Carolina Mudcats

A couple of weeks ago, our friend Steve got about 25 free tickets to the Carolina Mudcats vs. the Jacksonville Suns baseball game. Seeing how the tickets were free, and I'd never been to a baseball game before, we decided to go.


The ticket to my first-ever baseball game!

Our friend Brian treated us all to an upgrade to box seats, so we ended up right behind home plate...excellent seats! Later, Brian even caught a foul ball.


Our view of the field.


Randy, Shannon, and Brian.


Me and Shannon with Muddy, the Mudcats' mascot. We got Brian's baseball signed for him.

All in all, I would say that my first baseball experience was a fun one. The Mudcats won, and I got to see two home runs. Shannon got a $1 hot dog, and we got to have a good time with friends we don't see very often. Next up: getting to a Durham Bulls game...I hear they're better than the Mudcats!

14 Weeks

So, I really don't like the whole "belly picture" thing. I think it's weird. But, I know that there are at least a few people out there who read our blog (when I actually bother to update, that is), and would appreciate pictures to see how large my belly is getting. I hate to disappoint this first time around, but I figured that I have to start somewhere, and since I think a lot of moms-to-be have started showing a bit by 14 weeks, I figured I should start the pictures when others do. So, here is my 14-week "belly" picture:


Ta-da! Yeah...no belly yet!

I'll try to do a good job of putting up pictures every two or so weeks. So far I have had nothing to complain about. There was about a month where I didn't feel so hot and things just smelled nasty, but I've been feeling fine for 2-3 weeks now. I'm just tired all the time. Today I actually felt like getting out of bed, and I determined it was because I slept nine hours on Saturday night, took a three-hour nap on Sunday, and then slept 9 nine more hours last night. I feel like a big bum. Hopefully that "2nd trimester burst-of-energy" will come soon.

I also have intentions of posting pictures from our trip to Hawaii...I've even re-sized some of the pictures already, I just haven't posted them yet. Maybe today I'll get started on that. I also have new recipes for the recipe blog. Let's just say that I've been trying to enjoy not being insanely busy for the first time in about six months, and it all started last week. Hopefully it's a trend that will continue for at least a few months!

12 Weeks...

Hopefully this will make up for the lack of posting on my part in the last month or so. :-)

Great Hair Chop 2009

Almost 2 years ago after Shannon and I got back from our honeymoon, I cut my hair and gave it to Locks of Love. Locks of Love provides free hairpieces (which would cost $3500-$6000 normally!) to children who have lost their hair due to cancer or other medical conditions which cause hair loss. Each hairpiece requires 6-10 at-least-10-inch ponytails, and the hairpiece arrives long so the child can have it cut to suit their face. You can go here to see pictures of kids before and after they got their hairpiece.

So, in 2007 my hair went from:


to:


I then decided that I wanted to try to grow it out for Locks of Love one more time before we moved overseas. I have fairly nice, healthy hair that grows pretty quickly, and I figure that it's one small thing I can do to help someone out. My hair finally got long enough in April, so about a month ago, I went to Salon Blu, which came recommended by some of my friends who have short hair, to give to Locks of Love for my third time. Here's the mess I began with:


And the super-cute 'do I ended up with:


I'm super happy with the cut, and although I still haven't managed to perfect the "fresh out of the salon" look that I have in this picture, I'm happy to say that I am becoming skilled with a hair straightener. I don't think I'll keep it quite this short in the long run, but for now and for summer, I rather like it. It's been a long time since my hair was this short. It's not easier to take care of than the long hair that I've usually had (which everyone is always surprised by), but it doesn't take nearly as long to blow-dry, which is nice! While I still think I like longer hair for myself better than shorter, I think I can handle this hairstyle for awhile!

