Goodbye 2013, Hello 2014!

So much has happened since my last post!  I am going to try to be a more committed blog writer this year, so hopefully this will be one of the last 2, 3, 4 month updates you see for a while  Where to begin...

September wrapped up with Tom and Linnea's beautiful Atlanta wedding.  It was a wonderfully fun day celebrating one of our favorite couples, and we now officially have a sister-in-law!

Football season has come and gone, but we did get to go to a couple of Clemson games with Michelle and my parents - always a fun time!  Sadly and unbelievably, Michelle is a senior this year so Clemson weekends might not be the same next Fall.

Roxanne dressed up as a witch for Halloween...I was pretty excited that she got to wear a tutu, and Rob really didn't have much say in it.

I took a wheel pottery class for beginners at the art center that's in the same complex as my work.  It is much harder than it looks when you watch others do it, but I enjoyed it and would consider taking another class.  I haven't taken a class of any kind really for a long time, so it was nice to try something new.

Me, Rob, Tom, Linnea and Roxanne took a road trip in a minivan up to Michigan for Thanksgiving.  For Thanksgiving it was the 4 of us, Ron, Kimberly, Nate, Aunt Sue, Uncle Bob and Grandma Porter.  Ron did all of the Thanksgiving dinner cooking in their newly remodeled kitchen and it was delicious.  We also got to hang out with Hayes and Caroline, go to a Michigan hockey game, and the Michigan vs Ohio State football game which was a lot of fun despite the loss.

Early December my parents and Grandma Doris came for a visit.  It was nice being able to show grandma our house and she even helped out with some yard work while she was here (she insisted).  Roxanne was really good with her and they became friends, despite Roxanne not usually liking old people.

Mid-December Rob graduated from business school woo hoo!!  Really, I am so proud of him and relieved for him that it's done.  It was a lot of hard work getting his degree while also working a full time job, and sometimes I didn't know how he managed it all.  Congrats babe!

Christmas was spent with my family in Summerville, SC.  The last Christmas we spent with them was 2010, so it was nice to be back at their house along with my sisters and dog niece Millie.

January has really flown by.  I had a fun and much needed visit with one of my best friends Katie over MLK weekend.  I am so grateful that she flew down to visit, as we hadn't seen each other since Megan and Robbie's wedding in August 2011!  We took her to our favorite tapas place, did the World of Coca Cola tourist attraction, had an unforgettable time on the new ferris wheel in ATL, had Mexican and margaritas and watched football, and did a lot of catching up.

As I write this Rob is busy painting.  He really has done A LOT of painting since he graduated and has a little more time on his hands.  I am grateful for all he has done around the house and he's actually really good at it, but I do feel bad because I know it has taken a lot of hard work and time.  First he did the master bedroom after we got new bedding for Christmas, then he did one of the guest rooms just in time for Katie's arrival, and now he is doing the front entryway.  Next on his list will probably be the dining room, as we have already decided we are hiring painters to do the upstairs hallway along with the high unreachable area above the stairs.

The hottest 2 weeks of my summer

It's hard to believe summer is already coming to an end!  With all of the rain and lack of 90+ degree weather we had it almost feels like summer is just beginning.  But football is back and stores are full of Halloween stuff, so summer is definitely on its way out and I'm ok with that.

We had a nice time in Myrtle Beach with my family and enjoyed perfectly hot beach weather while we were there. Besides a few jelly fish stings and shark sightings everything went just fine.  And shout out to Scott , who I'm told liked my last blog entry, for surviving the whole week at Myrtle meeting about 20 of our relatives all at once!  Here are a few random pics from the trip I found on my phone...including my first time on a roller coaster (possibly a ride?) WITH Rob!  

My second beach trip this summer was to Isle of Palms, SC for soon-to-be sister-in-law Linnea's bachelorette party- the wedding is less than 2 weeks away woo-hoo! We rented a fabulous beach house, partied downtown Charleston and even went to a drag show.  Now, I've been to quite a few drag shows, but I will say it definitely feels a little more like a normal activity going to a show in Provincetown, MA than it does in Charleston, SC.  We all had a fun weekend and it was great to meet all of Linnea's super sweet and fun friends.

