My Travel hot spots

So I was reading another great Nest topic about affordable European trips.http://ideas.thenest.com/love-and-sex-advice/couple-travel-ideas/Slideshows/Affordable-Europe.aspx?page=6 and I was thinking about my constantly evolving list of places that I (well, me and AL) would like to visit and thought, I should start keeping a list. Of course this is always changing and depending on time in our lifes, money, etc the trips may change orders too, but I am going to list them in semi order of favorites.

WHERE WE WANT TO GO:

1) Uruguay

2) Europe- Paris, Italy (again with AL), and more

3)Vegas (again with AL- he has never been)

4)Catalina California (hear it is beautiful here)

5)Greece

6)Napa Valley (want to smoosh grapes)

7)New York City (around Christmas time with AL to see the shows and the lights, love it there at this time)

8)Mexico- it is cheap and beautiful

9)Bahamas/Turks & Caicos

10)mini trips to our new love of bed and breakfast's :)

11)Key Largo- we got married here and it is one of our most favorite places

12)San Diego and San Francisco - just because.

13)Ireland

Ok...think this is an ok list for now, but there are so many more places we would love to go. I want to plan 1 big trip out of the country at least every 2 years and then mini ones between in the states.

Some of the coolest places I have been are Hawaii, Italy, Key Largo, Tobago and Jamaica!

My Weekend

So if you are a reader you know that Wednesday was my last day at Gallo. I was supposed to start my new job today, but on Wednesday I got a job offer from 1 of my top 3. The job I was supposed to start today was a GREAT job and I know I would have been happy there and I was super excited to be there, but when I received the new offer, I knew I had to accept. It was not only 8 miles from home, but it was an amazing career opportunity, somewhere I can be long term & a great resume booster. I am so excited about my new opportunity- huge international company and again it IS 8 MILES FROM HOME!!!! :) I felt absolutely terrible about having to back out of the other position, I was literally sick for like 4 days, but I have received advice from a ton of very successful people and I am finally starting to feel better. I am looking forward and trying to never look back. I love my life, my career and my family!

So, Friday after all the job stuff was done the hubby and I left for a Bed and Breakfast weekend. We drove up to Blue Ridge GA, went horseback riding and then checked into our BandB. It was our first time and immediately we were sooo impressed. The place was beautiful and the people were so nice. We went for a walk around town to grab lunch and most places closed around 2, well we wanted a sandwhich so we went to this cafe and the lunch side was closed, but the people still served us- how rare is that? They were very nice! We relaxed and played scrabble and watched TV and went in our personal jacuzzi and it was so amazing. I love spending quality time with my husband. Then, we got some rest and woke up for the breakfast part- sausage breakfast pizza and homemade peach cobbler- YUM! it was delish! Next, we went on a hike. We did the "intermediate" 6.5 mile hike- woooh! It was rough, I am not lying when I say every part of our body was sore about 3 hours after finishing, lol, I guess we need to hit the gym more.

It was a short, but wonderful trip and we headed home to go to dinner with my best friend for her birthday. Happy Birthday Shell! We went to Mary Mac's Team room, it was our first visit and it was pretty good. Sunday, we woke up and watched some True Blood on the DVR- which I will say is getting weirder and weirder, but we are still hooked. Then, we went and got lunch and took the dogs to the dog park where we wore them out playing fetch. We were so proud of Oreo, she got along with all the other doggies. :) Last night, we went to dinner and a movie with our amazing friends Jamie and Keith and today, I begin my 2 weeks off. Sent in all my paperwork, doing laundry now and then dry cleaners, grocery store and Lowe's to pick AL up a new lawn mower belt....I think I can handle 2 weeks as a stay at home wife :) I want to soak them up, because while it is not my cup of tea, I must say I am going to enjoy these 2 weeks.

Oh- and as a side note, I will be picking up my new droid in a couple weeks and will be posting more pictures to my blog then to catch you up on our B&B weekend, dining room makeover, etc. :)

My last day at work...

So today was my last day at work- it's just a job right, I mean why o why am I so extremely emotional right now?!! I am feeling sooo emotional today leaving my job. Yes, I am very comfortable there, I have been there 3 years and worked hard to have people at all levels respect me. I have moved up and proven myself there, but more than that, I met my husband there and for the past 2 years we have driven to work together, eaten breakfast together, had lunch together, went to Dr. appointments together, drove home and hit the gym together- we have done everything together. Some people may say gee, so much time together and we definitely had moments where we felt that way also, but we are husband and wife and we love each other...I am also leaving behind my best friend. My best friend lives an hour away and for so long we didn't see eachother enough because of living so far from eachother, then I got her a job there and we saw eachother daily, it was so amazing being able to spend each day with not only my husband, but also my best friend. I am really, really going to miss those times and feel like I didn't soak them up enough while I could and now all of a sudden, just like that, they are actually gone. I am so sad, but also happy, nervous, scared, and more. This has been a big day for me and will probably take me some time to adjust and feel "normal" again- because I can say for sure, right now and for the past week, I have just been a sobbing, emotional wreck!

Oh, the weekends...

Did anyone else's weekend seem to fly by extra fast?? Mine sure did, it was a busy weekend. Friday was my step mom's bday so we went for dinner and hung out over there. Saturday we woke up and did errands, went for breakfast and came home to paint an accent wall in the living room (I will have to post pictures). My dad and step mom came by to have Allan work on her new birthday present- a brand new laptop, then we went for dinner and yogurt with friends.

http://www.yoglimogli.com/

You guys have GOT to check this place out- it is delish and healthy!! They have about 8 flavors and you go in, grab a cup, chose as many or as little flavors as you want and then pick all your toppings. Then, you weigh it and enjoy! It is a fabulous idea and very yummy.