We Graduated!!!! (Well...Almost)

Friday was the big day: Shannon and I graduated! Shannon's mom and stepdad made the 10-hour drive from Alabama to be a part of our day. We met them for breakfast at their hotel, brought them up to school for graduation, and then after taking lots of pictures we all went out for lunch at a local Lebanese place. Then it was home to take naps and recooperate before heading to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner and dessert. Then goodbyes were said, at least for 2 weeks until we see them in Hawaii!

I can't even begin to explain how wonderful it feels to know that I don't have thousands of pages of reading to do, or dozens of papers to write. I'm so...relaxed. :-) Today I dusted our filthy apartment. It had been accumulating dust for about two months, since right before we left for Turkmenistan. But I just hadn't had time to clean. All the schoolwork just seemed more important. But today, the apartment is clean. It's wonderful.



Biggest shock of Shannon's life: opening his diploma cover to discover that they really don't give it to you until you've finished all your classes. I guess they'll mail it to him this summer after he's completed his independent study.


Showing off our cool hoods.


At the celebratory dinner at The Cheesecake Factory, which I had never been to. Thanks, Sharon and Milton, for the great dinner and fabulous cheesecake!

As I type, Rachel and Lucas are driving over from Greensboro to spend the evening with us in celebration. I bought a watermelon and made homemade hummus for snacks, and we may go to Red Robin for a burger or something for dinner. I mean, it is Memorial Day. You have to eat burgers and such, right? Then I think we'll play a game or two of Catan before saying goodnight and settling into our clean apartment and clean sheets for a good night's sleep before work starts again tomorrow. I think we'll survive though...only 8 more workdays until we have two weeks off and are headed to gorgeous Hawaii for vacation! We can't wait.

One More Day...

...until graduation!

All the pages have been read, all the quizzes have been taken, all the papers are turned in. Tomorrow is the big day! Shannon's mom and stepdad have driven up from Alabama to spend the day with us, so after tomorrow you can expect to see some "real" blog posts coming from me! These will include things like:

Our trip to Turkey and Turkmenistan
My trip to Alaska for my brother's high school graduation
Graduation pictures!
A quilt for baby Ava from my stepmom Joyce

And others that I'm sure I'm forgetting. I know I'm way behind, but hopefully from this point forward I'll be better at updating!

I'm also hoping to get some more recipes up on the recipe blog...it's been a couple of months since I've cooked anything other than tomato soup, homemade pizza, burritos, and sandwiches. We have pretty much lived off of those four things since...the end of March. Sad day. So, I'm looking forward to cooking again too. And dusting our apartment...it is so dusty. Dusting just doesn't take priority over exams, you know?

So...until Saturday...

WE'RE GRADUATING!!!!!

15 More Days...

In honor of getting out of class about 20 minutes early, I will briefly post on what's left to do for the last 15 days of the semester. Hopefully on May 23rd I can post some "real" posts, because there will be quite a few by then...they're already accumulating, I just don't have time! So, here's what's left for me to do:

About 530 pages of reading
2 quizzes
finish my J.E. journal (when I've finished the reading)
give a presentation
2 exams, one of which consists of 2 1-page papers, one 3-page paper, and an objective portion.

So, the breakdown is as follows:
Tonight: read 30 more pages and journal on J.E.
Tomorrow: read 50 pages and journal on J.E., hopefully finishing this assignment
Saturday: read 80 pages and take a quiz, write one of the 2-page papers
Monday: write the remaining 2-page and 3-page papers
Tuesday: read 50 pages and take a quiz
Wednesday: prepare for my presentation
Thursday: give presentation, begin studying for exam #1
Friday (15th): study for and take exam #1
Saturday (16th): read remaining 300ish pages (one book)
Wednesday (20th): study for exam #2
Thursday (21st): graduation rehearsal, take exam #2
Friday (22nd): GRADUATE!

Like I said, I have many things to update the faithful four or so who follow/read our blog, but you will all just have to wait. Maybe on Saturday I'll have a chance to post if I get the aforementioned reading, quiz, and paper finished. I'll leave you all with a couple of pictures from our trip:


Shannon and Tim, trying to look like the locals


Look, a herd of camels!