Work-Outs, Weddings, and Wonderful Friends

This is my dog. On my old bed. In my old room. With my greeeeeen walls. And my super cute polka dot sheets (from Dollar General.. yeah, I'm cheap).


This picture has nothing to do with anything but isn't he ADORABLE!?!


Okay, so there HAS been things going on, I'm just really bad at remembering to post. Last night I went to the Rush with Alex and worked my legs off (literally) in spin class. Then we went up to the Walker's for dinner! It was soooooo good (spaghetti, rolls, and salad) and it totally hit the spot. We had a blast just catching up on life and enjoying each other's company. WE LOVE YOU BOTH!!

Then tonight, after a good solid day's work, Jason and I went over to the Geyer's for dinner! It also was soooooo good (cheesy chicken casserole and she even left brocolli out of part of it so I wouldn't have to eat brocolli!) and it was way better than my "crappy casserole", as Jason and I have coined it.

[This is a side story, but I made a casserole on Sunday night that ended up terrible. I mean, you'd figure you can't mess up chicken, noodles, peas, and cream of chicken soup, but oh yes, I did. Jason was sweet and said it was good, but I had it Sunday night and then for lunch on Monday and it was crappy both times. Mark that one off the weekly menu!]

Then the boys left to go to Todd's for boy time and Emily and I chatted forever and ever amen. Then Ginny Harr came over!! It was so good to see her - we grew up together and she worked at camp the summer before I did (which was when Emily and David met her, and actually met each other also, I think). She's living in New York and had some great stories to tell.

Now I'm back at the apt. with dead batteries in my camera. Which is why I don't have any fun NEW pictures for you. BUT - my buddy/roommate from college got MARRIED this weekend!! Emily Nagle is now Emily Thrasher. I promise that I will post pictures from the wedding ASAP!! :)

Christmastime is here...

Post #3 in a series of "let's get these pictures off my camera so I can take more" posts:

Sunday my dad's family came up to the Guin house to celebrate! We usually go to Granny's in Kennesaw, but with 100 schedules to coincide, SOMEHOW spending time on Signal ended up being the best choice!

The beautiful tree at my parents house. I love this place.

The adorably handsome boyfriend of mine that I am more in love with every day and each day realize more and more how lucky I am.... oh sorry- got off on a tangent there. Back to Christmas -

My precious daddy!!! As soon as I showed him this picture he said, "Oh - I look gooooood." Oh, dad. (This is where I get my goofy-ness from.)

The room full of family!

My sweet Granny and Pawpaw - sitting in the same chair. Gotta love that.

My beautiful cousins and Emily's (middle) boyfriend.

And just so you can see what gorgeous genes run in my family, this is a picture of my cousins Hannah and Emily. Hannah (right) is sitting on the left side of the couch in the picture above and is a freshman at Alabama. Emily (left) is in the middle above and is a sophomore or junior in high school. Aren't they BEAUTIFUL!?!

Nick, Dad, and my uncle Danny looking at Nick's College Football Book.

Nick got Wii Fit for his birthday, and he was showing everyone how to hula hoop - it was hilarious!

Me with Granny - yes, she has her eyes closed, but isn't she beautiful!? :)

I love Christmas and I love family!!!!

I like green eggs and ham.

Catch up post #2!

Emily and David invited us over for a big yummy breakfast on Saturday morning!

Mmmm... those doughnuts were good... and the pancakes - yuuuuummmmy!


Chris Scott, Jordan, David, Emily, Jason and I got to spend time just chatting and enjoying each other's company. :)


I love Mrs. Geyer!!!

Let's Get Tacky.

Hello all! This is post #1 of several "catch-up" posts from the past couple weeks!


Starting with.... the Tacky Sweater Christmas Party!

All the super yummy food!!

My bestest buddies - I'm the outcast without a sweater on. :)

Becca's amazing poster - I heard she put it above Kate's crib.

All the goodies!!

Todd stole my Santa teapot.. but it's okay.

