A Year to Remember

On Sunday, Steven and I celebrated our 1st anniversary, so to commemorate this momentous occasion, we packed our bags and headed south to Wilmington, North Carolina. Neither of us had ever been there before, but I felt as though I had spent a lot of time there as a teen because my all time favorite show, Dawson's Creek, was on location there :) The weekend was absolutely fantastic!


On Friday, we checked into our hotel and used a gift card we had been saving (thank you, Sheila Osborn) to go to Longhorn. It was wonderful, as always. The next day, we slept in, which I believe was what Steven had been looking forward to the most from this much needed vacay. His work schedule keeps him pretty busy during the week, and I always have something planned for the weekends, so there isn't always much time for sleep. Anyway, we skipped breakfast, got ready, and went into downtown Wilmington for an early lunch at Reel Cafe (totally recommend this place if you make a trip, and for those of you who are interested in this sort of thing, apparently this was Joshua Jackson and James Van Der Beek's regular hangout during the first few seasons of the show...signed memorbilia everywere!).

After lunch we walked around downtown, stopped in a few shops, and made our way toward the water. Steven and I had looked up prices for Boat rides and the cheapest tickets we could find ANYWHERE was $25 dollars each for a 30 minute boat ride. I could think of a lot I would rather do with $50...Well, when we made it down to the docks to take a picture of the U.S.S. North Carolina, Steven noticed a sign that said "30 minute boat ride ONLY $4". We were stoked! As we waited in line to pay, the captain held a sign that said "Ice Cold Bottle Water ONLY $1". Talk about lucky! I looked over at Steven and said, "This is going to be the best $10 dollars we've ever spent." Boy did those words come back to bite me...The "ride" consisted of waiting 10 minutes for all the passengers to board, driving (slowly, I might add) to the dock right across the bay (literally took 4 minutes, I timed it), waiting 10 more minutes for disgruntled/misinformed passengers to get off the boat at the U.S.S. North Carolina, riding 4 minutes back across the water, and allowing the rest of the passengers to exit. An older New York man sitting next to us nailed it when he said to his wife, "Well, you get what you pay for." (My mind immediately raced back to Spring break '09 at the Widget in NY with the girls...I should have learned my lesson).

After getting off the "Oh so fun" boat ride, Steven and I found a Christmas ornament from Wilmington to add to our collection and made our way back to the hotel to relax and get cleaned up for dinner. He had made reservations for this awesome restaurant called the Little Dipper, which was again located right downtown on the water. It was hands down the most fun experience I have ever had at dinner. It is a fondue restaurant, a lot like the Melting Pot in Atlanta. The food was excellent! After we finished we walked around the boardwalk and saw some more sights.

Sunday morning, we checked out of the hotel early and visited First Baptist Church Wilmington, and wouldn't you know that the minister mentioned some great friends that had been a part of the church from Auburn University. I felt like I was in the commercial. There was a part of me that wanted to shout out, "Hey, War Eagle!" but I refrained. After grabbing a bite for lunch, we headed back to our little country home in Cove City. We each had a bite of our wedding cake, but I had to force Steven to eat it because he just knew nothing could still taste good after a year in the freezer. He was wrong...the cake was still delicious! Later, we went to Toy Story 3 in 3D (my choice), and ate at Schlotzsky's for dinner (his choice).

The weekend was wonderful, and our 1st year was a blast! Bring on year #2!

Excitement :)

It is weird that I am giddy about getting away for the weekend with my husband? I mean, we've gone on a lot of trips since we got married, but Sunday is a special day. It will be our 1st anniversary, and I am so happy to celebrate with him. We are going to Wilmington, NC, and I am pumped! I have done a lot of researching, and Wilmington seems like such a cool city located right on the water. Anyway, I think we will have a lot of fun...updates to follow.

One year ago :)

In Honor of my Daddy

"Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it."
Proverbs 22:6
Last week was a big day for my dad, but you would never have known it because it was such a big week in Whitney's life. On Monday, Dad turned 47 years old, which I like to think is still really young. I got in the car early Monday morning and drove all day from North Carolina, so I was able to make it to dinner at his favorite, The Olive Garden. We had a really great time! Our whole family loves to laugh, so any time that we are together I can pretty much count on stories and jokes being told that will make you laugh so hard your face hurts. In addition to Monday being a big day for Dad, Sunday was Father's Day. I wasn't able to see Daddy on Father's Day because after Whit's wedding we went back to Opelika and stayed a night with Steven's parents. Although I had a great time visiting with them, I couldn't help but think about my father, and how blessed I am to be raised by such a wonderful man of God. To honor him, I will share some memories and thoughts about my Dad :)

When I was little (and if I'm being honest, even now), I loved Disney movies. My sisters and I would sit in our little house and watch Aladin, The Jungle Book, Peter Pan, Robin Hood, Cinderella, and Beauty and the Beast over and over again. One of my earliest and fondest memories is that Dad would sit in the floor with us on a pallet and not only watch the movies with us, but sing along. He would make us laugh because he could make his voice sound just like Big John off of Robin Hood and the Genie off of Aladin. He was endless entertainment for three little girls that adored him!

