english male and female).
Now I won't get lost or stuck in traffic........ but he told me I had to be careful not to get into an accident if i'm fiddling with it on the road. Matt also thought it would be funny to change it to the Cantonese language without my knowing!
After giving me my gift, I played with it all the way to dinner (which was a surprise) at Vintage Kitchen in Norfolk with a table by the water overlooking their extensive herb garden. We had a fabulous slow 5 course meal with a 5 cheese plate, spicy ceasar salad, mushroom pot pie, entrees of duck and filet, and an apple tart dessert accompanied by a pinot grigio and merlot. It was perfect!
I went over to Matt and Amanda's to watch SYTYCD last night and had a great time playing with Callie and trying to make her grin. She is getting so big and I will have to take my camera over next time to take pictures. I will even throw in a photo shoot with Chester as well since he was trying to win all of the attention last night.

Scott and I start our vacation next Friday!!!!! We will be going to the Brad Paisley concert Friday in Virginia Beach, then heading to Richmond on Saturday so Scott can go to a friends engagement party, leave Sunday for Charleston, SC and stay through Thursday. Then I will go to Raleigh Thursday-Sunday to hang out with my girls from VT, and Scott will go to Wilmington Thursday to be with HS friends and then Staunton for a wedding Saturday. It's going to be a fun filled week away from work for me and a celebration of Scott finishing his step 2 of the boards which he takes on the 23rd.

So much to update......

2009-07-10T12:01:00.000-07:00

It's been forever since my last post and so much has been going on since our trip to Detroit.........

My parents came into town on Father's day and we were able to all spend the first Father's Day with Callie and my brother..........
My Great Aunt Pat turned 95 and we celebrated with a cookout/family reunion in Richmond with my dad's side of the family. My Aunt Peggy and Uncle Don from Missouri came into town for the week leading up to the cookout and they were able to come to the beach with my grandfather for a day to explore..........
While I was home for the cookout I got to catch up with my BFF Shelley which was fantastic. It always nice to have those friends that, even when life gets crazy and there is barely time to keep up, you can still get together and talk with like no time has passed.......
Scott and I went to Siesta Key for the 4th of July for 5 days and had an amazing time laying out on the beach, going out to eat, spending time with his parents, watching Wimbeldon, and attempting racket sports and bean bag tosses on the beach. While I was down there I read the book "Mistaken Identity" which is a true story from the 2006 accident involving 2 Taylor University students whose bodies were mixed up after an accident where one survived and one did not. The true identities were realized 5 weeks after the accident and the book is written by the two families. It is an easy read that I highly recommend!!!!!
THEN......... Yesterday I celebrated my Birthday. It was an amazing day filled with text message, phone calls, and emails from all of my favorite people :-) My parents came into town and we all went out to dinner at Mahi Mah's at the oceanfront and had brownies, pecan pie, and blueberry lemon bars at my brothers afterward while watching SYTYCD. Scott gave me a dozen beautiful red roses and we're continuing my birthday celebration through the weekend by going to the Toby Keith concert with my mom tonight and going out to dinner tomorrow. My roommate, Mary, also decorated my door for when I got back from dinner.
It's amazing to think of all the wonderful things that happened over the past year. I have a new home, car, wonderful boyfriend, and adorable neice...... I can't wait to see what 28 has to bring and pray it will be equally as fantastic as 27.
Here are some pictures...... I'm off to get ready for my date with Toby ;-)

Ollie giving himself a "bath"

My B'day flowers from Scott :-) Dad with Callie at the cookout

Scott and I at the condo in Siesta Key

Pa and I at the oceanfront

Four men and a baby :-)

Donnie, Matt, Pa, Callie, and Dad

Trip to the Motor City

2009-06-18T09:56:00.000-07:00

I Love love........ And nothing is better than spending a weekend filled with wedding festivities as someone's guest. No planning, no stress, and no pressure.

