Woah! I AM ALIVE!

Well, it's been one month since my last update, so I figured I would make another post. :) I am going to do a pretty brief post because I don't think you want to read a book on the mundane details of my life! So I think I am going to do this in a modified list type thing.
End of August (23-31):

• We found a church we both kind of like and have been going to ever since. We're hoping to meet with the pastor sometime soon to talk about the church and get some more info. We're hoping to get involved somehow because we like to serve.
• It was my birthday on the 28th. :) We didn't do a whole lot but it was still a lot of fun. We had a friend over from LeTU for cake and ice cream, and then we played some board games.

Beginning of September (1- 22)

• Hurricane Earl threatened to hit Virginia Beach, so we were kind of freaking out because we had to get to San Antonio for our good friend's wedding. It all worked out because we got out a day early and the storm wasn't nearly as bad as they had anticipated.
• The Wedding: The wedding was so much fun. Bekah (the Bride) asked me to take some pictures because she didn't really want the photographer around while they were getting ready. Here are a few shots I got:

• After we got back from the wedding, I promptly started my online classes. They've been pretty good so far. Lots and lots of reading, but that would be true of any grad school class I took. 
• Brad and I have been enjoying the cooler weather (instead of 90+ it's been staying in the upper 70's and lower 80's). I will be very glad when it becomes cool all the time and I can wear sweaters! We've gone down to the water front a couple times to walk on the beach. It's quite pleasant at night.
• I have been having fun spending my birthday money. I've bought some cute new outfits, got my hair cut, and some new jewelry. 
• I've also been more daring in the kitchen. Last night I made chicken breaded with bran cereal. It was pretty good, but next time I'm putting less cereal on it. They were kind of brany. I also made twice baked sweet potatoes. SO GOOD. They were more like dessert though. They had cream cheese, sour cream and brown sugar in them. Tasted almost like cheese cake. Not too healthy, but Brad and I split one so it wasn't so bad. My goal is to use sweet potatoes more because they're really good for you. My next recipe endeavor is to make sweet potato fries.
• I've also been trying more casseroles. I'm still very picky about what I will and will not put in a casserole but some of them are really good. My favorite so far has been this casserole that takes a bag of frozen broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots mixes in a jar of low-fat alfredo sauce, and then tops them with dill biscuits. Bake and eat. So good! We've been trying a lot more meatless meals because it's cheaper and usually better for you. I think I am going to try a lentil soup sometime soon too.

So there you go, that's what I've been up to (the short version). Life is pretty good!

Moldy Cheese rectified!

Last week on my grocery shopping trip, I bought some Land-O-Lakes deli cheese because I had a coupon (that I didn't end up using because the cashier was inept). Well it looked yummy and I was excited because it was Land-O-Lakes. With the amount of money I spent on it, it should be awesome cheese. Well, when I went to open it on Wednesday is was COVERED IN MOLD. GROOOOOOOSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! I was so mad. I paid like five bucks for that cheese! So, anyway, I emailed the company and expressed my dissatisfaction. So to make it right they sent me a bunch of coupons, including a coupon for free cheese. So at least I'm not totally out five bucks. It was only five bucks, but when money is tight anyway, five bucks can mean a lot! I'm glad they were prompt in their response too!

Aside from the moldy cheese, not a whole lot is going on it the world of Liz. Just getting ready for school to start. I finally got all my books in, so I'm all set to go! I'm kind of interested to see how this whole online school thing is going to work. I've never taken classes online, so it should be an adventure! 

This last weekend we went to an orchard to pick some apples and peaches. We brought home nine peaches and 24 Gala apples. They are yummy too! I might make a peach pie or something with the peaches. I'm not sure we're going to eat nine peaches! It was a lot of fun and their price wasn't too bad. We got a lot of fruit!


We're leaving for a friend's wedding in San Antonio on the third of September. I am excited because I get to see Anna again! It will be fun to catch up and see one another. There are going to be a ton of other people there from school, so it will be nice to catch up.

So there's an update for ya.:)

Ok... I know I promised pics of clothes...

