¡Hola, Mexico!

A week or so ago, we got back from our fabulous vacation in Mexico!  Our great friends, Tim and Christine, asked us to join them on their 5 year anniversary trip they were planning.  Since our anniversaries are pretty close to each other, we figured it could be an early 2nd anniversary trip for us!  We went to Excellence Resort Playa Mujeres, which is about 30 minutes from Cancun, and it was amazing! I would recommend this place to anyone that wants to relax and not worry about planning a whole lot of anything!

A little few from our room!

You have the option, when booking, of upgrading to the Excellence Club amenities--this is TOTALLY the way to go! It's worth every penny to get all the extras! The best "upgrade" is the private beach.  They have beds to lay out on...huge beds...a serious nap could be taken on these things!

They have waitresses that come around all day--so you really never have to get up if you don't want to...and that's exactly what we did for a couple of days! Relaxation was definitely the word of the day..or days! We would go back and forth between the beach and the pool. 

This resort had 9 restaurants and we had a chance to try 5--French, Tapas, Mexican, Mediterranean, and Japanese.  The Tapas night was the best--hands down! The food was amazing but our waiter, Luis, was awesome! He taught us all kinds of new words in spanish that may be very helpful in life : )

As much as we loved sitting by the beach all day, we decided to go explore one day and did an excursion to the small island across the water called Isla Mujeres.  We were picked up at the resort and taken to the port where we boarded a catamaran to take us to the island.  About half way there, they stopped the boat to let you off to snorkel.  Snorkeling is not something I love...or really enjoy for that matter...but Justin likes it, and promised he would stay with me---it wasn't too bad, but I was glad to get that over with. I love the beach and the water more than anything...but also like not knowing what is swimming below me!

After snorkeling, they had parasailing...well it was sort of like parasailing.  You sat on a rope that was attached to a sail and you just had to hang on!  You also had to sign a waiver---we decided we would just watch others put their lives in the hands of these very entertaining Mexican men! 

We stopped for lunch at a resort on the island and then headed to the downtown area for shopping and exploring.  The lunch was awesome! They also had this area where you could hold a shark?! Very odd--we also did not participate in the crazy adventure either!

On the island, you could rent golf carts to take you around the 4 mile island. This was so fun and I'm so glad we decided to do it! The views were amazing!

Justin said he would buy me this...

We're hoping to break ground very very soon!

All in all this trip was amazing! We are so grateful that Tim and Christine included us on their special occasion! We were introduced to them by two of our best friends, Michelle and Janver, and are so thankful to have them here in Charlotte! It is a special friendship that Justin and I truly cherish!

The West Virginia Power (little bro's team) will be playing in Kannapolis Monday and Tuesday night. I am over the moon to finally see Walker! Go Power! 

The Pad-Updates!

Happy Spring!

It's been just about a year since we moved into our first house, and we are just now starting to update some of the things on my always-growing list! Little by little, we have started to make a few changes. The first thing that I wanted done was our bonus room.

Reminder of what it looked like at move-in:

The color doesn't look too bad in this photo--it is a pale yellow. The problem is, this room was a carport before it was a room. So the lighting in here is...complicated? weird? annoying?-take your pick!  During certain times of day/daylight, the room actually resembled more of a highlighter color. Not so attractive! Also, if you notice the support columns, they painted them the same color as the walls. I guess they were trying to blend them in? We aren't quite sure.

So due to the crazy lighting in the room, we had to be really careful when choosing a paint color to avoid the "highlighter" experience in a different shade. I wanted a grayish color for the walls that would contrast with the white ceiling, trim, and columns (yes, those were changed to white!) When I found a sample I thought I liked--after more than an hour at Lowe's and about 30 pictures text to my mom--we decided to paint some sample spots on the walls just to be sure! Good thing we did! At the same time of day that the yellow turned highlighter, the gray turned purple! So we ended up going with a color called "Toast" but it is more of a gray/tan. I am really happy with it and thrilled that it doesn't change too drastically in our crazy light!

