Fantabulous Cricut Challenge #221 - Take Me Out To The Ballgame

Hello there!  When I saw the challenge for this week, I thought of ALL of my beloved WVU football pictures.  Since I'm in the middle of February in my 2011 scrapbook, I don't have any football pics waiting to be scrapbooked.  I looked around in my scrapbook room and thought about an old scrapbook I made for my college years (pre-Cricut) and flipped through it.  I found the PERFECT page that needed a little Cricut inspiration/pizzazz!  I should have taken a before pic of this page because it really was pretty boring... but alas, here's the after:

I used Everyday Paper Dolls to create the little cheerleader.  I decorated her outfit with gold stickles and added a WV sticker to the front of the shell.  Before, the page just had the picture at the bottom centered and it was a very simple page - I think the cheerleader adds some "cheer" to the page.  

 Thanks for stopping by!

 

Fiesta Store and some Random-itis

This past weekend, I made a mad dash back to WV for a friend from college's wedding.  I drove to Princeton Friday night and stayed at my parents.  Saturday morning my mom (aka my wedding date) and I made a little detour and went by the hospital in Charleston to see Lauren after she had Baby Logan.  Then, we made our way on up to Morgantown... after of course, a stop at the Everything Fiesta! store in Flatwoods.  I have always loved this store and have stopped their countless times on my many trips to and from Morgantown.  When I first started getting into Fiesta, I would stop there and buy 1 or 2 things and have slowly built up my collection.  Such a fun, beautiful, bright store!!

I wrote down some things I want to make sure to add to our wedding registry and also grabbed a few seasonal items that were on sale:

I think their Christmas Fiesta is a little on the plain side but decided to get a few of the serving side pieces to use with my everyday Fiesta during the holidays.  I don't understand why they put the tree on the bottom of the plates and then it's just covered up with food!  Regardless, it will make up a cute table come the holidays.

I also picked up this large mixing bowl to use as a fruit bowl.  I love the pop of color it adds to my kitchen!  It also tells me I need to get some more fruit!

This is the last purchase I made there.  This bowl was marked down to a fab price because it's a VT color!  They had a whole section of items that were maroon and orange they were clearancing out.  I mean really, what were they thinking with the store being so close to WVU?!  Oh well, love the shape/size of this guy, he'll be a nice addition!

I'm finally getting ready to pack up all my Christmas decor but wanted to share a few last things from this season!  First, is how I have displayed our Christmas cards the last 2 years.  I picked up this little Christmas tree holder at Ace Hardware of all places last year.  I like seeing it "fill up" as the days go by in December.  Only downside is that a lot of cute cards/pictures get covered up.

Here's a snapshot of our 2012 Christmas card:  I used one of our engagement pics on the cover and some pictures from Christmas 2011 on the inside and back.  No wasted space on our card!

 And, to end on a sweet note, my amazing fiance surprised me with this beautiful bouquet of flowers last night after work!  Isn't he the BEST?!  I think I shall marry him ;-)
 

Hippity Hop -- Right thru April

 

It’s hard to believe that this was the 3^rd year Adam has gone home for Easter with me (Henderson’s second).  It’s funny to compare the past 3 years of Easters – see below.  I guess we haven’t really changed that much, the biggest change has been our zip codes over the last 3 years!  I love that Adam tolerates my need for us to match on Easter Sunday J

 

 

Adam was wearing my grandpa's tie in the middle picture and one of his white dress shirts this year (bottom pic).  Funny thing is, he didn't try on the shirt prior to Easter morning and the sleeves were a little on the short side!  Lesson learned about not trying things on in advance!

 

We had a nice visit at home and got to spend time with Abs.  That little tyke has soooo much energy!  She can wear out 5 adults and still keep going and going and going!  She loves to wrestle Adam.

 

   

Telling Adam what to do - wonder who she learned that from??

 

 

We also celebrated Granny, Chip and my birthday while we were all there together.  I can't believe I'm 26!  When did I get this old?!?  I still feel like I'm 18.



Family pic for my birthday minus the cats



The April Birthday Babies and our official "candle blower outer"

  

 

 

We ended Easter weekend with what's becoming our traditional Easter egg hunt with Miss Abbie.  I remember in 2009, when we "hid" the eggs for her by laying them in the grass.  Now, she will race you to get them in her basket before you can and loves to decorate them ahead of time with paint, stickers, dye, markers and sometimes even rocks.  

 

     

First blog

Well, I have contemplated having a blog for a while but then I think my life is so not that exciting that it would boring.. but then I think.. I've moved 3 times in 3 years so it can't be that boring, right?!  What finally pushed me over the edge in making a blog was one of my good gal pals has one that is awesome!  I suppose Brittany started one a while back but I didn't know until earlier this week when I noticed she had referenced posting how Marcus proposed to her on it... so, I mosed over to it and got sucked in!  I couldn't stop reading because it was just LIKE talking to Brit during class, after class, over some wine, on the phone, during class some more :-).  I think it's a GREAT idea to just have somewhere to catch up, share pictures, keep in touch and everything else. 


Plus, this is as good as time as ever to start a blog!  I'm starting a new chapter in my life and what a great way to document it.  So what's the new chapter?  Well, since you ask....


I just bought and moved into my 3rd house since 2008.  Yep, that's right.. that's where the 3 times in 3 years thing comes from.  Let's take a little trip back into time...


