Christmas 2009

Brian and I went and spent Christmas in Willimasburg with his mom and Step dad.  I used Dave's pictures because I didn't take many.. Yikes! It was my first Christmas away from my family so I was a little nervous about not being there for all of the Hawley festivities.  I missed and called them a ton for updates but I loved doing all of Brian's Family traditions and hearing about his Christmas memories.  I was lucky to spend  the holiday with  Brian of course and with Debbie and Dave I have grown to be way close with them and I am so thankful I am part of their family! 

We had a great time relaxing, eating, opening gifts and shopping. Brian's mom made all of his favorite holiday foods which I thought was super nice of her.  The Williams side of the family has a tradition that Christmas eve they all go out to dinner and watch a movie.  We went to the Center Street Grill and then saw Avitar 3D... we LOVED the movie it is very Fern Gullyish (Hey I liked Fern Gully too) we can't wait to go and watch another 3D movie  I am excited for Alice in Wonderland.

Debbie opening up a gift!

Us opening up gifts! Notice our cute Christmas P.J.'s

Ellie playing with her present from Grandma Debbie!

 Debbie and Dave feed animals in the woods behind there house so Ellie and Brian had a great time watching them. Okay Brian was watching them and Ellie was so excited about the Birds, Deer, and Squirrels that she was shaking,  squeaking, and bouncing up and down (look at her feet in the pic... she is mid bounce).  

The day after Christmas we went and met up with Brian's Dad, Bob his sisters, Jennie and Melissa. We had a good time and wish we could have spent more time with them.

We had a wonderful Christmas and can't believe it was the 3rd Christmas we have spent together! We hope you all had a great one too!

New Paint

So we changed some paint... cleaned some carpets and... good bye house with creamy yellowish paint, teal paint, hot pink paint, and UGLY vines.... Hello our new home!

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After talking to some neighbors I have a little bit of info on the family who used to live here... 

This is what i know so far...

Single mother (a cougarish type)

1 Teenage son  (who painted a hot pink bathroom)

1 Friend of Teenage son who got kicked out of his home

2 Enormous Rottweilers (they were mean they bit the mail man... really they did!)

1 cat 

New House

YAHOOO! 

We closed on our new house today 5 days after our original closing date! Here are some pictures of the new place. We have a busy week coming up with painters, carpet cleaners, and movers. I hope all of our scheduling woks out and we are moved in just in time me for Brian's Birthday and my first day of Christmas Break! 

Also, I have been rehearsing dorky movie lines to say while we move in (thanks to Carrie in the Sex in the City movie) I am sure Brian will be so amused!

My favorite part of the house!!!

The Front of our cute new home

Us on the porch

Our HOT PINK bathroom (the painters are coming over tomorrow) 

There is also a HOT TEAL bedroom

There are a ton of stairs... maybe it is a sign that it will be as great of a place as Hillcrest 98

Master bath - I can't wait to clean it and use it!! 

Don't worry the painters are getting rid of the tacky toll painting.... ASAP!!

Bonus Room (Brian is claiming this as his man cave)

Kitchen - I'm making Christmas cookies as soon as we are unpacked!

breakfast area/ sun room 

Dining room

As we complete projects we will post before and after pictures!

Thanksgiving in the ATL

We went down to visit my relatives in Atlanta for the second Thanksgiving in a row. We stayed at hotel Wolfgramm and of course loved spending time with the boys, Hamilton, Tate, and Eli...the other 2 Wolfgramm kids, Parker and Brooke, were in St. George having their own brand of Thanksgiving fun. We love staying with them and always have a great time playing and chatting with them.

The boys didn't play in the turkey bowl this year because Parker the super start athlete was MIA. Brian was relived, he was sore for a week after last years game.

We went to my Aunt Marge's new house (it is gorgeous) on Thanksgiving and of course had a great time visiting all of my aunts, uncles, cousins, great aunts, and grandparents. The food was great.. it is still weird to me that they call stuffing dressing and cut in in squares like brownies...its a southern thing that my mom abandoned when we Californiaized. It was a huge crowd and a great day. My aunt has Port Marion china (every plate has a different plant or flower on it). I ate off the mistletoe plate... on our way over to the food Brian was humoring me and kissing me under plate i kept holding it over my head... a little cheesy but very typical!

We got to hang out with my cute grandparent one night and my grandpa was telling us amazing stories about his childhood.

It is nice to be so close to my family!!!!

Making Soap!! 

Me and Samuel.... he is an awesome wolverine!

The boys taking a breather from playing football!

We stayed with this little guy, Eli, and he is a riot!

Brian, Julie, and the famous wolverine!

New House Update

We were supposed to close this afternoon but it has been postponed due to the sellers attorney...UGH I hate waiting!

NEW HOUSE

After Searching since July we have found a house... YAHOOO! We are so excited!!! I will post more pictures soon. We cant wait to get into it and unpack all of the stuff we have been missing for the past few months. There have been so many times when we have looked for something only to realize it is in the garage... the garage of our apartment is backed floor to ceiling wall to wall and is currently the black hole that has gobbled a ton of our stuff.

A little about the house it is the city of Waxhaw a suburb of Charlotte. It is about 20 minutes away from Brian's job. We have friends who live in the subdivision (The Brewer-Nann Family) and so we will know at least one neighbor. The house was a foreclosure so we have a few projects that will keep us busy but since Brian is so handy we will have things looking great in no time. I am sure I will post each of these home improvement projects. We are going to be closing the week after Thanksgiving. So I am excited to be in the house for Christmas.

More pictures still to come!

