2010 in Review Part 1

We barely put up any photos from 2010, so this post is dedicated to catching everyone up on 2010.

The first image we have is from Steph and Nathan's Wedding in January. It was a beautiful, frigid day. The wedding was very romantic...I love winter weddings!

This is where we were on January 7th last year, the National Championship!

We were pretty happy after winning!

My first grade class on Field Day making silly faces!

The dogs braving the little amount of snow we had in Huntsville in February. Don't you love their outfits? Marlowe says, "Roll Tide!"

Fast Forward to April: Sarah and Matt got married!!

Then on May 16, 2010, we celebrated our first anniversary! The cake still looked and tasted really good!

To celebrate our anniversary, we took a trip to Seattle and Canada in June. We checked into the Hotel 1000 in Seattle and had this waiting for us in our room.

Beautiful view of the city from the Space Needle!

This photo is taken from the Space Needle.

Another view of the city that we now live in.

Moving

Hey friends! We finally know when we're moving. The movers are coming next Wednesday and Thursday to pack up our house, and then on Friday, Oct. 1st, the movers are loading everything and moving our stuff to a storage unit in Seattle. We're going to go to Tuscaloosa that weekend so we can go to the Florida/Bama game. We'll come back on Sunday and leave for our Seattle road trip on Monday. And it will be a road trip! We're planning on taking 7-8 days to get there. We're planning on making a few stops along the way: Dallas, Santa Fe, Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Yosemite, Yellowstone, and finally Seattle. I know it looks like a heart monitor graph, but we've never been to most of those places and figured it was better to do it now when it's at no cost for us than later when we had to pay on our own. I'll have to post pictures throughout our road trip. Someone, hold me accountable!

The whole process seemed move slowly until now. Everything is now moving very quickly! The reality hasn't hit yet, and it may not hit me until Wednesday. I'm hoping when reality hits, I will be excited rather than upset about leaving. Though I am sad about leaving friends and family, I know that we'll be back plenty to visit everyone.

Sick Day

Today I am using the only sick day I have due to a fever among other things. So I thought, "Why not write on the blog that I have neglected?" So that's exactly what I'm doing. The few people that read this may be wondering what's going on with us. Nothing really exciting has happened, but I'll write about all the little details that have happened.

Well, since the last time I updated was in mid-November, I guess I can talk about Thanksgiving. For Thanksgiving, my 1st grade class did the cutest play ever! They sang songs, read poems, and performed jokes/skits. After the skit, we had a little feast with the parents back in the classroom. Almost half of my class checked out that day, leaving me with only 11 students...easy day!

For Thanksgiving, we went to Montgomery. We ate Thanksgiving breakfast there, a Barbarow/Elm tradition. Since we ate so early, we had plenty of time to make it to my parents' house in Alpharetta for an early dinner. It was a busy day, but a good one. The following day, we traveled to Auburn, which is thankfully only 2 hours away from Alpharetta. And we won, so it was a great holiday!

So after Thanksgiving was the SEC Championship. Another great game! Actually, it was probably the greatest game this year, according to how we played. Pasadena, here we come...

After that comes Christmas. Chris was going to go to Baltimore for a business trip the week of Christmas (Monday-Wednesday...Christmas was on a Friday), so I decided to go with him since I could. Also, my aunt and uncle live near Washington, D.C., so I thought I would go visit them for a couple days while Chris was working. Then came the blizzard. Our flights were canceled, and we stayed home. We traveled to Alpharetta on Tuesday or Wednesday (don't remember) to spend a while with our families. We stayed there until January 1st. We came back home to bring Mimi here so she could take care of our dogs while we were in Pasadena! On January 2nd, we went to Nathan and Steph's wedding!

Chris and I went back to work on Monday, January 4th. We left for L.A. on Wednesday. We were on separate flights because I decided to go about a week later than Chris, and I also didn't want to take a half day off of school. Well looking back in hindsight, I wish I did that. My flight left from Huntsville at 4:15. I made it to the airport in plenty of time. The problem was that I had a 45 minute layover in Chicago. We landed in Chicago earlier than expected, so I was thinking, "Everything is going well. I'm going to make my flight." Well then, the pilot comes on the loudspeaker saying that we would have to wait for a gate to open. We wait, and wait, and wait some more. Well now it's past the time for my flight to L.A. The flight attendant said that they weren't waiting on us, even though most of the people on the flight were on that flight to L.A. She told us to make other reservations. So the people next to me call to be put on a waiting list. They put my name on it too. 15 minutes go by, and the flight attendant comes on the loudspeaker saying that they are waiting on us. So everyone cheers, and I'm happy again. We finally get off the plane, and run to our gate. When I get there, the couple who put me on the waiting list was with me. The American Airlines people said that they only had space for 2 more people, and there were 3 of us. I still don't really understand why, except that they gave away my ticket to someone on standby. They said whoever was left would make the 8:55 flight to L.A. So I told the couple to go on ahead. It is about 7:30 p.m. now. Well, they get on, and they're getting my ticket printed, or so I thought. So I asked, "I'm definitely getting on the next flight, right?" The guy says, "Ma'am, I'm doing all I can. I said I would try to get you on that flight. If not, you'll be on the 8:30 a.m. flight tomorrow morning." I said, "That's not what I heard." Then I start crying...uncontrollably. I call my dad (Chris is in the air now) and tell him what's going on. I was too hysterical to do anything sensible. He kept saying to calm down. While I was bawling, I heard the AA people whisper, "She's crying..." To shorten the story, the AA guy made a few calls, bumped the person flying standby on the 8:55 flight, and put me on it. I know why I was emotional-I was flying alone and thought I was stuck in Chicago overnight by myself-but I don't know why I was crying uncontrollably. So I get my ticket, check it, and walk to the gate. The AA people were following me and showing me where to go. I really didn't and don't care what they thought/think about me because I made it there. I'm definitely not happy with American Airlines because what they did to me wasn't right. I should have been able to get on my originally booked flight, but instead, they canceled my booking.