So, in 2004, I graduated high school and went away to college at West Virginia University.  I moved into the lovely dorm - Arnold Hall.  Say hello, Arnold!

I really didn't mind living in the dorm, minus the 4th floor part and no elevator and skank of a roommate that I had, which is a whole other story that is best left in the past.  I ended up only living in the dorm from August thru December.  In January, I was fortunate enough to be able to move into a beautiful 1-bedroom spacious apartment within walking distance of the football stadium!! (Priorities people!)  See how cute my apartment building was??? I LOVED my apartment! (and yes, it was a steep parking lot, but hey, it's Morgantown)

I lived in my lovely apartment from January 2005, through undergrad and grad school and moved out in June 2008.  It was a very sad day and very emotional for me.  Grad school was def. my favorite year of college and the year I made some of the best friends I will cherish forever.  (Sorry Lauren, it's your fault you weren't there for this picture, but I'm sure I will cover you later)

So, after graduating with my master's degree it wasn't all work and no play... before I started working full time with Olin, I had the trip of a lifetime.  I took my last 2 classes as part of a study abroad program in Italy.  Studying abroad was something I had wanted to do my whole school career and when it finally worked out at the very end I knew it was an opportunity I had to take advantage of.  We spent almost 6 weeks overseas and saw Milan, Asolo, Cinque Terre, Florence, Pisa, Lucca, Venice, Murano, Burano, Rome, Pompeii, Paris and Dublin.  Here's a few of my favorite pictures from our time in Europe...

This will forever be a favorite picture - this was in the

 town where we studied.

Lauren - a true friend and wonderful travel buddy!

 



Venice, enjoying the beautiful day and city




Sadly, after a wonderful summer, we had to come back to realty.  However, big changes had happened with my small family while I was away - I became an Aunt!  Miss Abbie BreAnn Kidd joined the family just a few days before I flew back to the US.  I was SO excited to meet my neice and of course, see the family. 

A few days after arriving back home, it was up to Morgantown for graduation and the hooding ceremony - my education had officially come to a close.  It was a very bittersweet time and saying goodbye to a city I had fallen in love with and made so many wonderful memories in was not easy.  The following week it was south to Cleveland, TN where I started my career as a Human Resources Generalist with Olin Chlor Alkali Products.  At first, I didn't think I would EVER learn to say that or understand what the heck the company did - now I can speak the lingo with the rest of 'em - I know my KPIs, DCS systems, up times, down times, run times, evaporators, MSDS, ORC, PPE, and so on ... what has happened to me.... I used to be so cool.. hah.  So what does Olin do?  We make Chlorine, Caustic and Bleach.. and several other byproducts but those are the biggies.. so here I am off to work for my first day as a big girl!

Oh, I guess I forgot the other BIG thing that happened in Cleveland.. I bought my first HOUSE!  I was so excited to be a homeowner and I fell in love with this house before I even saw it.  You know me, always researching everything and of course, I LOVE real estate so I knew this was MY house before I even saw it.  It was in a great location and close to everything.  Even though I only got to live in my adorable house for 8 short months I made a lot of great memories and got to experience some of the joys of home ownership... pipes freezing, small leak and weed pulling!  

Pin Oaks Circle, Cleveland, TN

Trixie and Mason

One of the best things about living in TN was getting my two baby kittens - Mason and Trixie!  They were born August 4, 2008, and I got them at the beginning of October.  They were SUCH a handfull when they were babies, oh heck, who am I kidding - they still are.  But when they were babies and had claws they used to literally climb my legs... painful.  I wouldn't trade them for anything though, they are such sweet cats with adorable personalities.   

In the Spring of 2009, I was approached with an opportunity to head down to our St. Gabriel/Baton Rouge, LA plant to help out with some HR projects for a short-term assignment.  I thought it sounded like a good opportunity and a fun way to spend the summer.  Plus, I knew a certain someone was also assigned to an engineering project down there and felt better knowing I'd at least know someone else SO far away.  So, the cats and I packed up and made our way down to Cajun Country.  To make a long story short, the short-term assignment turned into a permament gig and a promotion to HR Supervisor.  I sold my house in TN and purchased my 2nd home in Baton Rouge. 

Springtree Avenue, Baton Rouge, LA

Baton Rouge was an experience I will never forget.  It had it's ups and downs and trials and triumps.  I left Baton Rouge with about 7 years of HR crammed into a year and a half, a best friend and wonderful man in my life and... without a gallbladder (ouch!)! 


Well, that's pretty much 7 years in a nutshell.  I promise my next posts will be nowhere near this long but just wanted to throw some background in there for those of you who just know I seem to move a lot!  Last Friday, I made what I hope to be my last move for a while!!  I finally got to move back to TN for a role with the Division HR group once again.  This time I bought a house in Ooltewah, TN.  I literally saw between 100-150 houses in this area and Cleveland and just couldn't find the "one".  I looked at the one I ended up buying a few times and ended up realizing it had everything I wanted just not in the area I really wanted to be.  But, I have to admit, I'm really enjoying the area and everything it has to offer.  The 30-minute commute one-way isn't even that bad.  Gives me time to listen to Michael Buble sing to me before and after work.  So, without further ado... Meet house #3!

Peppertree Drive, Ooltewah, TN