The super cool shephard mug that I got!! Isn't it adorable??

Davy got my gift - a reindeer who poops brown jelly beans and a Bionicle, but then Raynolds stole it from him.

That precious baby... she lights up every room.

Check Emily's blog for the tacky group picture!

I messed up.

I messed my blog up. :(

I tried to make it pretty with a cool template, but it didn't work, so then I lost my old template.

Then I had to settle for a stupid boring lame-o template.

And I don't have time to fix it. And make it pretty.

Maybe next week...

PW, PDub, PDub-Diddy - any way you say it.

*Read my post about the Chattem Christmas Party below!

Okay, so this post is a small tribute to a super fun website/blog called:

the Pioneer Woman

I'll give you a quick run down of the site. (This run down, of course, is not for Mrs. Geyer, because I know she is well informed, but for the other 4 people who read my blog on a semi-regular basis. Shelby - if you're out there, you would LOVE it.)

So her website it broken up into section: Confessions, Cooking, Photography, and Home & Garden (I was hoping to say that I had to look these up to tell you the specific names, but I didn't.)

**Confessions is the day to day "ramblings" with a few love stories sprinkled in. If you are in search of a good read this holiday season, you need to read "Black Heels to Tractor Wheels" and get acquainted with Ree (a.k.a the Pioneer Woman). Only do this, however, if you have at least 4 hours to read it. No, really. Ask either of my Emily's.

Then the Cooking section shows step by step picture instructions of how to make some of Ree's favorite things. Nagle and I have both made these amazing apple dumplings... mmmmmm. She's a great cook - sort of like Paula Dean's younger sister or long lost daughter - get ready for lots of butter, is all I'm saying.

The Photography section is really great too. Ree is a self proclaimed amateur photographer who likes to explain photography to us dumb people. (Kinda like Becca has done for me... except she IS a professional.) There is also step by step Photoshop tutorials if you're into that. Which I would like to be. And Home & Garden isn't really my favorite section, but it's neat because they're re-doing part of their house and she gives regular updates and asks for everyones opinions on colors, tile, etc. As of tonight I've been told to read this section more often because I would love the Lodge update, but I haven't gotten to that quite yet.

Well, there you go, buddies. *Anna/Kristin - now you know. So go read it. :)

Chattem Girls Christmas!

Thursday night marked my very first Chattem Girls Christmas Party!! We had a buffet dinner at the Fairlyand Club - what a beautiful place! The view of the city from their big picture windows was amazing.

Here's most of our ladies before we started eating.

Me, Linda, and Alexis - Linda, we LOVE sitting by you!!!!!

The present table... oooooh ahhhhhh... No, seriously - there were some great gifts.

The Santa cookie jar I brought (that Alexis ended up with), and in front of that (you can kinda see it) is the Christmas tree tealight candle holder that I got! Oh it's so cute - I already put it up in my apartment. :)

THIS, my friends, was the gift of the night. It got stolen like 4 times (ending up with Teresa) and it's soooooo awesome. It was from Christa (from Target) and it's an Advent calendar!! How cool is that? Each little present has a number on it and a little door to fill each present with a small gift to open each day of December until Christmas. SOOOO COOOL!!!!!

The food was great, the company was wonderful, and the presents were adorable. We had a blast!!!

Inspired, Jealous, Amazed.

Kerry, Vanessa, and me before the concert began!!


Little Big Town was the AMAZING opening act. I love their harmonies. They are truly amazing. I just want to hang out with them, listen, and take it all in. :)


My absolute favorite LBT song: "Bring It On Home". Beautiful.

The beautiful, amazing, fabulous, extraordinary, fantastic, ridiculous Carrie stinkin' Underwood!!!!!

"So Small" - one of my FAVORITE Carrie songs...

Listen to those pipes!!!

And amazing enough - I ran into Lindsay!!! This is my camper I have been talking about and asking you all to pray for. Here she was - dancing, laughing, and having a BLAST at the concert with her friends. :) Praises to the Lord Most High.