From the minute I was old enough, Dad had us out on the softball field, and there was no place I would have rather been. I loved to play ball, and although I was never the best player on the team, my dad always told me I was great. He was a pastor and worked full-time, but he always made time to come to all of my games, work in the concession stand when needed, and practice with me in the yard. As I got older, the twins and I started playing travel ball, which meant that our parents would have absolutely no free time on their Saturdays off for themselves, but I honestly don't ever remember them complaining. What I do remember is Dad loading us up in the mini-van, filling up the big cooler with ice and check colas, and meeting the team in Winn Dixie parking lot for a FULL day of games in the middle of July. Looking back, it makes my heart smile to think of Dad's sacrifices (you too, Mom, but this one's for Dad :)

As a teen, I was hard to handle. I had an attitude, which I like to believe was genetically passed down, so it really wasn't my fault. Since I am a lot like my daddy, we butted heads a little, but I knew that he would have done anything in the world for me. We didn't have a whole lot of money back then, but when I turned 16, I was so happy to receive a new (to me) car AND a cellphone (how cool was I). I know that he had to have made some personal financial sacrifices in order to get me the things that I wanted. When it was time for me to graduate and choose a college, I had my heart set on Auburn. I had visited the campus during my senior year, and had absolutely fallen in love. It wasn't easy asking a life-long Tide fan if he would allow me to go to Auburn. After thinking about it, he and mom moved me down there and bought me new stuff for my trailor (hehe). I was at AU for 5 years, and Mom and Dad supported me, both finacially and emotionally, through multiple changes in my major, heartbreaks, and new found interests. I couldn't have asked for a more loving father.

Although I am so grateful for all of the aforementioned things that my Dad has done for me, the thing I am most thankful for is being raised in such a solid Christian home. I remember so vividly listening to my parents sing old gospel hymns in the car with us, and I don't ever remember a time when going to church was an option. The McCullochs went to church everytime the doors were opened. I remember being a little girl, sitting in Children's Church at Smyrna Baptist, and listening to my dad read missionary stories, sing songs, and read sections of the Bible. One Saturday night, I remember lying in my bed and knowing that I needed to ask Jesus into my heart. The next morning before church, I asked Dad to come in my room. He knelt down beside my bed with me and I prayed to accept Christ. I remember him tearing up and taking me to chuch when we were finished. He was so happy and wanted to tell everyone. He had his priorities straight. More than anything else, my dad wanted all of his children to know the Lord.

I have learned so much about what it means to be a Christian from my dad. He loves the Lord, and although he makes mistakes like we all do, he daily seeks to be a better Christian. He is one of the most giving people I know. We joke because Dad cannot save a gift until Christmas. As soon as he gets it, he wants to give it to you. I see that in his spirit as well. The Lord has given him such a gift of communication, and he loves to tell others about the One who has changed his heart. Over the past four years, Dad has graduated from nursing school and begun a career in the medical field as a home health nurse. I know that God has so much in store for him as he continues in this field. Dad knows that people need the Lord--He will fix their heart! I hope that I will be able to inspire my children to know and love the Lord and people the way my dad has inspired me. I love you, Daddy!

Happy Fathers Day (a few days late)

One down, one to go!

I had a wonderful time at home for Whitney and Chris's wedding. I left for Moulton on Monday and arrived that night in time to go out to eat for Dad's birthday. Dad, Mom, Taylor, Patches, and I went to Olive Garden and had a wonderful time, although we really missed the twins, Michael, Chris, and (for me, especially) Steven. The next day, Mom and I went to Florence and got a pedicure, picked up some things at the grocery store, and she got her hair cut and colored. On Wednesday, I left fot Tuscaloosa to help Whitney with some things before everyone arrived on Thursday. Chris fed us a great dinner that night, and later we watched It's Complicated while putting together wedding programs.

The next day, the calvary arrived and we went out to dinner. Later, we checked into our hotel and went to Whitney's to cook cookies for the cookie table at her wedding. She had sort of put me in charge of that table, so I wanted everything to be absolutely perfect. When we made it back to the hotel, the family hung out in our room talking and telling stories until midnight. It was a really fun time, but I missed my husband!