We also added a little workstation in the corner--my laptop now has home. The rest of the entertainment center will be around the TV eventually--if IKEA will ever get all the units we need in stock. After putting the desk and drawers together, I think we are done assembling furniture for a while!

While we had the painters, we decided to spruce up a couple more rooms at the same time! The half bathroom off of the bonus room was a cream color in eggshell. (flashback)

The room is very small, so water from the sink would splash on the walls, and then the marks were impossible to remove. So we went with a semi-gloss mint green!

Last, I wanted to change up the laundry room! I figure if I spend as much time as I do in there, it might as well be pretty! We changed from the tan to a pretty blue!

I also changed out the knobs on the cabinets! A little splurge, but they are so fun! Thank you, Anthropology!

We are still in the middle of getting pictures back on the wall, organizing, etc. I am quickly learning that there is always something you want to change in your house! We leave for vacation Saturday in Cancun, Mexico! We are headed to Excellence Playa Mujeres for 5 nights of fun with our great friends, Tim and Christine! Many pictures to come! Happy Monday!

10 Years Later!

  10 years ago I graduated from high school (crazy!)...14 years ago I met Cindy, Mariana, and Nora!  Throughout the years, we have always been great friends, but we have always let life take us to all kinds of different places.  Somehow we always end up back together, as if it hadn't been months, some times closer to years, since we saw each other.
  After high school graduation, Mariana and I headed to Raleigh, Cindy to Chapel Hill, and Nora to Boston.  A few years later, Nora and I both found ourselves in Chapel Hill---but no Cindy! Between those 5 years, Mariana had been to Peru,Spain and New York, I was in Italy, Nora in Ghana...and Cindy finding a very very sweet husband back home that we hadn't met yet.

 It was Cindy's wedding that would bring the four of us back together for the first time in years! And we were always able to pick up where we left off!  After getting married, Cindy and Josh stayed in Goldsboro, so I am able to see her a little more when we head home!

 As it goes in your twenties, weddings seemed to consume your life.  It was actually my wedding in June 2011 that would bring the four of us back together again.

 So recently, Nora had a great idea of a little girls weekend in DC to see the Cherry Blossoms and each other.  It had been almost two years, but (like always) everything picked up right where it left off. The weather was beautiful and the blossoms were everywhere! We had a chance to walk around and see all the monuments and have a picnic in the mall.

                                     

 After, we walked to Georgetown for a little shopping and decided to make a pit stop for a drink at the very place John F. Kennedy proposed to Jackie O! So cute!!

 All in all, I could not have asked for a better weekend! It was so fun to catch up with my high school friends that I have shared so (SO) much with over the years.  As different as the four of us are, we have always accepted each other for our opinions and beliefs, the goals and choices we have made, the places life, and those choices, have taken us.  No one has changed one bit--it is a beautiful thing!

 Hopefully, it will be less than 2 years before our next little reunion. But until then, our crazy lives continue to be ever-changing, and we are comforted in knowing that when we do see each other again, it will feel as if no time has passed.

Long Overdue!

So...it has been MONTHS since the last post (oops). Life just seems to get in the way and consume any amount of free time possible! You would think I have a house full of kids to care for, a job that travels a lot, or that I work 80 hours a week...I have none of the above, but am amazed how busy life can get!

So, here's what we've been up to the last few months!

I guess we need to go all the way back to November! I left off right before my second half marathon.  My first race was in 2010 in Wilmington with Mariana and Leslie. This one, I did on my own--there were many times that I considered not registering, but Justin talked me out of that. I did a personal best of exactly 2 hours! This race was in Charlotte and is also a Boston Marathon qualifying race, so there were so many people right there with me trying to break 2 hours. This was a great race that I'm thinking about trying again this November---would love to do it with a group this time!

Then of course, home for the holidays! This year was my "off" year for holidays, so I didn't have to work on Thanksgiving or Christmas. With my new (and quite awesome) schedule, I have Fridays off--so we made a long weekend out of it! We did our traditional Thanksgiving Day and then headed to Swansboro for the weekend.

This is probably my favorite place...and we were given some amazing sunsets!