THE CONCERT WAS WONDERFUL!!!!!

JUST WAIT!!!

P.S. Tonight I'm going to the Carrie Underwood concert with Vanessa and Kerry!!!!!

Check back for pictures!!!!!! WHOOOO HOOOOO!!!!

Nagle Bagel's Church Shower

This is probably a bit past due, considering I don't remember what day this happened... it was a Sunday... in November?

Welcome to Nagle's (soon to be Thrasher) church shower!!! (I rarely call her Nagle, by the way, but it's easier than saying Emily and then clarifying. --What's funny is that Samantha and I always called her Emmy Lou or Emmy Lou Lou, and now the new Emily in my life is really Emily Louise!)

Mmmmmm... look at all the yummy food. (Gotta love that green and brown theme!)

It's a gift. It's a cake. It's a cake that looks like a gift! Mmmm and it was oh so good. (There was even a little small cake that looked just like it for Emily to eat with Brad later, but I didn't get a picture!)

Me being Vanna White for all the great gifts she got. I know that it's got to be hard to have all the attention on you as you open gifts you picked out yourself. And unfortunately the layout of the room ended up a bit awkward and we might as well have been standing on a stage... everyone was kind of far away and no one could really see what she was getting. So every once in a while I would turn into Vanna and say "Look everyone - a cutting board! Ooooh... Ahhh.." (Actually, this cutting board was freakin' awesome! It was like multi-colored and super cute. Very freshman year, if you know what I mean. Which you probably don't. Unless you're Emily. Or Samantha. Or Brianne.)

Me and the beautiful bride-to-be. :) I can't wait until the 27th!!! Love you girl!!!

Tatonka - that rhymes with Willy Wonka!

The title of this post has ZERO to do with anything, but that phrase came in my head yesterday and hasn't found its way out yet! So here's to you CVP people!

I decided to go with the Shane & Shane Christmas CD: 1) because I had forgotten that I really wanted to get it after the S&S concert, 2) because it's Shane and Shane, 3) ummm... because I felt like it. I'm going to listen to some of the tracks from the other CDs suggested and probably get them too, though. :)


Yesterday I was sick. Very sick. My head started hurting at work and I took crappy medicine that did nothing for me, so by the time 5 o'clock rolled around I was sooooo ready to get home and get some rest and relief. I had plans with Jason so I totally bailed on him and told him I felt too awful to do anything because I knew I would be mean and crabby. So when he showed up at my door with Panera soup (in a bread bowl) and a cinnamon crunch bagel (w/hazelnut cream cheese - for breakfast today), I was SHOCKED! What a sweetheart! And he brought Kung-Fu Panda so that he could have something to do while I whined, moaned, and groaned. (Just kidding - I watched most of it, I just slept a little bit...)

I just kept feeling worse and worse, so I went to lay down on my bed when the movie was over. Of course I fell asleep and Jason just watched House in the living room. At one point he said "Sweetie? Have you taken Dash out in a while?" "Noooooo... uhhh.... what? Yeah, no, I haven't. Hold on, I'm coming... ZZzzzz..." Then I heard the leash click and the door open and Jason say "Come on you little stinker." I sighed a huge sigh of relief because it was cold and rainy outside and I really didn't want to have to get up.

He is just so good to me, I felt the need to post about it. I felt like crap. I acted like crap. I looked like crap. And he treated me like royalty. Well, sick royalty, that is. :)

I love him.

Thoughts before a REAL post...

Okay, so here's a thought:

Why doesn't someone make the technology in a camera like a wireless/bluetooth thing where you can take your pictures and send them right to your computer, without having to remember your camera card and little installer thing that you always lose. Wouldn't that be smart? Okay, well, I'm just trying to come up with excuses as to why I didn't take any pictures at Thanksgiving and I'm rationalizing that it's just too hard to remember to... post... them? Well, that doesn't make any sense. But I forgot. Okay. So sue me. Jeez.