But I just haven't gotten to them. I know, I need to stop promising such things!

Today is our second anniversary. What a great time those two years have been. During those two years we have: had our first move away from our parents (permanently, anyway), had our first home on LeTU's campus, saw our best friends get engaged, survived a fender bender, survived a Texas summer, Brad graduated, were in our best friend's wedding, Brad got his first job, I graduated, I went to Australia, we moved across the country, Brad got his second job, and we got a dog! And those are just the highlights! I'm sure there's more. I love being married, it's great fun. I want to take this time to thank my mom and dad for being good role models. It's rare for people to stay married these days. Mom and Dad, you guys were a good role model to me showing me how to work together at things. :)

I've gotten most of my graduate school stuff taken care of. I'm currently enrolled for three classes: Method and Praxis of Theology, John Wesley's Theology for Today, and Church History 1. I even have all my syllabi printed and put in a binder for when classes start on September 7th.

Today I spent running errands. Nothing too terribly exciting. So to make this blog post more exciting I'm going to post some recent pics I've taken!

Us after our Anniversary date last night. :)

We went on a photo expedition and this is one of the shots I got.

And another.

There you go! New pics to look at! :)

Driver's License

I got my new Driver's License today (after an epic month long battle with the DMV. I hate that place). Thought I would share my pretty dorky pic. For a DL pic, it isn't that bad. But I wouldn't classify it as one of my better shots. ;)

Later, I might put on my new outfits and take some pics. I have an entirely thrifted outfit i'm quite proud of. We'll see how ambitious I get. If I do it, those pics should be up tomorrow, or maybe this evening.

Ramblings

Hello!

Still haven't done much lately. I feel like I'm always saying that. I guess my life is a little boring these days. I feel like all I ever do is sleep in, get up, waste time in cyberspace, go running, lunch, shower, watch TV episodes or read, cook dinner, watch more TV or read more, go to bed. Rinse, repeat. It sounds kind of lame, probably because it is! Haha.

I did have a job interview on Monday for a receptionist position for the hospital in town. The job is actually in an imaging and lab facility. The hours are kind of poopy- 11:00 am until 7:30pm and then every third Saturday (which keeps changing, by the way. It was originally posted for every fifth saturday, then it changed to every fourth, and now every third!) from 7:00am until 1:30pm. The position actually works half in one office and then half in another. Anyway, I'm not really convinced this job is the right job for me. It seemed pretty unorganized. Plus, the whole interview was less than ten minutes long and consisted of approximately three or four questions. I don't really think she liked me much, and she's interviewing a ton of people (apparently). I don't feel like I stood out or anything, so maybe they won't offer me the job. But we'll see, she said she was going to try to make a decision by Friday.

I'm in the middle of all the applications and such for being a substitute teacher. It's kind of a lot (and a lot of money too!) each school district requires a CPS background check, which is a fee every time. It's kind of stupid; why can't they just use the same background check? I also had to go get a TB test done. I've had them done in the past and have forgotten to go get them read... I CANNOT FORGET THIS TIME. I even have a post it note to remind me. I'm applying to three school districts, maybe four. Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Norfolk, and maybe Newport News. Newport News is kind of far away, but if Brad is driving there everyday, it wouldn't be that big of a deal to just go with him and coordinate schedules for that day.

I went thrifting yesterday evening at good will. I found a silk skirt for two and a half bucks and a pair of Forever 21 jeans for seven bucks. I was pleased with my choices. Got two nice things for 9.50. Good deal! I'm thinking about going to Salvation Army later this evening to check out their clothes. I'm getting kind of bored being cooped up in my apartment all the time.

Louisanna hasn't barked while I've been gone for two days so I'm hoping that's a permanent development, because I definitely feel more free to leave knowing my neighbors aren't going to hate me. She also didn't have any accidents in the apartment at all yesterday. So I guess the key is to not let her have so much water! That sounds mean, but if she's drinking so much that she's peeing every hour and half, that's too much. In my opinion anyway.

