Santa Clause is coming to town!

December has gone by so quickly. There are so many fun things going on, and I can't believe it is Christmas week!  To catch everyone up.... Ryan and I have had a great month.  We went to Berns Steakhouse (a famous restaurant to those in and out of Tampa) to celebrate our Six Month Wedding Anniversary! Everyone has raved about the restaurant and they were totally right.  We had such a yummy meal and it was just a fabulous night.  They have a dessert room upstairs so after our great dinner we took a tour of the wine cellar and then headed up to the dessert room.  The dessert room is a 50's theme with each booth being in what is kind of like an old telephone booth.  Of course dessert was delicious.  We were there for almost 4 hours! We both had our work holiday parties that weekend as well, and both were so fun.  We are very furtunate to both have great co-workers that we enjoy being with. We ended the weekend by decorating our first married Christmas Tree, and it turned out beautiful. It was fun to do together! This past weekend we celebrated a good friend's birthday and caught up with some friends.  We also went to Oviedo to see Ryan's family before the holidays.  We always enjoy seeing the kids.  They are growing up sooo fast.  I guess the biggest news we have is that we FOUND A HOUSE! We are so excited to announce that we found a house in a beautiful South Tampa neighborhood in walking distance to the Tampa Bay.  We will be moving in late January, just in time for Gasparilla!! We are so fortunate and have so much to be thankful for this Christmas.  We are looking forward to being in North Carolina on Thursday!  Hope you all have safe travels and Merry Christmas to everyone! Hope you enjoy your time with your family and friends.  Look for updates after Christmas! Ho Ho Ho!

Oh December

You can tell we are staying busy, because I can't seem to even update our blog each week. I am working on being better.  We really enjoyed being home for Thanksgiving and getting to see that awesome WOLFPACK football game!! It felt good to be back in Raleigh even for the day.  Ever since getting back from North Carolina, life has been crazy for us.  Ryan has been in D.C., back for two days, then gone to Texas for a week.  Thank goodness no more traveling for a while for work.  I have missed my husband, and so has Morgan Dog. I have been satying busy with work, but still really loving it. Going to work everyday gives me pride and I feel so blessed to have such a great job, assistant, and co-workers.  Everyone has been so welcoming, and I am definitely gaining a backbone with dealing with many relays. Last weekend I helped host Cocktails For A Clause, an event put on by some of us Junior League ladies to get toys for kids who are in need of a Merry Christmas.  It was a great success, and a fun time being with friends! Ryan and I recently celebrated our Six Month Wedding Anniversary! We have been so busy that we haven't been able to celebrate yet, so tomorrow night we are going out to a romatic dinner. YAY!  I am excited for my work Christmas party tomorrow afternoon. Ryan's work party is Saturday night, and that should be a fun time too.  Between celebrating, parties, and decorating for Christmas, it is going to be a fabulous weekend! Stay tuned! :)

Happy Thanksgiving

Wow, it has been such a busy November.  I am sorry I have not blogged in a while.... I started my fantastic job at the American Cancer Society on November 10, and that has kept me extremely busy.  I am loving my job, and it is so rewarding to work for an organization that's goals include saving lives. I have enjoyed getting together with some of my friends in Tampa this month as well.   Ryan and I went to the Homestead Nascar Weekend races this past weekend.  This was my first time watching a race live, and we had a ball. We were lucky enough to be able to be in a VIP Cabana all weekend, so it was a great first experience for me.  We then turned around Tuesday and drove to Greensboro, North Carolina for Thanksgiving.  I can't tell you how wonderful it is to be back in my hometown in my childhood home celebrating Thanksgiving.  I love Tampa, but I miss North Carolina a lot!! It is our first married Thanksgiving, and I feel so blessed for everything God is doing for Ryan and I and all of the things that I know are coming up for us in the next couple of months.  Things are really starting to come together, and that is such a wonderful thing.  I promise to be better about blogging as we approach Christmas.  I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Sex and the City (Tampa Edition)

