27 May 2008
Sick
Awesome weekend, but came down with an awful cold and sore throat. Don't expect to hear from me much in the next few days.
23 May 2008
Quick Friday Update
I would be remiss if I failed to mention my OTHER brand new cousin once removed that was also born this week. Little Beattie Lucas! Congrats to Doc and Amber for their firstborn son!! As far as other news goes today, I'm heading out of work early to catch the evening Braves game in Atlanta with some Furman friends. Hopefully the traffic won't be too bad. Then I'm spending the rest of the weekend with my brother and sister-in-law in GA to help watch the kids as she recovers from surgery.
Looking forward to the holiday weekend, even though helping with 3 kids will be no "holiday"!
21 May 2008
Whelmed.
I vaguely realize that it is Wednesday, so I'm sending my apologies out to cyberspace for no Tuesday list this week. I think I've been on a bit of an (unintentional) blogging hiatus this week due to the mountains of tasks that I need to accomplish both at work and for the wedding. Also, my allergies have recently zapped my energy levels -- sniffling snot is taking up my free time!
Hopefully I'll be back to the blogging world very soon.
Hopefully I'll be back to the blogging world very soon.
13 May 2008
Favorite Things About Greenville
I've been thinking a lot lately about what moving to TN will mean, so I thought this might be a good week for me to tackle Vance's list suggestion of "favorite things about Greenville." Jen did a similar post a few weeks ago (sorry, Jen!).
I knew this one would be a hard one for me - you won't find a bigger fan of Greenville than I am. Seriously, I've grown up referring to different sides of town using the names of mills that are now defunct or demolished (San Souci, Poe Mill, Woodside, Parker, Monaghan, etc.). I used to work in the Visitors Center in City Hall and had an internship at the Chamber. I've been a Greenville native for almost a quarter of a century, so it's hard to boil down a sense of place, of belonging, of home into a few words and highlights.
Glad Oaks - Okay, I guess some of you may have wondered about the name of my blog. I know this is going to sound very Gone with the Wind, but my blog is named after our house. Well, it's more like our homestead, which makes me sound even crazier! I currently live with my mom and dad in the house where my father and his siblings were born and raised. [Okay, I don't think they did home-births. It wasn't that long ago!] We live in a small white house on 29 acres. The house is actually kind of funny because it's been built onto about every 20 years, so it has a few different "styles" -- my room in the back has yellow shag carpet. It's been in our family for more than 65 years, but the adjacent land (some of which now belongs to distant cousins) was in our family even before that -- my grandfather was born on that land. On that piece, they grew cotton and ran a well-stocked fishing lake -- that now has apartments built around it. Change happens. Our whole side of town has changed so much in my lifetime.
My grandfather was a state politictian. So for income, my dad's family raised chickens and produce and later built and sold homes and started a real estate business. So our land has (the skeletal remains of) three chicken houses, an icehouse, a grown-over gravel road back to the other land, a well, a treehouse, a doghouse, and a small roadfront office building. The best part about our land is the trees --- gorgeous, old, strong, historic, oak trees in front, plus vibrant dogwoods, wrinkly magnolias, and straight pines.
I think it's really special that we live in my grandparents' old house. When my grandfather passed away about 11 years ago, my nuclear family moved in to take care of the house so my grandmother could move into a patio home with less upkeep. Before we moved into Glad Oaks and even as small children, my brother Justin and I spent many afternoons at Glad Oaks waiting for Mom to get off of work or out of school, so I have tons of memories associated with that land. If you're a Sandra McCracken fan, her song "Where I'm From" pretty much sums it up.
Family - As you can tell from the above, my family has lived in Greenville for many years. While my dad's family is from out towards Travelers Rest, my mother grew up in the Simpsonville area. I have many local aunts and cousins, as well as both grandmothers, so it will be tough to leave them!
Furman - It should come as no surprise that Furman is significant for me, an alumna. What most people don't realize, however, is that Furman was already significant for me as a child -- well before I ever darkened their hallways as a student.