Scott and I went to Dearborn, MI (right outside of Detroit) this weekend for Ryan and Ashley's wedding. The weather was perfect and it was so much fun to meet some of Scott's buddies from College. We flew out at 6:30 Friday morning, which meant a wake up time of 5 AM!!! I was so excited to travel with Scott as this was our first airplane trip together. As the plane was getting ready to take off, I turned to Scott to find him sound asleep against the window- a position that he kept for the next hour and a half until we landed :-) Our layover in JFK was a little hectic as we booked it to our terminal only to sit on the plane for an hour due to an "electrical system malfunction". Once things were "working" we were apprehensively in the air and on our way to our destination. Upon our safe arrival in Detroit, we were picked up by Ryan and Ashley (as if they didn't have a million other things to do on the day before their wedding) and they took us to The Dearborn Inn, a gorgeous hotel across from the Henry Ford Museum where out of town guest were staying and the reception was to be held . We settled in and Scott went to get his tux as I explored the hotel and gardens. Once the men arrived with their tuxes, we went bowling with the bridal party, went to the rehearsal, had a wonderful rehearsal dinner at a deep dish pizza place, and watched the Stanley Cup finals at a bar with a bunch of RedWings fans {YIKES!}. Exhausted, we went back to the hotel where I crashed from our early morning departure and Scott stayed up to finish his best man speach.

The wedding day started bright and early with breakfast for the bridal party @ 7am and a departure time of 8:15 for Scott and 9:30 for me for a 10:30 wedding. The ceremony was beautiful, Ashley was gorgeous, Ryan was in attendance, and Scott didn't lose the ring- altogether- a very successful morning :-) The afternoon from 12-4 was filled with lunch, Scott's perfect best man speech, and lots of dancing and mingling. We left the hotel for the airport and flew back to Norfolk at 7:30pm with a stop in Charlotte for dinner, getting us back home at exactly midnight. A very quick weekend that was packed with fun and memories.

A few examples below ;-)

Scott's Bday and Callie update

2009-06-11T13:37:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday was Scott's 25th Birthday. Even though the ability to rent a car should be present enough, I decided he deserved more so I got all of his favorite people together and threw him a surprise party. It was so much fun keeping the secret and he had absolutely no idea. I decided on Tortilla West in Norfolk so it would be convenient for all of his friends and they have a nice spacious back room. He had a wonderful turnout of about 40+ people. Matt, Amanda, and Callie were there and you better believe I showed off the Munchkin (she turned 2 months the next day). I will never get tired of proud Aunt moments! Scott's brothers Mark and Jeremy were able to come down and spend the day at the beach before meeting us for the surprise dinner. The next day I got off work early and we all went to Busch Gardens before the boys had to head home to Staunton. All together, it was a very successful surprise and turned out even better than I could have imagined. Only negative, I catered way too much food and we have been eating mexican all week!!!!!

Mark (just graduated from Wheaton), Scott, and Jeremy (going to Samford in the fall)

I also got to spend time with Amanda and Callie last night to watch SYTYCD while Matt is in D.C. I got to give Callie her first bottle :-) After some confusion, flailing, and nonharmful choking she got the hang of it and did really well!!!! I still make it a point to give the boys plenty of love when I go by so they don't feel left out.......
Scott and I leave tomorrow at 6:30am for Ryan and Ashley's wedding in Detroit. Scott is the best man and I get to meet all of his college buddies. I can't wait :-)
Happy Early Birthday to my Rashy!!!!!!!! <3

Off to pack............ Wedding pictures and stories coming Sunday.

New Car.......

2009-05-27T19:27:00.000-07:00

I am currently taking suggestions for names :-)

Happy 9 Months :-)

2009-05-27T16:50:00.000-07:00

I have the best boyfriend ever.... no seriously, I do!!! Ok, I know everyone will argue with me that THEIR significant other is the best, but I think, when you feel that way,that is how you know you are with the right person.

This Friday we celebrated our 9 months. Scott went out of town for the weekend so we celebrated on Thursday with dinner at PF Changs and then went to a showing of Angels and Demons (which is a great movie BTW). Monday, Scott and I went with his friend Jeff to the Ocean View Pier where we spent the entire afternoon and evening looking out on the bay, having a few happy hour specials, telling stories, and discussing plans for their last year of Med School.