The heatwave finally left us! It's been in the mid eighties for two days now (Praise the Lord!). It's supposed to be back up in the 90s by next week, but that's still cooler than 115 degree heat index! Just saying. I'm thinking this weekend Brad and I might head to the beach on Saturday. We haven't been there since 4th of July weekend, so it might be fun to go this week. It'll be cooler, so hopefully we won't burn our feet off on the sand. Let me tell you what, that sand gets really really hot sometimes.

Time to go running, for sure! It's almost noon. Time to stop being lazy!

Louisianna!

Not much has been happening since I last posted. I'm just kind of waiting to hear back from some places about a job (nothing new on that front). I officially got accepted into Asbury Theological seminary, so as soon as I get all of my ducks in a row I will be starting an MDiv program in the Fall. I am rather excited about it, for sure! I'm not sure how the job situation is going to pan out with that. I'm kind of hoping to just do substitute teaching for awhile. It's something flexible that I can turn down if I'm swamped with school or something, but I think it's also something that I would be able to do almost full time if I played my cards right.

We got a dog, as most of you know, I'm sure. She's a beagle mix, and she's SO CUTE. She's mostly well behaved, but she does bark while we're gone. So I'm not sure how to eliminate that. A friend of mine suggested that we get a DAP diffuser. DAP is Dog Appeasement Pheromone. Apparently it's the synthetic form of some hormone that mother dogs make in their milk for their puppies and it helps them calm down. I'm hoping this works, if not I guess our last resort is a bark collar. I'm not sure a bark collar will work if she's barking because she's anxious that we're gone. I'm afraid she would just bark and shock herself continuously.  We're working on it though. She had to go into the vet's to get her next heartworm treatment, I get to pick her up this afternoon. She went in on Tuesday morning because she was making this weird snorting sound, but it turned out to be nothing. Instead of making me drive to Norfolk again to pick her up, and then out again on Thursday for the heartworm treatment, they just kept her Tuesday night. Then they did the treatment on Wednesday morning and observed her for the rest of the day/this morning. It's funny how she's only been here for about a week and it already felt weird to have her gone!

I've been keeping up on my running, but I've also started doing Jillian Michael's or Biggest Loser once a week. I kind of want to tone up a little bit. I've also stopped trying to actively lose weight, but to maintain where I'm at now. It's been going pretty well, just gotta keep working out. Speaking of which, it's about that time!

Fourth of July

Here is the official Fourth of July post, haha.

For the weekend of the Fourth Brad's family came up to visit us and see our new home. Saturday we spent a good portion of the day at the beach, and it was a lot of fun! Except a wave took off my sun glasses and I lost them forever. Oh well, they were only five dollars at Walmart.

Sunday we went to Colonial Williamsburg. It was SO MUCH FUN. I love that place. Brad's mom and dad helped us buy season passes, so we'll be able to go back whenever we want to. We toured all of the little buildings, did some shopping, and stayed for the fireworks. Here are some pics:

                  This was in the Governor's Palace. I definitely remember this from last time we went!

This was the guy who gave us some info about the Courthouse. His costume looked so hot. As it temperature wise... It was about 100 degrees that day!

                                                             In front of the Courthouse.

                                                          Inside the Courthouse.

                                               The Armory. Brad really liked this building.

                                                           In the Stocks. Misbehaving, again.

                        And, of course, a family weekend isn't complete without a Mario Kart tournament! I think this was Monday night. :)

Monday we spent time driving around to see the area, and then we just kind of hung out and had a nice supper together. Tuesday, Bree and I spent the day shopping and getting our nails done. That was a fun day. Then we wrapped up the weekend by going out for some Ice Cream. Overall, it was a fun weekend and fairly relaxed.

Since then I've just been hanging out around here looking for a job, cleaning, and scrapbooking. I'm currently out of pictures to scrapbook, so i need to print some more off.  My life is a bit boring at the moment, haha. But i'm sure it will pick up here soon, especially if I get a job. I have a lead on two jobs, but they're just minor leads. Not sure how either of them are going to pan out.

Time to go for my run!