My mother went back to school when I was in elementary/middle school to finish her college degree in education. She was an adult day student at Furman -- which takes guts because there aren't many of them! I spent many hours reading in the Furman library waiting while my mother studied or attended class. As a family, we had many picnics and birthday parties around the lake -- you used to be able to swim in it every summer (it was clean back then!) and take pontoon boat rides from the Student Center dock. I started playing soccer at Furman when I was five. Also, my grandparents were Furman fans, so I attended many sporting events and musical performances as a child -- even back when Furman played basketball in the now-demolished Greenville Memorial Auditorium downtown.
Falls Park and Main Street - Both are just wonderful. After living at Cleveland Park for a while, I realized that I also love how Falls Park and Cleveland Park are connected, so you can walk/jog through both! Such great planning.
Good city planning with an appreciation 0f beauty - Great planning is my natural thought association when I think of Greenville's downtown. Greenville's downtown has won several awards, and I've enjoyed seeing the progress made in the last 15 years. I think they've done a great job of making downtown seem more cohesive overall - the arched mill windows, green trim, red brick, and so on. Even the marketing is stellar and extremely coordinated (parking signs, logos, CVB guides, local events, Chamber of Commerce initiatives, Greenville Forward, Rails to Trails).
My father is a commercial realtor, so I learned early to appreciate good land use, historic preservation, local history, zoning constraints, etc. One of the things that makes my heart happy is to see an old building or abandoned lot beautifully redeemed for a new purpose. I feel like it's such a tangible reminder of what God would love to do for each of one us. Most of y'all know that I would love to go to grad school for city planning/public health one day. It would be fascinating to study Greenville in class one day!
Nice people - It's true. Greenville people are great. And I'm not biased at all. ;)
Meat 'n' threes and hot dog restaurants - Okay, so I didn't realize that this was a Greenville thing, but apparently we have a huge abundance of both of these types of restaurants. There's pretty much one on every corner. I'm going to have to find a new Sunday meat and three restaurant in Nashville!
As you can tell, I could go on and on and on. Next week I'll either finish up a few more positives about Greenville, or I'll start in on a some negatives to get me ready (mentally) to leave Greenville.
John's my home now.
I knew this one would be a hard one for me - you won't find a bigger fan of Greenville than I am. Seriously, I've grown up referring to different sides of town using the names of mills that are now defunct or demolished (San Souci, Poe Mill, Woodside, Parker, Monaghan, etc.). I used to work in the Visitors Center in City Hall and had an internship at the Chamber. I've been a Greenville native for almost a quarter of a century, so it's hard to boil down a sense of place, of belonging, of home into a few words and highlights.
Glad Oaks - Okay, I guess some of you may have wondered about the name of my blog. I know this is going to sound very Gone with the Wind, but my blog is named after our house. Well, it's more like our homestead, which makes me sound even crazier! I currently live with my mom and dad in the house where my father and his siblings were born and raised. [Okay, I don't think they did home-births. It wasn't that long ago!] We live in a small white house on 29 acres. The house is actually kind of funny because it's been built onto about every 20 years, so it has a few different "styles" -- my room in the back has yellow shag carpet. It's been in our family for more than 65 years, but the adjacent land (some of which now belongs to distant cousins) was in our family even before that -- my grandfather was born on that land. On that piece, they grew cotton and ran a well-stocked fishing lake -- that now has apartments built around it. Change happens. Our whole side of town has changed so much in my lifetime.
My grandfather was a state politictian. So for income, my dad's family raised chickens and produce and later built and sold homes and started a real estate business. So our land has (the skeletal remains of) three chicken houses, an icehouse, a grown-over gravel road back to the other land, a well, a treehouse, a doghouse, and a small roadfront office building. The best part about our land is the trees --- gorgeous, old, strong, historic, oak trees in front, plus vibrant dogwoods, wrinkly magnolias, and straight pines.
