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With love
The other week when the Sandy Hook shootings occurred, the only thing I could think about was all of the families that would have unopened presents under their trees. Presents for children who would never return home. Little did I know that our family would face the same fate.
Sunday Matt’s parents called to let us know that Patrick, his younger brother, was sick with food poisoning and they were headed to ATL to see him. He wouldn’t have enough time to come home since he was sick. Their plan was to spend Christmas morning with Patrick and they would meet us at their house later in the day. This seemed to work well for us since we had planned to spend Christmas Eve with my parents, have Christmas morning with the two of us, and head to their house a little later in the day.
Yesterday Matt and I had a few errands to run before my parents came over. We got home around 2 pm when Matt received a call from his dad. I could hear Steve through Matt’s phone. He said he had bad news, then I heard him say Patrick was gone. Almost immediately I saw the tears.
Once Matt was off the phone I grabbed him and hugged him. He laid on me crying while I called my parents to let them know what had happened. Mom and dad couldn’t believe the news and I told them I’d call later.
Matt and I laid on the couch for awhile. I finally managed to get him to go upstairs and lie down. I called my parents and told them to come over. I couldn’t sit in the house in silence. And truthfully, I wanted them there. They came over a little while later and we talked for a while. I filled them in with what I knew but it still wasn’t much. At this point, it looked like Patrick had slipped in the bathroom and hit his head. An accident.
A little later Matt came downstairs and we talked and had a few drinks. I attempted to make dinner and we opened gifts. It really helped to keep out minds busy. Matt managed to get some our clothes washed and dried and put away. Anything to keep busy. After dinner mom and dad left and Matt and I busied ourselves with house work. We finally agreed to open gifts so we could leave first thing Christmas morning. Matt thought we should drive to ATL to be with his parents.
Neither of us slept much last night and around 7 this morning we got up and got ready to leave. We left Raleigh around 9 and made it to ATL by 3pm. We talked to his parents and they recounted the events of the day before. Then we headed to the hotel lounge for a few drinks. We talked and teared up and finally managed to eat a little.
Tomorrow we will go back to Patrick’s and pack his things, then we will head back to Jill and Steve’s house in Thursday.
The past day has been filled with tons of fb posts from Patrick’s friends. There’re are tons of heartfelt posts all saying the same thing, what a great guy Patrick was and how much he will be missed. The words are so hard to read but at the same time it’s wonderful to see how many people’s lives he touched.
We love you Patrick!
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Countdown to Christmas
Is it sad that I use Angry Birds as my Christmas countdown? I love they make the seasons Christmas version a day by day play. Sort of like an advent calendar only you try to kill the piggies. 😉
But seriously, there are only 6 DAYS till Christmas! Whoa! Where has this year gone?
~k
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Family Christmas Weekend
Now that my parents are back in NC and my cousin and her husband live in Greensboro, I thought it would be fun for us to have a “family Christmas”. The weekend of the 15th worked best for everyone so the ladies started planning. Matt and I provided the turkey and we split up the side dishes.
Everyone arrived at our house around 1:00 pm on Saturday. Matt already had the turkey in the fryer and I was just about done making the rolls. We stood around and talked for a while and then mom started pushing people to open gifts. My dad had carried a large box into the house but I had no idea what it was or who it was for. Mom told me it was for me and Matt (but mostly me) and to open it. I was super surprised to find a 3 ft tall nutcracker in the box! WOO HOO! Last year I decided I wanted to start collecting them and then a few weeks ago mom and I saw one and I mentioned how cool it would be to have one beside the fire place. 🙂 (PS I’m on instagram set to private but you add me I will accept – aukelly)
After we opened our gifts, we started cooking dinner. We planned it perfectly and the turkey was cooked and cooled just about the time the side dishes were finished.
I’m not super crazy about my table setting. I think it needed *more* but I love the reindeer I found at Home Goods after Thanksgiving. My plates were from the dollar store a few years ago and I found red placemats at Wal-Mart on Friday. I used ornaments I had laying around for a project as place cards for everyone.
All in all I think everyone had a wonderful time. It was great to see my cousin and her husband for a few hours since Matt and I will head to the beach on Christmas day.
~k
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God bless the children
I normally don’t post about things in the news but I can’t help think about the parents of the children who were killed today in Newton CT. I can’t imagine going to pick your child up and being told he or she would never come home. The presents sitting under Christmas trees that won’t be opened.
It makes me sad and angry that people think this kind of behavior is okay. 🙁
May the bastard rot in hell!
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Work
I know I haven’t been posting a lot lately. For a few weeks work was very very slow and life was pretty boring. Now things have picked back up a bit but mainly because I am now training for a new (similar) position.
Last year a contract and credit position opened up in another division, I wanted to apply but my manger at the time talked me out of it. Well a year later I am finally training for that position. The girl who currently does this job is the only person right now and she is bogged down. When my group merged with this other division, it kind of made sense for me to start helping her. While the jobs are similar in title, they are quite different. Mine is much more simplified due to the product we sell. The other job is much more detail oriented and very involved so I am going to have to learn a lot more. I don’t mind learning the new job but I want to make sure I do the best possible job I can.
I am excited though, I think this new role will really expand my knowledge and skill set. I also feel it is probably more in line with the way other companies handle contracts and credit.
~k
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Christmas decor
Here are a few pics of our holiday decorations so far.
Our Tree
The Mantel with my Nutcrackers
I am now collecting Nutcrackers. I need more!