It was a wonderful weekend, and a perfect celebration of the past 9 months!!! However, Scott, who is always so thoughtful, surprised me Tuesday after work with 9 stems of flowers and two tickets to see Wicked at Chrysler Hall (with no hinting involved on my part). We went to a preshow dinner at Byrd and Baldwin where we absolutely stuffed ourselves and then enjoyed the amazing musical. The set was intricate, Glinda's role was very comical, the Wicked Witch's singing voice was phenominal, but I must say that my date was the best part of all :-)

Callie Mae

2009-05-27T16:46:00.001-07:00

The Little Love Bug kissing her giraffe from Great Aunt Lynn and Great Uncle Walter

One of the best gift I've ever received

2009-05-27T16:29:00.000-07:00

was my graduation present. A 1998 beautiful white pontiac sunfire with only 17 miles on it. I knew it was a fun car to drive since I had been cruising around town in my brothers red sunfire while he was in europe the summer after my junior year. I also knew I was going to get a car for graduation and needed to start looking. One evening, while car shopping with my parents for their new ride, I saw my baby sitting in the showroom. It's the closest I had ever been to love at first sight. Needless to say, I got my graduation present 11 months before graduating and have enjoyed every minute of the last 11 years we have spent together. This past weekend, I made the decision to purchase a newer, larger, more reliable car and cried my eyes out as my dad drove my sunfire home to Richmond. It made me question if I should ever have children........ If I can be so emotionally attached to an automobile and feel my heart breaking as I see her driving away, how will I ever let my kids go to summer camp, vacations with friends, school trips, or even worse, college?!?!?

The wonderful part of the story is that both of Scotts brothers need a car with fewer miles on it so his dad is buying the sunfire from me for one of them to use. At least we are keeping her in the "family" and I will be able to watch her from a far :-)

A moment of silence to remember all of the wonderful times and memories with my RAE OF SUN.............

Thirteen little ducks that I once knew.......

2009-05-14T15:34:00.001-07:00

....fat ones, skinny ones, itsy, bitsy, teeny, tiny, cute and furry one's too......lalalalalalala

I need to start carrying a camera with me when I go for my runs like Zooey Deschanel's character in the movie Yes Man :-)
Yesterday, I was running down the cape henry trail I saw a pretty duck with a green head crossing my path. "Where are your friends?" I asked the duck. Worried about him being so close to the road, and being a total goof for animals, I stopped my run and stood to see where he was going. He started heading along the edge of the path between the trail and the creek. Then, about 10 feet away, I heard a "quack". Happy that his friends were nearby, I went to see how many there were. To my surprise, it was a mommy duck with the cutest little pack of baby ducks I have EVER seen. They were SO little that I think this may have been their first outting. I continued on my way so I wouldn't make daddy duck angry.
On the way home the sun was setting in the distance. It was a beautiful day with blue skies and puffy white cotton ball clouds. The sun set cast a pink shade on the edges of the clouds. It was such a peaceful run and reminded me how fabulous life is and how important it is to enjoy the small things.

What a fantastic weekend!

2009-05-11T12:47:00.000-07:00

I am starting to notice a trend with my posts. They all have to do with my weekends. I guess I don't find anything I do during the week Blog worthy.

Weekday Shout Out: This past Thursday, Scott and I got together and made a dinner of Coconut Shrimpies dipped in orange marmalade and Steamed Mussels. The whole meal was a blast to make together and pretty fantastic if I may say so.

Moving on to the weekend: Amelia arrived from Minnesota on Friday and Dion was in from Australia so we all met up with Mary, Scott, Pat, and Kelley for drinks at Reddog, then went to dinner at LunaMaya. This may be a point where you start to notice happy hour and restaurant trends as well ;-) After dinner, Pat invited Scott, Amelia and I over for a much longer night than we anticipated. I have never met someone who hosts as well as Pat Cronyn. We were able to pull together a great crowd and there was a steady flow of mudslides, martinis, and some late night pizza as well, but most important of the evening- it was a great time with great friends and I'm so glad Amelia got to meet and spend time with everyone.

I woke up early Saturday to take Scott to the airport to fly to Chicago. His brother, Mark, graduated from Wheaton on Sunday so they were all able to be with their mom on Mother's day and Scott got to spend time with his friend Ryan, who is getting married in Detroit in a month.

Saturday was the annual Norfolk Wine Festival which is always eventful. This was by far my favorite year because I had my roomie Mary, plus out of towners Dion, Kehaulani, and Amelia and we met up with Harrison plus spent the day on the dock with Scott's friends. Only major thing missing was Scott!!! It made me look so forward to getting him back into town though.

On Mother's Day, my mom and dad came into town and we had lunch with Matt, Amanda, Callie, and Amanda's parents. Also, Becky, Amanda's sister, was in town with her husband Jon, her little boy Will and little girl Brighton. Then later in the day Rebekah and Griff brought over Charlotte and Norah. It was a wonderful Mother's Day with Family and a wonderful weekend with Friends :-)

K.O.L.

