Thursday Thirteen-- Places I Want to Visit

I stole this idea from one of the blogs I read (and I'm trying to pass the last 30 minutes at work before my long weekend!)

1. Jamaica--see ticker

2. Rome--going in May!

3. Venice--probably also going in May!

4. Hawaii--especially while my aunt and uncle are living there

5. Paris

6. Egypt--I really want to see the pyramids

7. The Grand Canyon

8. Alaska or Canada to see the Northern Lights

9. Greece--preferably on a Mediterranean cruise

10. Australia

11. Oklahoma--I have family there that I have never met

12. Yellowstone and/or Yosemite--that one's really for Joel

13. Sequoia National Park

Happy 4th of July!

Praise God for our freedom (and a short week!)

We're just laying low today- working on a few things around the house. Just back to work tomorrow and then we're heading up to Blowing Rock, NC for Sharla's brother-in-law's wedding. Joel is going to photograph the ceremony for them. I still have a secret hope that one day when we retire he'll try to photograph weddings on the weekends and I could be the wedding coordinator! He is really great though and a whole other side of him comes out when he's "working."

In other news, I've hired a personal trainer. Actually it's one of our neighbors (another helpful neighbor, who would have thought!) who has a gym in her basement. So I'm working with her three times a week for the next 11 weeks and I better be in shape for Jamaica! Then I just have to keep on top of myself to not put it back on...

Happy 4th from Sammy (I just tried to put his bandanna on, but apparently he's gotten too fat for it...so here's a pic from '05)

Mr. & Mrs. Nelson Surles

Congratulations to Rachel and Nelson Surles!

They had an awesome wedding and reception at the Carolina Inn in Chapel Hill on June 29th. It was great for everyone to get together again, since we are really all spread out now! (Ben in NYC, The Surles, Adam and Melissa in Raleigh, The Bradleys in Charlotte and us in Atlanta) Since we're pretty sure there won't be another wedding for a few years we're definitely going to have to work a little harder at planning times to get together.

Didn't realize how much we missed Liz until we got to hang out again! Thanks for being a great DD and hostess....we definitely owe you!


A few of the guys...probably up to no good

The happy couple and me....love them!

Good times with great friends!

A trip to the castle

The Pennys were here at the beginning of the week, working on getting Lauren an apartment in Atlanta for when she comes to McAfee seminary in August. Joel took Monday and Tuesday to take them around to apartments, the farmers market and IKEA. On Tuesday night, we took a trip to the Medieval Times castle to see the show and have dinner. It was a fun experience to eat dinner with no utensils and watch the horses and knights. If only one of us had remembered a camera, this would be a much more interesting post!

Tomorrow we're driving up to Chapel Hill for Nelson and Rachel's wedding and then back to Concord to hang with the Bradleys for the weekend. Yay!

Girl Time!

My BFF, Sharla, was in town this week for some work meetings, and I was able to steal her away for a little bit last night to have some dinner and hang out. It was some much needed girl time! It did make me sad though that we live far apart and don't get to see each other too much (though the daily email does help)...but hopefully one day we'll live close enough to have a lot more hanging out time. Happily I will get to see her 2 weekends in a row really soon!

Love ya girl, and see ya never!

Love Thy Neighbor...especially if they have a boat

Seriously though, we do love our next door neighbors, Tom and Bruce. They have been nothing but helpful since we moved in to our house 2 years ago. They have helped us move numerous pieces of furniture, let us borrow any of their tools or lawn equipment (they gave Joel the code to their garage opener) and always compliment us on our latest home improvements.

A few months ago, Tom and Bruce purchased a new boat, which they took us out on Memorial Day weekend. Well, then they decided that they wanted a little bit bigger boat...one with a cabin with a kitchen, bathroom and sleeping area. So today they took us back out to Lake Lanier for a leisurely afternoon on the new boat (we left the tube and waterskis at home since we are all still recovering from the last trip!)

Joel and me hanging out after a swim
Tom driving while Bruce and Joel ride on the front

Why did they let Joel drive? Now he has boat fever!

I hope we are always blessed with such wonderful neighbors!

Volleyball

This afternoon we went to Atlantic Station to see the finals of the AVP Atlanta Open. I got free tickets through work--another awesome perk. It was really, really hot, but Joel wanted to see his favorite girls- Misty May and Kerri Walsh. Ever since the Olympics, if these girls are on t.v. then he's watching them. They won the final match, which secured their positions as the first and second winningest female volleyball players (Misty is #1 and Kerri is #2 with 76 and 73 wins respectively)

Joel with his ladies- Misty and Kerri.

Some of the action.

I also promised pictures of the new slate floor--so here's one (it's hard to get because the hallway is so dark). Sammy didn't want to move, so you get to see his backside too.