I think it's really special that we live in my grandparents' old house. When my grandfather passed away about 11 years ago, my nuclear family moved in to take care of the house so my grandmother could move into a patio home with less upkeep. Before we moved into Glad Oaks and even as small children, my brother Justin and I spent many afternoons at Glad Oaks waiting for Mom to get off of work or out of school, so I have tons of memories associated with that land. If you're a Sandra McCracken fan, her song "Where I'm From" pretty much sums it up.
Family - As you can tell from the above, my family has lived in Greenville for many years. While my dad's family is from out towards Travelers Rest, my mother grew up in the Simpsonville area. I have many local aunts and cousins, as well as both grandmothers, so it will be tough to leave them!
Furman - It should come as no surprise that Furman is significant for me, an alumna. What most people don't realize, however, is that Furman was already significant for me as a child -- well before I ever darkened their hallways as a student.
My mother went back to school when I was in elementary/middle school to finish her college degree in education. She was an adult day student at Furman -- which takes guts because there aren't many of them! I spent many hours reading in the Furman library waiting while my mother studied or attended class. As a family, we had many picnics and birthday parties around the lake -- you used to be able to swim in it every summer (it was clean back then!) and take pontoon boat rides from the Student Center dock. I started playing soccer at Furman when I was five. Also, my grandparents were Furman fans, so I attended many sporting events and musical performances as a child -- even back when Furman played basketball in the now-demolished Greenville Memorial Auditorium downtown.
Falls Park and Main Street - Both are just wonderful. After living at Cleveland Park for a while, I realized that I also love how Falls Park and Cleveland Park are connected, so you can walk/jog through both! Such great planning.
Good city planning with an appreciation 0f beauty - Great planning is my natural thought association when I think of Greenville's downtown. Greenville's downtown has won several awards, and I've enjoyed seeing the progress made in the last 15 years. I think they've done a great job of making downtown seem more cohesive overall - the arched mill windows, green trim, red brick, and so on. Even the marketing is stellar and extremely coordinated (parking signs, logos, CVB guides, local events, Chamber of Commerce initiatives, Greenville Forward, Rails to Trails).
My father is a commercial realtor, so I learned early to appreciate good land use, historic preservation, local history, zoning constraints, etc. One of the things that makes my heart happy is to see an old building or abandoned lot beautifully redeemed for a new purpose. I feel like it's such a tangible reminder of what God would love to do for each of one us. Most of y'all know that I would love to go to grad school for city planning/public health one day. It would be fascinating to study Greenville in class one day!
Nice people - It's true. Greenville people are great. And I'm not biased at all. ;)
Meat 'n' threes and hot dog restaurants - Okay, so I didn't realize that this was a Greenville thing, but apparently we have a huge abundance of both of these types of restaurants. There's pretty much one on every corner. I'm going to have to find a new Sunday meat and three restaurant in Nashville!
As you can tell, I could go on and on and on. Next week I'll either finish up a few more positives about Greenville, or I'll start in on a some negatives to get me ready (mentally) to leave Greenville.
John's my home now.
12 May 2008
Well, it's definitely starting to feel very real now...
I have 82 days until I throw what my sister-in-law Sara calls "the biggest celebration of your life," start our marriage (wow!), take a cool trip, move to another state, settle into new digs, and find a new job in a city where I know almost no one. Whew - that's a lot of changes!
The countdown is on!
I went to see John this weekend in Tennessee, and we had a great time goofing off and hanging out. We didn't take care of many wedding details though, and it kind of hit me on the 5.5 hour drive home alone just how much is left to do! It was great to not think about much wedding stuff for the weekend though. I got there very early Friday so we could hang out for a while. Then I took a nap, went to see a movie, AND had my nails done while he went in to work Friday afternoon, so that was relaxing! On Saturday John drove me around Nashville to show me where his pharmacy school is located, and we looked around for apartments in that area. Great to see the school, slightly daunting to see the apartment prices! I'm glad John's taking care of finding us our new place so that I don't have to worry about that. We hung out with his family and some of our friends on Saturday night at the neighborhood sports bar/restaurant where his sister works.
Now it's back to the real world and the work grind...I've got a lot to get done this week!
The countdown is on!