But it was a great trip! I had a lot of fun in L.A. I went to my first national championship, and we won it! Everyone asked me, "Did you see any celebrities?" Well yes, I did...Kirsten Dunst. We were at Intelligentsia Coffee in a trendy neighborhood. We ate lots of good food, had lots of coffee, did some sightseeing, and of course, shopped.

Now, we're back to the daily grind of things. We're still enjoying our jobs, making good friends, and getting involved in our new church. I'm so grateful to God for placing us in Huntsville/Madison. I've met so many wonderful, amazing people and look forward to everything else God has planned for us.

I guess it's back to resting for me, though I admit, I just did laundry and am tempted to clean the house...

-Christie

God Is Good!

It has been a while, and I'm sorry for that! Things have been busy around here. We have settled into the house. The only thing left to do is eliminate the ridiculous amount of boxes in the middle bedroom. It's one of those things that will take quite a while though, so I have no idea when it will happen. Christopher will be working on that.

Christopher's job is going well. He has traveled a total of two weeks and will probably travel a little bit in the future. He's busy, but he loves his job.

Well, since I'm talking about jobs...I now have a job! I am now a first grade teacher! I am really excited about it. I have been going to the school a few times the last two weeks to get acclimated to the routine. I feel pretty prepared now to teach in my own classroom. I love the students, the faculty and staff, and everything else about the school. I even have my own smartboard, document projector, and a microphone that goes around my neck. I'm excited about integrating technology into the teaching material. I spent an hour today just playing with the smartboard.

We've also been busy traveling for football. With jobs and football, there's really not much time for anything else. Maybe one day we'll figure out how to work and have free time, but that time probably won't be coming any time soon...

Christie

It's Christmas Month!

It's finally December! It always goes by way too quickly though. I put the Christmas tree up really early (on Halloween...before I had finished carving the pumpkins), but there are still no ornaments on it. And I have a Christmas party at my house tomorrow! Too much to do...I guess I should also clean, but I need to finish my research proposal first since that's due this friday. I only have two classes left...I've finished two already. 

Next Christmas, I want to have some kind of amazing Christmas party, where I go crazy decorating. Maybe a cookie swap, ornament party, potluck dinner, secret santa, dirty santa, or something else. I've got a year to figure it out. This year I'm having a tennis party because I've wanted to for 3 years, and this is the first year I've done it. I had to since I won't be here next year, and one person is graduating, so I had no other choice. I'm excited though. This post is really scattered, but so are my thoughts. 

We've done one thing for the wedding...we have decided on a ceremony musician, a harpist. That's about it. We need to decide what to do for the reception. I need to print some engagement pictures to send Christmas/Save the Date cards. I'm excited about that. I guess that's what I'll be doing next week since I won't have anything else to do. Well, nothing else is really going on. I am looking for a new Christmas movie to see. I saw Four Christmases last Friday, and it was okay. 

I thought of something, I'm going to the SEC Championship game thanks to Christopher's parents! Merry Christmas to me. I hope they can find one ticket and my dad can find one or else I will feel bad that I'm going and they're not. I also hope we win that game so we can go to Miami! Roll Tide!

-Christie

Weekly Post??

Apparently I only post weekly, and only on Wednesdays. I don't plan this--it just happens. That would be an interesting thing to research (I have a research class on Wednesdays...how ironic).

Last weekend was amazing! Athens was fun--the game and seeing old friends. We went to a pub, Trappeze. I was kind of bummed out considering I don't like beer, and then I saw that a coffee bar was attached, so of course, I got a latte. It reminded me of a latte I had in Chicago at Intelligentsia. Oh how I miss Chicago. One day I would love to live there for a little while...maybe longer. I get sidetracked so easily. After the bar, Christopher and I went to find friends. He saw Steven, and I saw Mindy. We got to hang out for a little while, then it was time for the amazing game. 

I left out an exciting detail about the weekend--my dress came in!! I now officially have my wedding dress. The next thing I need to find are shoes. We have also picked our wedding photographer. We just have to pay and sign the contract...yay! I'm getting really excited about the wedding since it actually feels like it's happening. We're also planning the honeymoon. It's going to be in Cape Cod/Nantucket/Martha's Vineyard and Boston. It's going to be so much fun! I've never been to any of those places, but Christopher has been to Boston. They have great coffee shops there...already done the research. 

Another exciting thing is that today is the first day of October!! The weather is amazing, with a high of 75 today. And next weekend is fall break. That means Burt's Pumpkin Farm, Amicalola Falls, shopping, and Mimi's party! Hopefully I'll post again before that, but we'll see...

-Christie

Rainy Days and Mondays

It's been raining for 3 days straight...thanks Faye. 

So yesterday, my mom, Christopher, and I went to a bridal show. I know...poor Christopher. He got to eat a lot of cake, though. I saw some great ideas for color schemes, photographers, videographers, DJs, etc. There is a whole lot of planning for this grand event. We found the perfect photographer, but there's a chance they could be booked. They're such giving people. They are going to photograph a deserving couple's wedding for free, and May 16, 2009 is one of the three finalists wedding date. It will be great if they choose another couple, but if they choose the couple that is getting married in May...well, they deserve it more than us. I have now completed one assignment this semester for graduate school. The wedding planning is a much higher priority than school, though maybe it shouldn't be. 

I guess it's time to get moving. I have to go mail some Clemson/Alabama tickets to the person who bought Christopher's tickets. Saturday is going to be a great day! I'm so excited! 

-Christie