Barktoberfest

This year we took Ellie, her boy friend Spencer, and Spencer's mom Shannon with us to BARKTOBERFEST. It is a huge dog party. There were a ton of dogs... lots of treats....and costume contests. Most of the crazy pet owners in Charlotte were out and it was some great people watching. My favorites were the dog being a camel, and the dog who was James bond in a tux with his owner wearing an evening gown. Of course we dressed Ellie as a princess (it was her same costume from last year buy hey there is a recession going on so we saved a few bucks) and no we did not dress up to match her maybe next year! It was the largest crowd of dogs she has ever been around and I think Brian was more nervous than Ellie... He kept picking her up and holding her because "there were too many big dogs around"... he was being very protective and it was so cute!

SMITH MOUNTAIN LAKE

This post is a little late since it is October and I am still writing about summer! That does sum it up.... I wish it was summer all year! This labor day we went to Smith Mountain Lake (it is in Southern Virginia... It is also the lake where What About Bob was filmed). 

We went and stayed there with Brian's BFF Steven, his daughter Olivia, and Steven's parents Joe and Roxanne.. Stevens parents live there and man oh man am I jealous!!! The views from their deck are beautiful. We played in the water, went on sunset boat rides, played in the water, went tubing, walked around the lake (not the whole thing it is BIG), and played in the water some more!  Steven's dad Joe was vicious when he was pulling Brian and Steven and he made them FLY off the tube more than once!! It was funny when the guys got back in the boat they were telling Joe that he gave them a 20 year old ride not a 30 something  year old ride... and that they were too old to be tossed around like that!  Now for some pictures....

Brian and Steven on the ride of their lives

Steven and Brian before they wiped out!

Cheese'n it up on the boat!

Whitney and Olivia... note the matching braids

Brian hanging on...

Whitney and Olivia on our boat ride to have dinner!

Snake Hill

 My friend Shannon and I walk our dogs everyday. Well we did until I got a job...but I am glad that I am working so it is OK that our daily walks are now weekly walks. We walk from our apartments past some restaurants and doctors offices, then down past a construction area, down a dirt hill, and then on a "path" (a construction zone with huge pipes and back-hoes) that leads us to the Greenway Walking Trail of Charlotte. This is our own personal short-cut to the Greenway. We usually walk between 4 to 8 miles and we are considered regulars. Yep we know the other regulars and the construction workers are familiar faces.  Now that you kn0w our routine I will tell you about the traumatic event that changed our path.. goodbye sneaky shortcut.

It was a beautiful sunny humid southern end of summer day... Shannon and I were walking along talking about houses, jobs and boys when we approached the hill... like normal we started to walk down... about 1/3 of the way down the hill I froze in terror. About a foot away from my little Ellie was the biggest snake I had ever seen not in a cage. It should be in a zoo or reptile house somewhere!  This snake was slithering across our pathway and covered the entire path which is about 10 feet wide!!!! I could not move for about 3 seconds then when I did my body did a weird leg kicking jump scream combo... while screaming I turned yanked Ellie's leash and started running...my scream lead to Shannon screaming seeing the snake, screaming again and running as well.  We sprinted to the top of the hill out of breath and scared to death.  Our construction worker friends were running to us because they could hear our screams and thought a homeless guy tried to kill us or that we found a body.... they were thinking something was seriously wrong.. and it was HELLO we were almost killed by a giant snake! 

We frantically told them what had happened between our gasps for air and wiggling around to get rid of our creepy feeling. They died laughing and told us that because it was all black it was a "good snake" the kind that keeps cotton mouths and water moccasins way. I was very confused by the term GOOD SNAKE! Are you kidding me this snake looked as big as the snakes that eat babies out of huts in small villages!!! I am pretty sure it was related to the huge snake in Harry Potter. 

 Once we caught our breath and got some composure we had to walk the long way on the side walk to get to the Greenway and we have not braved "SNAKE HILL" since! We are waiting for winter when the giant beast who so rudely made our personal walk way its home will be hibernating!  

The After Party

My sister Claire nannies for a darling little girl named Alex. Alex is a pistol and always saying funny things for example she was calling Hillary's reception the wedding after party. I loved it and so this blog is about the wedding after party and by that I mean the 5 days we stayed after the wedding. If you are reading this you know that I like to have a plan and a schedule... it kind of drives me crazy when things are not planned especially for Holidays or Trips. I had been making reservations and planning activities for a month. I feel like when we are out there we need to do all of my favorite things, visit as many people as possible, and show Brian a few cool places LA has to offer.  Lucky for us my Aunt Carol and Uncle Steve let us borrow their car while we were out there. Thanks again guys! Here is a very quick recap of our trip.

This trip we...

did tons of wedding and family stuff

shopped down town in the fashion district and at the alley

went to a Dodger Game - they lost SAD!

went to the Los Angeles mesum of Natural History - I hadn't been since Prom

went to the Beach - with the Boyacks we love the Boyacks and miss them tons!

celebrated my 28th Birthday we had a fun party! (Brian got me a very very sparklie necklace and I am having a hard time not wearing it 24/7) 

went to Roscoes, in-n-out, north woods

meet up with friends for Pinkberry

had a hotel getaway (it is always fun to sneak away for a night)

shopped with my mom 

put away wedding stuff - a huge task

went to the beach with Hillary and James to take wedding beach pictures

visited the nethercutt car musem - I liked the phantom 4 rolls royce and the silver dusenberg the best. 

Now for some pictures!

Me and Stephanie at my birthday!

at the car museum

us posing by old cars

at the natural history museum

 

Claire our Dodger expert and us!

Claire and I decked out in our Dodger blue... check out the sunset!

Go team go!

Having fun at the game!

WE LOVE L.A.!!!