I love to stay at the Y - M - C- A!

Well. I quit Starbucks (YES!) and I got an awesome new job as Aquatic Coordinator at the YMCA! (See...told ya life was busy. But stay tuned, there's more!) I love everyone I work with, I have my own desk, and my hours are really flexible with school and everything. So far I've absolutely loved it!

Zoey Graduates

By some miracle, or maybe just her uncanny ability to be cute even when she is NOT doing what she is supposed to be going, Zoey graduated puppy school! She did make a little progress...but she really only follows commands when her puppy energy isn't in the way.

Zoey and her classmate Mason at graduation.

Madeline's Visit!

I know you're thinking it...BLOG SLACKER! Abandoning my blog for a whole month. Just trust me when I say life has been incredibly busy and believe me when I say I will fill you in on all the details coming right up. But first of all...Madeline's trip to Virginia!

It was SO amazing having my sister here for a week. I had such a good time showing her around and letting her experience a little of my Virginia life.

We had ONE day of absolutely wonderful weather and we took full advantage! Virginia Beach here we come!

We painted pottery and this is my plate.

And before we knew it, it was time to go back to the airport =( I loved having my sister here. It was so nice to have a familiar face who knows more about me than just my Virginia life. I loved showing her my apartment and the city and my school. I loved taking her to Starbucks every morning so she could keep up with me (haha) It just made me so much more excited to go home this summer! I love you Madeline and I hope you "had a great day"!

Oh Hey...it's March.

I have no idea when February ended and March began, but here we are, March 5th! Right now all this means to me is that my birthday is in 23 days. And this year is going by very quickly. Jacob and I have been living in Virginia for over 7 months! SEVEN! I can't believe that. Some days it feels like we just got here, and others like we've been here forever.

In other news, our flights home are booked! It's officially official that we will be spending 3 military-free weeks on the West Coast this summer. By the time we get to Seattle it will have been almost 2 years since Jacob or I have been there. Now, THAT is crazy.

Anyway. Lately I've been helping Mallory remodel/redecorate her house, beginning in the kitchen. We painted the walls and sanded and painted the cabinets and put up a tile backsplash. That's right, we did all of that. (Pictures to come soon!) The point of this story is that I am getting a serious decorating itch that I cannot scratch in my apartment.

I am dying to paint a wall gray, perhaps in my bedroom with white linens and pops of color with my mantel shelf headboard.

Obviously, pops of color are a must.

A fireplace that I could fill with pillar candles during the spring and summer would be idyllic.

There are so many other things I want to try and do...if only I had my "forever" house and a winning lottery ticket.

Shout Out

I just have to give a shout out to my friend/former roomie Amanda Zoe Wengert. Is this not the best wedding picture EVER? Seriously? I told her I wanted to hang it up in my house, but that's weird so I settled for blogging it for the world to see.

PS Super awesome giveaway!

http://florabellacollection.com/blog/2011/03/25/florabella-theit-camera-bag-giveaway/

Let the Countdown Begin...

Madeline is coming to VIRGINIA in

Yay!! I can only hope there is beachy weather...but chances are...not so much!

&don't worry sis, I'll make sure we have a jar for your skittles, so lindo FAIL.

Just a Small Update

I know, I know...Slacking in blog land! But with 40 hours a week of concocting white chocolate mochas and the like along with my 16 credits of school...well there just isn't much time for anything else! But with this little lover at the groomer, I can afford a quick post!

Last week Mallory and I went and painted pottery! It brightened up Virginia Life quite a bit! Her husband is deployed overseas, but she is still just such a ray of sunshine! She's from California so we gripe about the East Coast together and reminisce about the "good times" back home!

I also started this rosette wreath that I found here. I haven't finished the sides yet, but I'm pretty excited about the front! It took AGES to make all those little flowers, but I got to catch up on the Bachelor, so win win for me! I started out trying to make it more of a spring/summer wreath...but it's looking like it will be hanging out with the Valentine's Decor instead!

PS- The Daybook is hosting a giveaway that involved BAGS! My fave accessory! You can check out the bag here and the giveaway here! Here's hoping!

Washington DC

For the first time since I started work, Jacob and I had a whole entire weekend off together. We were both just planning on running a few errands, hanging out at home, and watching The Office. But, on Saturday we decided we needed to take a day and head out to Washington DC. We had been putting it off because of the 3 hour drive, horror stories of terrible traffic, and because we hadn't had an entire day to spare. But Sunday we had nothing going on, so we woke up early and headed out. We hit zero traffic on the way in and out which was really nice, and cut the drive down to about 2 and a half hours.

At the Lincoln Memorial

On this trip we decided to just to check out all the major sites and just get a feel for the city so we could plan better for our next trip. We made it to the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the White House, the Capitol, The Smithsonian Museums of American History and Natural History, and the Aquarium. The cool thing about DC is almost everything is free!

When we first got there, around 10am, it was FREEZING! It was really windy and bitter. That made the walking around less fun, but by the early afternoon the wind calmed down and the day was much nicer.

Jacob showing off the White House

Jacob's photography skills, he made me so proud!

It was a really fun, quick trip, and I'm glad we finally made it up there!