2009-04-29T11:02:00.000-07:00

Monday night the Kings of Leon were playing at the Norfolk TED. I will admit, all I knew of the band was that they had a song on Gossip Girl and that they were on the cover of Rolling Stone this month. Scott and I decided to head over to his friend Mikes house after work to grill out some tasty bratwursts and burgers and play some cornhole before the concert. Mike lives close enough to the venue that we were able to walk and meet some of the neighbors ;-) One house's dog decided to get loose and walk with us/jump on us, another house with 10 people spending some "quality time" on their front porch wanted to know how long we'd been together, and another guy riding his bike asked Scott how he was doing. Scott, following the rule of "never talk to strangers (especially in norfolk)", ignored the guy. With a little more aggression the second time around, the guy asked how he was doing and Scott politely answered.
Since the concert was a last minute decision, we tried to find people selling tickets when we arrived safely at the TED. As we walked around, we totally got snubbed by three people passing out fliers to an afterparty. Scott said they sized us up and realized we weren't worthy of attending. It might have been that I wasn't wearing shorts that enabled the lower portion if my gluteus maximus to be exposed, so I will proudly take the blame.
We ended up finding two couples that had suite level tickets so we bought those and enjoyed the concert from the comfort of plush seats with no one in front of us to obstruct our view, a bathroom with no line, and our own waitress.
I learned a lot about the KOL since Scott read the Rolling Stone article and knowing some of their background made the conert even more enjoyable. All together a wonderful concert experience and a fabulous Monday night out!!!!

What a fun weekend!

2009-04-27T10:49:00.000-07:00

The first real signs of summer popped up this weekend with temperature in the 90's, reminding me that i need to go buy some cool summer dresses.
Scott was off work Friday and Saturday so we started by doing happy hour in Norfolk at Red Dog with some friends, then went to one of our favorite restaurants, Luna Maya, which is AMAZING gourmet-esque mexican food. Homemade guacamole, wonderful salsa, and I always have the Holy Moly Burrito (or we split it because, holy moly, it's ginormous)!!! Then we watched Parks and Recreation and The Office DVRed. I have faith that the office is slowly getting back to it's normal humor.
We decided to forgo the beer festival this year, which I think was a great idea because it was blazing hot on Saturday. Instead we did wine tasting at Total Wine where we picked our favorite red and favorite white. We then walked to the new Farm Fresh in Ghent (which is spectacular BTW) to get cheese, crackers, meat, fruit, chips and salsa. We sat outside at Scotts and overlooked 20th street while enjoying our goodies.
When the sun started creeping into our shaded space, we decided to go inside and watch a movie. I finally got to see Tropic Thunder. As if I didn't appreciate Robert Downey Jr. enough after Iron Man, he was hysterical in this role. After the heat, red wine, and movie, we laid down for a nap that turned into 2 and a half hours! When we finally woke up we went out to meet up with the potential new EVMS class of 2013 (yikes, i feel old) and ended up going to Maggies to hang out for her Birthday.
Sunday I did a ton of errands and went to snuggle with Callie for about 3 hours. She had some not so lady like noises coming from her diaper and she wasn't wearing her normal diapers so there may have been some leakage that occured on my shirt, but it was easily fixable. Apparently she likes to do that a lot to my brother as he's changing her.
Somehow they still manage to be unbelievably adorable ;-)

Welcome Callie Mae

2009-04-14T15:00:00.000-07:00

Grandma (Grammie) and Grandpa

BIG smile for her Aunt Michelle

Proud Papa (She was less than an hour old in this picture)

Snuggling with "Uncle Scott"

Ready to go home in her Winnie the Pooh outfit

Visit from Great-GrandPA

Sleeping like an angel

I'm an aunt!!!!! Callie Mae was born on Wednesday April 8th and things have been so crazy since that morning that I haven't had a moment to update my blog. However, a friendly reminder from my friend in Australia (Thanks Dion ;-) quickly moved it to the top of my "to do" list.