Christmas was much more rushed! We were only able to come home for a total of 42 hours...maybe...with two family gatherings and two grandparent gatherings, it gets very busy! Don't get me wrong--we feel SO blessed to have this problem and wouldn't trade it for anything in the world! My family is pretty flexible, so we started a new tradition of the Gourleys coming to Charlotte for our own little Christmas celebration. Even with a few tiny major plumbing issues, I think we have started a new family tradition!

Granny's tradition of taking the family on a trip continues---this year was Cancun and it was pretty awesome! We have done a bunch of trips to different places--this one was probably my favorite. We spent most of the day sitting by the pool--a nice break from freezing temperatures in Charlotte!

For New Years Eve we rang in the new year at a concert of our favorite band--The Avett Brothers. The concert was amazing! The end of 2012 could not have been better!

So fast-forward to March (where does time go?!?)

Friday, Justin was given ACC Tournament tickets from a co-worker so we made our way to Greensboro. This was my first tournament game and it was really fun! There are so many fans from different schools---each as passionate as the next! NC State won that game and we headed to Kiawah Island after.  Grant had a conference and invited us to join him! The weather was perfect and we found plenty to do!

Saturday, we drove to Charleston and found a bar to watch the State game (that wasn't the fun part).  After licking our wounds, we went through the market, got ice cream, you know...any and everything touristy!

This morning, we woke up and got bikes to ride around Kiawah and on the beach---I was sad to leave, especially knowing that the weather is going back to the 50s for the rest of the week!

Cheers to Birthdays--Mariana (the bestie)

HAPPY HAPPY birthday to my best friend, Mariana! We are going on 12 years of friendship, but really, it started much younger...at Goldsboro Country Club pool when I was a tomboy (seriously I only played with boys...who's shocked?) and Mariana was shy?! (Or so she claims). I don't remember those days...but I know they existed.

Really it allllll started at good ole Eastern Wayne (yes, there is more than 1 high school in Goldsboro for those that had doubts)

Today, I started to think how it's crazy where we both ended up (to this point at least) and was thinking that we are both in such different places than maybe expected.  But then I got to thinking....we have been in different places pretty much our entire friendship but still managed to remain the best of friends.  In high school Mariana was a cheerleader and soccer player--I played volleyball and softball (cheerleading was never my thing).

In college, I studied and went to class....Mariana "overslept" and let me use her Webassign submissions so we both got a 100.  We both studied abroad...but never at the same time, and never to the same place.  For a while, I was loving living in Chapel Hill and she was living in up in NYC.  And now....I'm married and she's back in school.  If you had asked us in high school where we would be in TWELVE years...I'm sure we would have said something totally different.

So here's where it began...Freshman year...in homeroom...looked a little like this!

Hello braces (on me) and banana colored cheerleading uniform! WOW

By fate...and some really good paper writing (wink wink), we both ended up at NCSU 4 years later. We didn't want to be the best friends that roomed together in college and ended up hating each other, so we were suite mates. BIG mistake.  After one semester, we moved in together and kicked our crazy old roommates out!  We ended up in the same sorority and that was only the beginning of all the college fun!


Get ready for a blast from the past ladies....

and the best...ever...

When Justin and I got engaged, I had promised Mariana years before (when I was single) that she would be the first call I would make (minus my parents/bro).  So, I kept my word...and she didn't answer!

She did call back...from Macy's...with her mom....crying (lots of crying--I'm sure the sales associate thought something bad had happened).  Then when I called to ask her to be my maid-of-honor, she was on the streets of NYC....crying! But I love that she cries....about pretty much everything. 

I think one of my favorite "mariana moments" was when she surprised me at our Raleigh engagement party. She was living in New York and I just assumed she couldn't make it...understandable. And she told me she couldn't make it....liar! SURPRISE!

Our wedding day was perfect and she made sure of that!...so fun!!

So happy birthday to my little Mariana....who I can't see in my peripheral vision when I'm wearing heels, who I can count on to keep my secrets, who I would do her chemistry homework for all over again, who I know will be my best friend no matter where in the world we both end up 12 years from now! Much love my sweet friend!