Hello friends! Hope you all had a wonderful end of the week and weekend! Ryan and I had a great end of the week/weekend! Thursday night I attended a Pre- Holiday Gift Market Gala at the beautiful home of Heather Weber, a new Junior League friend. Her house is on Harbor Island proper, an area that I had not been to yet. What a gorgeous neighborhood on the water! The event was lovely, and it was great to catch up with some of the Junior League ladies! We then all headed to the Gala. A cute Tampa boutique had a booth at the Holiday Gift Market and I bought a few dresses there. It was such a fun time. Every time I go out with my Tampa friends, I can't help but feel like I am in a Sex and the City movie, of course being the Charlotte of the group. Tampa is just soooo BIG CITY, fashion forward, and fun. I love it!! Friday I did my JLT shift at the HGM, then Ryan and I enjoyed a date night out watching Joey's Race. We are such a sports couple, which leads me to Saturday...... GO PACK! We were obviously thrilled with the results of the UNC game. Five years in a row is some kind of record! I guess the flag on that ship is floating around the sea somewhere (haha)! ;) After that exciting game concluded, we went to Orlando to the Wyland Art Gallery in Downtown Disney. We have a few of his pieces, thanks to our parents, and it was great to meet him in person and take a photo with him and our piece of art! We also enjoyed watching him paint one of his current paintings. It was such a neat experience, and I am excited to hopefully do it again soon. We also hope to continue to become avid collectors of art. We made it back in time to watch the Alabama game, and although it didn't turn out the way we wanted, we enjoyed watching these great teams battle it out. The SEC has some incredible talent. Sunday we went to the Greek Church, and the Archbishop from Atlanta was there. It was awesome, and we really enjoyed meeting him and taking part in that special event. We also hosted our newlywed friends from St. Pete for dinner, and met their cute new puppy. Morgan enjoyed making a new friend too. This is going to be an exciting week for me because I start my job!! I am nervous and excited all at the same time. Stay tuned for updates! :)

Halloween Weekend

We had a wonderful weekend with family this past weekend celebrating Lauren's 9th birthday and Jenna's 7th Birthday. They are growing up so fast, even in the two years that I have known them. It is so special to look at pictures of the kids over the past few years and see how much they are changing. Lauren even informed me Friday on the way to dinner that she was 56 inches. That means at the age of 9 years old she is only 5 inches shorter than Aunt Megan. Oh goodness!!  I did watch the FSU game, however I think it's safe to say that this was not the highlight of our weekend, so I am going to focus on the cute kids. I had such a fun time Trick or Treating with the kids on Sunday at UCF's Greek Village. All of the sororities and fraternities partner up and do activities and hand out candy to the kids at their homes. It was really nice, and I enjoyed seeing all of the pretty houses. We then did an entire family birthday dinner for both girls. So, this was a very low key Halloween for me and Ryan this year. We did not dress up, but we both had a great time. I enjoyed catching up with the Junior League ladies last night for the meeting and the pre and post meeting socials. I love being a part of this organization, and I have met some wonderful ladies. More updates soon! :)

Two Income Family!

I am so glad that I can officially say that I have a new job starting in November with the American Cancer Society, as the Community Representative for the Greater Tampa area. It is such a blessing to be employed, and of course Ryan is thrilled too. He did not want to have to support my expensive shoe habit solo (haha). As the Community Representative I will basically be overseeing volunteers and helping fundraise, plan, and coordinate four Relay for Life events in the Greater Tampa area. I am really excited to work for such an amazing organization with such a worthwhile cause, and I know it will be a rewarding experience for me. Thank you to everyone who has called, emailed, facebooked, etc. to congratulate me. I am extremely happy. On another note, Ryan is out of town this week in New Orleans (lucky guy I know) for work and he is having a great time. I am looking forward to 2012, when I can take some vacation time and travel with him to some of these fun places. He is presenting at this convention in NOLA on some of the things he has been researching and I know he will do a great job. I am so proud of my husband for landing this amazing job in Tampa and for everything he is doing for his field.  We are truly blessed!! I am looking forward to seeing my hubby Thursday night! Morgan Dog and I are holding down the fort while Ryan is gone. We are having some mommy puppy bonding time, which is always nice. More updates soon! :)

Junior League of Tampa Donor Cocktail

Thursday evening Ryan and I were selected to take part in the Annual Donor Cocktail honoring those who have substantially contributed to the Junior League of Tampa (we are not those people just yet...).  It was held in South Tampa at a beautiful home. We had such an amazing time. The food and drinks were delicious and we had a great time mingling and getting to know some of the other Junior League couples. Of course, I enjoyed seeing Ryan in a suit and I also enjoyed putting on my cocktail attire. It is always fun to get dressed up and go to a private event with your hubby. I hope that we will be able to attend more social events like this in the near future. As a "thank you" for coming they gave us a beautiful Reed and Barton stemmed vase. I am looking forward to using it in our home! :) Ryan's parents have also been here since Thursday night. We have really enjoyed having them with us. We have wined, dined, and Bonnie and I have even shopped. It is really nice to be able to spend time with them.  More updates soon!