Wreaths for the windows
I think I really need to do all 4 windows. Mom said she would pick up 2 additional wreaths if I wanted.
I have a few printables sitting around plus a few nutcrackers that I printed on old book pages. I saw the idea on Etsy and feel in love with them so I ran to Goodwill a week or so ago to find used books. I didn’t really find what I was looking for but it works for now.
~k
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What I bought vs what I wore
The other day at JCPenny I bought a cute pair of wool shorts with a little bit of shimmer. At the whooping low price of $13.00 I knew I couldn’t pass them up. Then I found a cute red top also with a bit of shimmer. They looked cute together but I could also wear the shirt to work so it was win win.
As the week progressed, I started to think the outfit might not be quite as dressy as I would like so yesterday at lunch I decided to run to Marshall’s just to see what they had. I found a couple of cute dressy dresses but nothing I felt would work with the booties. Next I headed to Target for a pair of tights. I walked through the clothes and just when I was about to leave the section I noticed a cute sequined purple top. At $25.00 I knew it was mine. I grabbed my size and was on my way.
I left work early to start getting ready for the company party. I spent a good chunk of my time painting my nails. I think I did a decent job considering. Once I was ready to get dressed I put on my new top, tights, shorts and shoes. Needless to say I was very happy with my ensemble. And happy I got a new shirt.
So without further ado, here’s what I bought and what I wore.
~k
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It’s a football post
About two weeks ago Auburn fired their current head coach Gene Chizik. After an embarrassing 3-9 season it was time for him to go. No one should really be surprised since his record was 5-19 when he was hired a few years ago. Fans were so upset they actually boo’ed him getting off the plane when he was hired. Then came the 2010 season. Chizik, along with super star player Cam Newton, led the Tigers to a perfect season that was capped off with a Nation Championship.
The next year Cam left and the team was not the same but they did not have the terrible season we faced this year. I stopped watching the games because we looked awful. It was like watching a train wreck and you could do nothing about it. Even my crazy football superstitions weren’t enough to help.
Needless to say the fan base was not sad to see Chizik receive his walking papers. Then the hunt for a new coach began. Several names were thrown around, each of which stirred some sort of emotion with the fans. I had a few ideas of who I would like but I figured our AD wouldn’t make the best choice. When you have a powerhouse school like Alabama a few miles up the road you really need to think about who can bring your school back to a competitive level. But I don’t want competitive! I want a coach who is going to come in and DOMINATE! (I guess every school hopes this but I feel like it should be Auburn.)
Last night it was announced that former Auburn OC and current head coach for Arkansas State Gus Malzahn had been hired. Okay so we could do worse right? Sure. But could we do better? Hell yeah! Granted Gus was at Auburn for the 2010 season and National title but he’s only been a college head coach for one year! To me, he has yet to prove himself. For the most part the fans seemed to welcome Gus back to the Plains but only time will tell what will really happen. Is he “the” guy? Will he take us back to a NC? Will he beat our rivals? At this point I guess he just needs to win more than 3 non conference games.
Only time will tell where our program will go but if we want chance, we need a change and we need to start at the top. I’m looking at you AD Jay Jacobs! May your time on the Plains is short!
~k
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Can we talk about “the New JCPenny?”
I know a while back they decided to “slash” their prices but truth be told I probably haven’t been to a JCPenny in 5+ years. I know I haven’t been since I moved to NC since the closest one is in North Hills, which isn’t on my normal shopping route. (And let’s be honest, JCPenny isn’t really a place I would shop.) Last week however, I just happened to stumble across some fantastic glittery booties and I decided I MUST have them for my company holiday party this week. I also found some really cute dresses for $20. $35 and $40. (I’ll post pics of the whole outfit on Friday.)
On Saturday I hopped in the car and headed to North Hills to check out “the new” JCPenny. I was a little overwhelmed when I first walked in the store. It was a good bit bigger than I expected it to be but I found the shoe department fairly quickly. I found my awesome booties and asked for my size. The guy brought out the shoes but the 6.5 was a little tight, and I like my boots to be a little big, so I asked for a 7. They were out of 7’s so I asked for a 7.5. They are a bit big but nothing an insole can’t fix.
Once I paid for my shoes I decided to look for the dresses. I was totally blown away! Not really with their dresses per se but with their selection of clothing and more so by the prices. Most everything I picked up was under $30.00. I found several cute dresses that had good prices and tried them on. I couldn’t settle on anything so I decided to keep browsing. I kind of had my heart set on a pair of mini shorts and a top. Everywhere I looked I saw something glittery so of course I was in heaven.
I spent the next hour and a half walking around the store picking up items to try on and looking at the multiple clearance racks that said $4.00 and up or 8.00 and up. And for the most part the items on those racks were close to that price. Not just like one item listed at 4.00 and the rest at 19.00.
Guys, this might be my new fave place to shop! I’m not kidding. Had I been looking for more than one outfit I probably could have spent $100.00 easy and come away with 4-5 outfits. Most of the clothing I looked at was pretty good quality. I didn’t feel it was super cheap like some places (I’m pointing at you Forever 21!) I feel like I could buy items here that would last more than one season and it wouldn’t break the bank either.
So there, I’ve said it. Go check out JCPenny! You might be pleasantly surprised. I know I was. And just for the record, the North Hills store was pretty clean and orderly. I can’t say the employees were super friendly nor were they dressed as nice as most retail places (most were in jeans) but this won’t stop me from going back.
~k