I received a call from Matt at 8:30 am on Wednesday to let me know he and Amanda were at the hospital, but that Amanda was only 2 cm dilated. Already at work, I continued with my morning and kept my phone with me for any news. Unexpectedly, I got a call from Amanda at 10:30 to let me know she had quickly progressed to 9 cm and was getting ready to push in about an hour. I quickly left work, swung by home to change and grab a book for the waiting room, and headed straight to the hospital. Expecting things to be crazy when I arrived at Virginia Beach General at 12 noon, I sent Matt a text to let him know I would be in the waiting room. He called back immediately and gave me permission to come back to the labor and delivery room. To my surprise and absolute excitement, I walked in to see Amanda holding Callie!!! She had been born at 11:39 am and was 7lbs 7oz and 19 inches long. Both sets of Grandparents, having all been on the road since 7:00am, arrived shortly after.
Amanda, Matt and Callie were sent home the next afternoon and had their first visitors: my cousins Katie and Lauren, and my Grandfather Pa from Carson.
Callie had her first dinner party and road trip to visit me on Saturday evening. My mom and I cooked an early Easter dinner for Amanda's parents, my dad, and Matt and Amanda. We had a "Welcome" cake for Callie and sang Happy Birthday :-) Callie even dress for the occasion with a little pink prima ballerina onesie with a tutu attached!
Expecting nothing less from a Spiers girl, Callie has already made her first trip to the mall at the young age of 5 days :-)
My Uncle Don, Aunt Laura, and Ma-maw are coming to Virginia Beach this weekend to meet the new addition.
It's has definitely been a fun filled and eventful week in Virginia Beach!

Other updates:
I love 24 and am still a huge Jack Bauer fan (Tony-not so much).
I think I like the whole Michael Scott Paper Co. spin.
I worked this weekend so I get to take Thursday off to help Amanda out if needed.
I'm going to Colley Cantina tomorrow to celebrate our 2 new RD's.
Scott showed me his pictures from India Sunday night and it really makes me wish I could get Oprah to fund my living so I can just do missions trips and volunteer work for the rest of my life!

Workin' for the weekend

2009-04-09T09:41:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was even more relaxing than I had hoped it would be :-)

I was able to go to the Farmers Market and could NOT believe I had never made it down there before. It was amazing! The produce, fresh seafood, dairy, and meat shop were something off of The Food Network or Bravo's Top Chef. It was a good thing most places only took cash and, having never been before, I didn't take out much $ from the ATM that morning or I would have been in trouble.

Afterwards, I went by Matt and Amanda's. Rebekah was there visiting with Charlotte and Norah while she was getting new floors put in her house. After Charlotte finished watching Disney's The Jungle Book with Mr. Matt, she helped me wash the cars where she may have gotten a little wet from splashing in puddles and squeazing the sponge so that the soap and water ran down her arms.

Then, I went home and met all of my neighbors while sitting on my deck and planting flowers and herbs. It was a beautiful day. After cleaning up the half a bag of dirt that I managed to get all over myself, I decided to sit outside with a book and a glass of wine to watch the sunset. By far the most productive AND relaxing day I have had in a long time.

Stay tuned for tonights blog post to introduce my niece Callie who was born yesterday!!!!!

Weekend

2009-04-03T10:33:00.000-07:00

I have successfully made it through my first week at work with our new computerized charting, and to reward myself I bought two new bathing suits from Victoria Secret. The downfall is that now I have to do an hour of cardio everyday so I can actually wear them ;-)
Weather.com is reporting a gorgeous weekend here in VA Beach so I think I'll start my weekend out with a run on the bay, followed by a trip to the farmers market- an ongoing item on my to do list since I moved here that I have yet to cross off. Then, I'd like to stop by Matt and Amanda's to see how they're doing and maybe even wash my car. It looks like "Callie Watch 2009" is going to continue a little longer :-) see http://www.catinthelapstudio.com/ for further details.
Final Four tomorrow...... I need UConn and UNC to lose. Otherwise I might lose my number one spot in the brackets. I know, it's hard to believe that I'm winning. I have the eanie, meanie, miney, moe system to thank for that.
Alright, off to party with the meatheads at Gold's Gym (it actually makes me miss the Va Tech weightroom).

Welcome........

2009-03-29T18:51:00.000-07:00

I am horrible at long distance relationships!!! Scott will tell you that I am a compulsive email checker, but for some reason, with all of today's technology, I still fail miserably at keeping in touch.
After sitting down and looking at the craziness that will be my spring and summer of 2009, and knowing that I will soon be an Aunt to the most precious little gift from God, I have decided to start a blog.

***this blog is not intended to replace phone calls, emails, and visits*** :-)