I'm very much in the mood to listen to Christmas music on my ipod today! But I don't have any. I used to have the perfect Christmas CD - a compilation of that girl that sings really high that no one talks about anymore (I'll think of her), Josh Groban, Hillary Duff (duh - "Last Christmas"), the song from the old Gap commercial ("people all over the world, join hands" - I just think of Christmas when I hear that now!), Mariah Carey "All I Want for Christmas is You" (my ringtone for Jason YEAR-ROUND), and many more I'm sure. But I lost it. Grrrrr.

So my question is - what is the BEST Christmas CD I can download tonight on iTunes to be able to listen to tomorrow at work?! Is it the new "NOW That's What I Call Christmas" or whatever? A favorite artist that has a Christmas CD? You just let me know and I'll jump right on it.

Be back soon to talk about things that actually matter. :)

Food and Friends!

Okay, this is a couple weeks overdue, but I just realized yesterday when I was posting picture of my Christmas-y apartment, that these were still on my camera! Brandon had a birthday party the weekend before I went on my Arkansas trip, and it was so fun! There were a ton of people there and I got pictures of most of them!

Brandon, Corey, Mike, Jason, Becca, Emily(hiding behind...) David, and Keith. I think that's possibly George Liner's booty - and he's probably getting Kate from Susan. :) (Yeah, that has to be it - look at Daddy Keith looking longingly at his sweet baby girl - you know that's what's going on!)

Our WONDERFUL cooks! Sue and Jennifer put together a HUGE spread of seafood and all the fixins'!

Look at that table!! And there's "Goose", Reilly, AT, and Susan.

There's the birthday boy himself - with a very full mouth.

Yay for Food and Friends!!!! :)

Hound me all you want, but...

I've already decorated for Christmas!!!!

Yes, I realize the date. It's only Nov. 18th (well, it was the 16th when I did it...) but it just felt SO RIGHT to decorate early!!! Jason and I went decoration shopping Sunday after church and I got a little tree, icicle lights for the sunroom, a gawdy star for the top (which I later decided was a bit much.. will be returning that..), cute ornaments (that are too big for the tree so I'm going to string them up and hang them in the living room), and stuff to decorate a wreath! I also got my Willow Tree Nativity out for the first time!! I got the first part of the set last year for Christmas, so of course, it was a little late to put out for decoration, but now that I have my own place, I can do whatever I want! Like putting out Christmas decorations several weeks early. And hey - it's never too early to start celebrating the birth of Christ!!!

I will take a picture of the living room this afternoon and try to get my internet at home to work long enough to post it. :)

MERRY (early) CHRISTMAS!!!!

Use Cushion as Flotation Device

HELLLLOOOOOOO!!! Long time no see. I have had a busy busy life lately -- no excuse, I know -- but fairly uneventful. The big thing that happened this week is...

I FLEW ON A PLANE!!! (and I didn't have to "use [the] cushion as [a] flotation device"!!!) YAY!! :) For my second trip on a plane ever, I made my way to Bentonville, AR, the home of good 'ol Walmart. I flew from Chattanooga to Atlanta, then from Atlanta to Fayetteville. Now, granted, I have never been in an airport. Not once. Not ever. So having my boss, Jason, my dad, and many others explain the intricacies and interworkings of the airport system didn't make much sense to me at the time. Take your SHOES off? Are you kidding me? And they'll throw something of mine AWAY if it's over 3oz? You've got to be kidding.

So I packed accordingly - one carry-on plus my purse ("never check a bag") - and made my way to the airport! Luckily anytime I asked someone for help, they were willing and able to answer my questions. I ended up sitting in the wrong seat on the first flight... whoops. I sat in seat D instead of seat A on row 10, because I thought... well, I thought... okay, I don't have to explain myself to you. I just messed up. :) But no one else was sitting there, so instead of sitting next to the chatty guy I was supposed to sit next to, I was able to truly enjoy my book with no distractions next to Mr. I'm trying to truly enjoy my book with no distractions too. It was great.