The next morning, all the girls woke up bright and early to make more cookies. When we arrived at Whit's, we realized that the worst thing that could possibly happen on a hot summer day when you have to be inside cooking had actually happened--the air conditioning had completely frozen up and was blowing hot air. Although it was miserable, we cooked all the cookies we could before the bridesmaids' luncheon and decided to come back and finish up afterwards. The Bridesmaids' luncheon was absolutely gorgeous and the food was delicious. The lady that threw the luncheon had ordered a trinket cake for us, so we each grabbed a string and pulled out a special trinket with different meanings. I got a rocking chair, which signified a long, contented life (which I sort of love). Betsy pulled out a high chair, which signified a lot of babies in her future :) We had a wonderful time! As soon as the luncheon was over, Aunt Sherry, Liz, Betsy, Patches, Mom, and I went back over to the furnace (a.k.a. Whitney's apartment) and finished making all the cookies, wrapping the groomsmen's gifts, and putting the ribbons on the bubbles. When we were finished, we rushed over to the hotel, changed clothes, and drove over to the chapel for the rehearsal. It was quick and painless. After the rehearsal, we walked down the street to MugShots, where we had dinner. It was delicious, and it was really nice to relax and talk to everybody.

Saturday was sort of a whirlwind of excitement. I went and picked Whitney up from her apartment at 6:00 AM. We ran a couple of errands and got back to the hotel by 7:00 to get our hair done. Whitney's friend James is an awesome stylist and is an instuctor for the Aveda Institute in Birmingham. He was so nice to come to the hotel bright and early to do all of our hair and even went up the church to make sure our hair was perfect for pictures. I thought he did an awesome job! After Betsy and I got our hair done, we grabbed our shoes and dresses and headed toward the church. Aunt Sherry, Liz, and Mom had been up there for a while decorating the chapel and the banquet hall. Betsy ironed table cloths and runners, while I worked on the cookie table and pictures. Everyone got to the chapel at 11:00 for pictures, which were done by Marie Mann Hughes and her husband Steve. What a team they make. Marie is one of my oldest and dearest college friends, so it was great to see her. She took what I think will be some awesome pictures before we headed into the parlor to wait for guests to arrive.

By 3:00 the chapel was pretty packed and it was time to start. As I stood up at the front and watched my beautiful baby sister enter, I thought about how blessed our family has been over the years. God has blessed Whitney with such a wonderful, Godly husband who I know will always make her happy. She looked gorgeous and the ceremony was beautiful. Afterward, we headed to the reception, which was in the baquet hall downstairs. When I entered the room, the first people I saw were Aunt Sherry and Liz. I will never be able to thank them enough for all of their help. They honestly were the rocks that held everyone together and got everything accomplished. The reception went off without a hitch. It was a great time to just relax and enjoy some fellowship with our friends and wonderful family. Selfishly, it was nice just to sit next to my husband and hold his hand under the table. It felt like a lifetime since we had seen one another.

All in all, the ceremony was beautiful, the reception and awesome (cakes and cookie table were all a hit), Whitney was a dream bride, and I couldn't have asked for a more fun time with my family. Let's do it again...say, next month?!?

I hate getting ripped off!

When I started this blog, I really wanted to stay away from negativity and not use this as a venting method, but I am going to have to do that today...

As you may know, Betsy and Whitney are getting married this summer, and I want everything to be absolutely perfect for the wedding. Although the bridesmaids dresses I bought for each of their weddings are beautiful, I thought it wouldn't hurt to take them to get altered a little and raise the hem. Since I had no clue of who to go to in North Carolina, I googled a few places and called the first one on the list, called Ba's Alterations. It was a Vietnamese run shop that had been located in the area for over 20 years. Ba told me to bring the dresses in and she would have them finished for me by the following Friday (I sort of waited until the last minute). While I was still being fitted, a lady came in the store to pick up a shirt, which I heard them say was $12.50. I thought, "That's a very reasonable price. This shouldn't be too bad." Little did I know...

On Friday, I mentioned to Steven as he was getting ready for work that I was going in to town to pick up my dresses. He is sort of the unofficial "budget person" in our household, so I told him to expect a bill of 30-40 dollars max. Later that afternoon, I went to Ba's shop to pick up my dresses. I handed her my debit card to pay, and as she was swiping, I heard her say the total would be eighty-six dollars. I did a double-take. "Ma'am, I must have misunderstood you. Did you say eighty-six dollars?" I asked. She shook her head and said,"Yes, eighty-six dolla."