I went to see John this weekend in Tennessee, and we had a great time goofing off and hanging out. We didn't take care of many wedding details though, and it kind of hit me on the 5.5 hour drive home alone just how much is left to do! It was great to not think about much wedding stuff for the weekend though. I got there very early Friday so we could hang out for a while. Then I took a nap, went to see a movie, AND had my nails done while he went in to work Friday afternoon, so that was relaxing! On Saturday John drove me around Nashville to show me where his pharmacy school is located, and we looked around for apartments in that area. Great to see the school, slightly daunting to see the apartment prices! I'm glad John's taking care of finding us our new place so that I don't have to worry about that. We hung out with his family and some of our friends on Saturday night at the neighborhood sports bar/restaurant where his sister works.
Now it's back to the real world and the work grind...I've got a lot to get done this week!
06 May 2008
Tuesday's To Do List
I've got work to wrap up at the office so this had to be a quick and dirty post. This was easy to "list" because it's pressing on my mind!
To Do List
Edit a press release and get that to our PR company for distribution.
Update an contracts/accounts receivable spreadsheet.
Take clothes to the cleaners - oh my goodness how I hate to iron work slacks.
Meet Mom to try again to find a bridesmaids dress that can actually get here in time.
Laundry/Phone calls/Clean up at home.
Solidify bridal party.
SLEEP - heavens to Betsy do I need it!
Get to work early tomorrow.
Order furniture for new conference room.
Personal training session tomorrow at lunch.
Possibly head to Mall of GA tomorrow early evening (again seeking bridesmaid dresses).
Mother's Day gift.
Invitations - order them or have them printed soon.
Personal training session early Thursday AM.
Book a band/DJ in my price range.
Book a florist in my price range.
Book a photographer in my price range. (Please y'all be praying that God really puts the right people/vendors into my life at the right time! These 3 items might be on my list for a while longer.)
Pre-marital counseling assessment online.
Go to TN this weekend to see John! Whew, I can't wait!
To Do List
Edit a press release and get that to our PR company for distribution.
Update an contracts/accounts receivable spreadsheet.
Take clothes to the cleaners - oh my goodness how I hate to iron work slacks.
Meet Mom to try again to find a bridesmaids dress that can actually get here in time.
Laundry/Phone calls/Clean up at home.
Solidify bridal party.
SLEEP - heavens to Betsy do I need it!
Get to work early tomorrow.
Order furniture for new conference room.
Personal training session tomorrow at lunch.
Possibly head to Mall of GA tomorrow early evening (again seeking bridesmaid dresses).
Mother's Day gift.
Invitations - order them or have them printed soon.
Personal training session early Thursday AM.
Book a band/DJ in my price range.
Book a florist in my price range.
Book a photographer in my price range. (Please y'all be praying that God really puts the right people/vendors into my life at the right time! These 3 items might be on my list for a while longer.)
Pre-marital counseling assessment online.
Go to TN this weekend to see John! Whew, I can't wait!
01 May 2008
My family keeps getting bigger!
I have a new cousin once removed! [Yeah, I had to look that up. Check here for a chart.] My cousin Brit and his wife Leah are the new parents to Poesy, a beautiful little girl. I've added their website to my blogroll, but I wanted to also include a picture here on my site. It's their first child so they're so excited. On another note, I am totally and completely impressed that they already have a site up for the baby -- who was born LAST NIGHT! They sent the link out this morning -- wow!I also have another cousin and his wife (on the other side of the family) expecting a baby soon, so I'll have another cousin once removed soon. As I realized when putting together the guest list, my family has increased greatly in the last few years due to cousins' marriages and adorable babies!
Also, since we're talking about cute kids, I have the cutest niece and two nephews in the world! Rose is 4, Jay is about 2 1/2 and Elisha is 1. They live in GA and I miss them (and their parents) so much! Rose is going to be the flowergirl in our wedding. I'm so excited that she gets to wear a "princess" dress. We're not sure if Jay will be too scared to participate in the wedding or not. Hopefully he'll be in it too! I had to include some pictures of them too!
Rose as a princess at Christmas
The sibling set
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