Now let me tell you about how the AC in my car decided to die on the drive to the bachelorette party.  Rob was driving me to Isle of palms to drop me off at the beach house for the weekend and then he was going to stay with my parents until we both went home together on Tuesday.  About an hour away from IOP the windshield got very foggy and the defrost wasn't helping at all.  Then it started to get hotter inside the car and I was like these vents do not feel like they are blowing real cold air like usual.  But it was pretty hot and humid outside even at 11:30pm and so I didn't really think too much about it.

Fast forward to the car ride home Tuesday, I was napping while Rob drove and woke up sweating.  The AC was already on high on the coldest setting and that's when I remembered my AC might be broken.  With work and everything I had a limited amount of time I could take the car in since they told me it'd take 1-2 hrs to diagnose the problem, but I finally did the following week.  That's when they told me the compressor needed to be replaced, and that they don't make the exact compressor my car has anymore because they changed the whole model the year after my car was made.  This meant the new part along with a special install kit was going to have to be ordered and it was going to cost at least twice as much as normal.  About $1600.  I began to weigh just how much I actually needed the AC, but who am I kidding, I live in Atlanta and get hot very easily.  This is where my husband and father-in-law step in and help save the day, or at least some money.

Rob talked to his dad, who is a lawyer for GM and knows a lot about cars, and said basically the compressor in my car should not fail after 60,000 miles and told Rob it couldn't hurt to call GM customer service and see what they could do to help us out.  Rob gave them the spiel, which is very true, about how he and his family have always had GM vehicles, he had an influence on me getting this GM vehicle and from the beginning I've had issues with it (like when it had a faulty seal and the floors were soaking wet for a week), and that if GM didn't step up and do something now this would probably be my last GM vehicle.  Many phone calls later GM did agree to cover the part and the dealership lowered their labor rate a little, so in total I will be paying under $500, which is still a lot but not nearly as bad as it was going to be.  So after two hot weeks of driving with all 4 windows down, with my arm hanging out the window- not to look cool but to try to get cool, and dreading every red light I had to sit at because there was no breeze, today is the day my AC gets fixed!  Big big thank you to my father-in-law Ron for his help and insight and to Rob for making all the necessary calls.

The 2 month wrap up

It's been exactly 2 months since I last posted anything.  I suppose it's time for an update.  I will warn you there isn't too much to update you on though, and at this point it's more out of guilt that I've abandoned the blog for so long that I'm even writing a post.  Side note..Rob just walked in and asked what I was working on, I shake my head because there really is nothing I could possibly be working on, he asks if it's the blog, I say yes, and he says, "I knew it, that's the only time you use your computer."  Valid...that is partially because I store my pretty old laptop in the built-in cabinet in the family room and I usually forget about it.

Over the past couple months we have had a lot of fun weekends with visitors.  There was Rob's dad and Kimberly over Memorial Day weekend in which a birthday was celebrated with margaritas...

Rob's bff Hayes came for a long weekend in June, and we enjoyed an awesome Gwinnett Braves game where they came from behind and went into extra innings for the win...

My mom, dad and Michelle came to visit over Father's Day weekend.  We went out for tapas, did some shopping, and went to a great, almost perfect, Braves game...

Oh yeah...Roxanne had a couple of dog visitors too...here she is with little Mill...

Other than that, Rob has been busy with his Saturday class he has for the summer semester.  He should be done in a couple of weeks though, and then just 1 more semester until he graduates- YAY!!  As excited as I am for him, I know he is 100x more excited.  I really don't know how he has managed working full time and taking up to 3 classes per semester, but I know all his hard work is going to pay off. 

My new job at Dr Lee Chiropractic is going very well and I'm really happy with it.  I've been there for just over 3 months, which means I am out of the probation period now and got a raise.  My bosses took me out to a very nice dinner the other night to celebrate the 3 month mark and I really couldn't ask for better people to work for!  Along with regular office hours we have been working at a lot of races and local events which are fun, and it's always good to get out and spread our name in the community.

Our family room is finally almost done, which means our front office/den/sports room is almost done as well.  We bought a new coffee table and side table, colorful couch pillows, and filled the walls next to the TV with framed line print aerial maps of Boston and circa 1900 antique tin ceiling tiles I've been admiring for years. We also finally get to use our beautiful handmade tray from Mrs. Copp (Hayes's mom) that she gave us for our wedding.  Because we got new tables we were able to move one of our old side tables into the front room for our new 2nd TV to go on.  I have been lobbying for a 2nd TV for a while now...like ever since we got married...and we finally have one hooked up and ready to go!  I'm sure it will come in handy the next Sunday morning Rob is watching a long formula 1 race/Meet The Press.