Side Note: Before I continue with my rant, you must know that I am a very cheap person about most things. I like to have nice things, but I would rather have nice things at a reasonable price. The dresses for Betsy and Whitney's weddings are not long formal dresses. They are very modern short length dresses, which are much less formal. And another thing, after being fitted, Ba decided that all she really needed to do was take the dresses up one inch each...

As I was signing for my dresses, I said, "Ba, I am not a confrontational person, so please know that I am not trying to be rude. I just need to know why you charged me so much, so I can explain it to my husband." Her only response was "Eighty-six dolla. Multiple laya." She kept repeating that line over and over again.

Moral of the story: Don't assume anything. Always ask!

Exploring

My schedule on a day to day basis is far from busy these days. I do not start teaching until August 28th, so I have had a lot of time on my hands to spend reading and relaxing. However, my husband has his first "adult" 8-5 job, which takes up quite a lot of his time during the week. Knowing this, I should let him relax on the weekends, but we are natural explorers and have a hard time staying at home during our time off.

This weekend was no exception...we started on Friday night by going to this little country steak house called The Baron and the Beef with Bryan, Bridget, Emily, and Brandon. It was delicious, but the company was even better. We came back to our apartment afterward and watched The Blind Side, which we had all seen before, but always touches my heart.

The next morning, we slept in until 9:00, ate breakfast, packed a lunch, and made our way towards Atlantic Beach. We, well mostly I, had planned a full agenda for the day. First, we went to the NC Coastal Aquarium, which was a lot of fun, except for the LIVE snake show Steven dragged me to for what seemed like an eternity.

Anyway, moving on, after leaving the aquarium, we got ice cream and headed to tour Fort Macon. I have to admit, I was not looking forward to this tour one bit. The sun was bright, and I desperately wanted to be sitting in a chair with my toes in the sand soaking up some rays; however, to my surprise I thoroughly enjoyed myself. We got to explore all of the underground rooms/barracks that were used from The Civil War all the way to World War II. There were lots of artifacts that had been restored from the wars, and we were even taught how to properly load and shoot a Civil War musket, which if you know Steven, you should know this was his favorite part. The man loves guns.

After the tour, we FINALLY made our way out on the beach; well, we tried...Since Fort Macon was located on the beach, and we were already there, we decided to do our beachin' there. We unloaded the car, and with our bags, cooler, and chairs in hand, we walked down the walkway and through the HOT sand to a spot on the coast. Just as I was "mentioning" how hot the sand, as well as I, was and how good the water was going to feel, Steven noticed a large sign on one of the dunes that read "GETTING IN THE WATER IS NOT PERMITTED IN THIS STATE PARK." You can't imagine how utterly annoyed we were...After dragging all of our beach stuff back up to the car, loading it up, driving down to the boardwalk, fighting for a parking spot, unloading the car, walking through the HOT sand, and finding a spot on the beach, we sat down in our chairs and relaxed for a few hours. It was heaven for me and I'm sure a little boring for Steven. He's not a tanner and would much prefer getting in the water or throwing the ball around to tanning any day of the week; but alas, the things you do for love :)

We had a wonderful day exploring Atlantic Beach...next stop, Emerald Isle, where my friend, Kara, grew up vacationing with her family. We are excited to check it out!

Television

On our second night in town, there was a huge lightening storm that knocked out the satallite, which has consequently taken the past two weeks to replace. Since I am out on summer holiday, I have been home quite a bit and have realized that I watch more t.v. than I thought I did. I mean, when I was a teen, I watched a lot of t.v., but since college I thought that I had pretty much cut a lot of t.v. out of my life. I started to read more and spend a lot of time with friends. I guess you could say, I "thought" I had gained alternate interests. However, when you don't have something, you realize how much you miss it. I only have a few shows that I watch every week, namely American Idol and The Office, but there are a lot of shows and news programs I really enjoy watching from time to time. For example, every morning for the past four years, I wake up with Matt Lauer and the gang and get my morning "news" and headlines while putting on my makeup or eating breakfast before work. Later in the day, there is a certain comfort in knowing that Gilmore Girls will be on ABC Family at 4:00 if I want to watch Luke and Lorelia break up/get back together for the umpteenth time. And last but not least, I must admit that I've become sort of a HGTV addict. I love to see how the designers will transform a run down shack into a beautiful bungalow, or see which house the next property virgin will choose...All of this to say, I miss t.v. sometimes :)

Our Home in Asbury (sort of)

This is the view from our front yard. The Ipock's have a mile long driveway with a cow pasture on one side and a corn field on the other. Needless to say, we are more than a little ways outside of the city limits ;)

This is the house Weyerhaueser set us up with for a few months. Bryan and Bridget are the greatest landlords ever!