When I got off the plane in Atlanta I thought - wow - this place is a little bigger than Chattanooga... and it was off to find my concourse (another key phrase I hadn't really understood until then). Luckily I was in D and needed to be in C, so it wasn't that bad.

--Okay I just realized that I've only taken you through like 2 hours of the first day, so I'm going to speed it up with some bullet points now.
*Lunch at Atlanta Bread Company. Ehh... basically Panera.
*Reading while I wait
*Boarded to Arkansas
*Reading on the plane
*Got to Bentonville, picked up by my AR boss, Curt
*Checked into the GORGEOUS Embassy Suites hotel
*Reading while I wait for dinner
*Store check at Walmart Store #1 - sooo cool! Okay, so I'm a little bit biased, and a nerd, but it was great!
*Dinner at Copeland's steakhouse. Yum!
*Back to the hotel to ____ you guessed it - READ!!
*Tuesday class to learn more about Walmarts system, which was also quite interesting!
*Lunch at Baker Brothers with a new friend from class
*Finished the class then Curt picked me back up to take me to the airport
*Reading on the plane back to Atlanta
*Finished the book and had to find a bookstore in the airport so that I would have reading material for the flight back!
*Arrived in Chatt to drive home exhausted and wanting to see a familiar face
*SUPRISED by my sweet boyfriend who just had to see me as soon as I got back!! YAY!!!
*Bed.

Okay, so I'm not that speedy. But this was a big trip for me. Lots of good stuff like getting over the fear of flying by myself! And I was pretty sick the whole time - coughing, stuffy nose, sneezing, no fever thank goodness. And unfortunately all these symptoms seem to enjoy me. They're sticking around for the long haul.

THANKS FOR BEING PATIENT ENOUGH TO READ ALL THAT CRAZINESS!! :)

Work. Gotta love it.

That rockstar drummer is my boss, Brian. And who's the babe on the guitar? That's my co-worker, Rachel. This is what we do. This is called work. (Being on the "Walmart Team" also means working with Sam's Clubs and Wednesday we had a product demo for Gold Bond Ultimate Healing Lotion and so we wanted to go check it out. Somehow we got a little lost...)

This picture is the best - again, Brian and Rachel (same song, different angle) but guess who's in the background? JASON ROREX!!!! HAHAHA!!! And like 30 seconds later, he's like so what are you doing, and my other boss Megan said "She's at work."

Another funny thing about this picture is that (and you can't really see him) Jaime the preacher for Red Bank's Hispanic church is looking over his shoulder right in between Rachel and Brian. I LOVE THIS PICTURE!!!

Catching Up!

Remember last week when I told you about my morning? (Okay, minus showering, brushing teeth, etc - c'mon, those are minor.)


Well, here's my little stinker hooked on to the fridge (so he'll actually sit for 5 minutes to eat).


And see, I wasn't lying about him spilling his water - EVERY DAY!!



Anyway, this weekend Jason's family and I went to the TN game!! It was a later game so we spent a long time just waiting for everything to begin. And (unfortunately for J) his mom LOVES to take pictures. I am all for it because I'm all about scrapbooking, blogging, and everything else, but... um... as you can see from the slightly annoyed face below... Jason is less than thrilled with the 257th picture of the day.

Our McCain/Palin stickers - and one that said "NOBAMA (however you want to say it)"

Sunday, Jason and I headed up to Gatlinburg where I finally rode those ski-lift chairs for the FIRST TIME!! :) It was fun.

My other little stinker.


Oh yeah, and then we decided to drive to NC to the casino - just for fun!! We set our little budget (very little, mind you) and played the $0.05 and $0.01 slots for little while. We won $25! (Okay, then we spent it, but we won it!)

WHAT A CRAZY FUN WEEKEND!!!!! :)

(Oh yeah, I have to tell Jen this - I saw HSM with my mom on Friday night. Amazing. Ah-mazing. ::sigh::... too bad I'm way too old to express my true feelings for this movie.)