I'm really looking forward to our big family vacation in Myrtle Beach round 2 coming up next month!  I miss the beach, can't wait to truly relax and have fun with my relatives, am looking forward to meeting Lisa's bf Scott for the first time, and am hoping by then this crazy non-stop chance of rain forecast will have passed and we will have some hot sunny weather.

The story of the baby birds

Spring might be my new favorite season.  When I lived in PA and Boston I leaned more towards Fall and Winter, but now that we're in Atlanta the Falls feel more like Spring and the Winters can be cold & dreary, but without the beautiful, fun snow.  Especially now that we have a house we are noticing how much of a difference it makes having all the trees, bushes and flowers in bloom in our yard and the neighborhood.   So much nicer!  Along with Spring and new plant life comes baby birds...and baby birds we got.  On April 11th, after I got home from my first day at my new job, I went outside on our back deck and found this mess along with a perfect little nest in my flowers.

The way the nest was built the opening faced the side of the house, so for me to actually look inside the nest I had to carefully turn the planter.  Within about a week there were was an egg!  I eventually counted up to 4 eggs in that tiny nest.

About 2 1/2 weeks later I checked the nest and saw at least 1 baby bird head looking back at me.  It was so exciting to watch the progress inside the nest right outside our door.  

Since Rob really isn't a fan of birds I didn't know if I should tell him about the baby birds on the way, but I couldn't help myself so first I made him promise he wouldn't freak out or do anything about what I was about to tell him.  As it turned out, whether I told Rob or not he would have found out pretty quickly, because Roxanne became obsessed with the birds in the nest.  She loves being out on the deck as it is, and with the birds chirping she loved being out there even more.  Sometimes she would just sit and stare at the nest when she heard the chirping.

Sometimes she would lay on the deck and carefully watch all sides of the deck so she wouldn't miss the parent birds' frequent trips to and from of the nest with food.

My mom also had a birds nest in her yard and she told me her birds flew away about a week or so ago, so I knew my birds would be leaving the nest soon.  I checked on them yesterday and I still saw at least 2 little bird heads looking back at me.  So today I was cleaning the kitchen and I had the door to the deck open to let some cooler air in.  I heard a loud chirping and went out and saw a bird latched on to the side of my brown patio rocking chair in the picture above.  I knew it was either an unsure baby bird or an injured adult bird, but soon enough it flew away and I figured it must have been a baby leaving the nest.  So I turned the planter to look and see if the nest was empty.  Surprisingly I still saw birds inside looking back at me and when I went to turn the planter back two babies flew out right at me and I screamed like a crazy person.  One landed on the deck behind my plant stand and one went and grasped onto the side of the patio chair like I saw the other one doing earlier.  I felt so bad that I may have scared the birds right out of their nest, I was just hoping that they really could fly now that they were out.  I went out into the yard and watched from a distance so that they wouldn't be scared to do whatever they needed to do.  I saw one slowly hop across the deck and eventually fly into the rose bush nearby, and then the other flew from our door to window ledge to window ledge and eventually into a tree.  Then one more bird came out of the nest and slowly made its way across the deck and into the yard.  I later found that all of them had pooped on my deck or chair as soon as they got out of the nest, maybe from shock or maybe they just really had to go.  And then the saddest thing was seeing the mom bird fly to the nest only to quickly discover all her babies were gone.  She sat there near the nest for a minute just chirping really loudly.  I know this cycle happens all the time and all works out just fine as it should, but when you are standing there in your yard watching it happen it just becomes much more real and dramatic haha.

As if it wasn't hard enough to feel guilty for scaring birds right out of their nest and seeing the mom come back to an empty nest, I still had to break the news to Roxanne that her little friends were gone for good.  I brought her outside and she immediately went over to the nest to smell it and then she smelled like crazy all over the deck and looked a little confused.  I told her they were all gone and she still wanted to lay at the door and keep watch just in case they came back.

I'm sure Roxanne will get over it soon, but it really was cute watching her become so intrigued with the birds.  Maybe next year a new bird couple will make their nest in another one of our plants.  Roxanne can only hope!  (and Rob can hope not)