Sunday, we woke up and went to church with my mom. 2 people were baptized and I didn't know them, but I started crying when they were telling their stories, I don't know what is going on, but I have been very, very emotional lately. The rest of Sunday we relaxed, went grocery shopping and worked a little bit in the yard. It was a great weekend, but just flew by too fast. I am looking forward to Friday when the hubby and I leave for our bed and breakfast retreat.

One of the most frightening things in the world to me...

So it is no secret that the hubby and I cannot wait to expand our family. We are patient and having fun being newlyweds and just practicing, but it seems lately the topic of infertility is all around me and I know it shouldn't, but it freaks me out! Not being able to have a baby would be absolutely devastating to me. I have had quite a few health issues with my stomach and I know it is 2 different areas, but I always worry maybe I won't be able to have babies. We have seen friends and friends of friends struggle and it is just terrible. In my latest magazine there was a huge article about infertility and how 20 % of couples that is 1 out of 5- are not able to have a baby, between those couples, 40% is the females problem, 30% the males, 20% is the combination of the male and female and 10% is unknown....how scarey that 1 out of 5 couples are not able to have babies. The article goes on to describe how infertility is like cancer was 20 years ago. People are embarrassed about it and they don't like to talk about it, so no research efforts are being able to really dig into this. Then, on the view they dedicated a whole hour to this topic. I just happen to be home from work this day and catch this episode as well....again, they discussed how it is so much more common then people think. Most insurance does not cover baby efforts of infertile couples, so couples will spend ten thousands and thousands of dollars trying to have a baby, each time getting their hopes up and then getting let down over and over again. My heart goes out to these people and I pray every night that one day Allan and I will be able to have a happy, healthy family of our own. Would I adopt? I don't know...maybe, but I would be one of those people who would go through every other option before even thinking about it. I just feel like we are meant to be parents and cannot wait to see our baby one day- but all this infertility talk did freak me out. We have time and we are in no rush, sometimes I think wow how our life will change when we have a baby and it makes me be a little more patient, but then I think wow how our life will change and I get excited, so I definitely hit my baby want times and ok, let's be patient times, but overall it will happen when God wants us to be parents and we will be in love until then :)

What about you? What are your biggest fears?

1/3 of a year Anniversary with the HubbY!

Tuesday was our 4 month anniversary- 1/3 of a year!! Some people think we are corny, but why not celebrate. We tried a new restaurant, I ordered him cupcakes and he sent me beautiful red roses! It was a great day!!!

YUMMY!

Put in my resignation on Friday!

So on Friday I resigned. I got offered a great job opportunity and cannot wait to enroll in their benefits. I have been at my company for over 3 years. I met my husband here, I recruited my best friend here and have made many new great friends. Although I have my reasons for leaving, I am a little sad to go. I have been very fortunate, constantly promoted, received raise after raise and even turned down a "what can we do to have you stay" talk. It was hard, but I feel like in my gut this is the right move. My new job is close to  home- don't even have to get on the interstate, it has great benefits, it is an international company (which to me is exciting), it uses great accounting/finance software and should be a great experience. Starting over always makes me nervous, but I am definitely looking forward to a change. Wish me luck!

Our Love Story...How we met

I met my amazing husband at work. He worked in IT and I was in Finance. I had just got my best friend a job at our company and he was hooking up her computer and we were chatting and started saying hi and noticing eachother in the halls and such. Then, over the next several weeks, I got emails about Friday happy hours from him, but declined. During these few weeks every time there was a problem with my computer or email, he would be there to fix it and he had been there 6 months at the time and I didn't even know his name, so this was odd. Finally, one week I told my best friend "please just let's go to this happy hour so he will quit asking us" (LOL). We get there and it was him, me and my friend, haha there was no real happy hour!!! We went and didn't really hit it off, but I knew he was a very nice guy and funny. So then the next week we went to lunch with a group and chatted more and went out for another happy hour- this is when we REALLY hit it off. I had butterflies! :) From then on, we began dating and going to more lunches and chatting on BBM ( Black Berry messenger) and it was fun. About 2 weeks in from just hanging at work and lunches, he asked if it would be ok for him to call me- HOW SWEET, RIGHT?!?! and I said yes and we chatted all night like highschool and then he finally asked me on a date and the rest was history! We quickly fell in love... <3

My Weekend

So we didn't make it to spin class Friday, because there wasn't spin class on Friday, but we went for a nice dinner at Cinco and went home to relax. Saw a couple movies with friends over the weekend. Inception- which was a great movie, it was kind of weird, but good and who doesn't like staring at Leo for a couple hours. Dinner with the Schmucks, not so great, pretty dumb actually. I mean there were definitely funny parts, but overall it was just too long.

We started leveling out the top of the hill for our fire pit area and it looks great so far. Well, I say we but actually, we picked some workers up from the corner and they knocked it out in an hour. Allan had a man's day with his friends son and I thought it was really cute- he even bought him his own work gloves. :) They cut the grass, trimmed the hedges and put in a new drain from our AC to our french drain outside to prevent it from getting all muddy over there.

Saturday we cooked pork chops, mac and cheese, green beans and strawberry shortcake for dinner and it was delish. Last night, we went to a friends house and had tacos. Oh, we also bought a new walk through gate to keep Otis out of the dining room and a new rug, but it is being returned- too small!

Overall the weekend was good and productive, but it just flew by way too fast.