Halloween Weekend

Halloween weekend began with work for me. Yep, work!  I started my job at A.C. Moore this week, which is an Arts and Crafts store that only exists out here in the Eastern states.  It is VERY similar to Michael's which means it's nowhere near as awesome as Hobby Lobby.  Apparently Hobby Lobby is the king of all craft stores, and its competitors know it.  It is a big deal to even have worked there, so people are very impressed that I did and they already assume I know everything.  Hobby Lobby really does have almost anything you could ever need and plenty of things you just want.  In just my 20 hours I worked last week, I pretty much know everything that's in A.C. Moore, which is not very much.  I've had to tell a lot of customers, "I'm sorry, we don't carry that." But, I don't mean to bash A.C. Moore.  I have really great managers and I'm slowly meeting my other coworkers.  I say this in the nicest way possible but many of them look like they belong in a craft store, if you know what I mean.  They either have that "artsy" or "homely" look about them.  Don't judge, you know exactly the type of people I'm talking about!

All in all, it's work.  It's easy, but humbling.  I definitely feel like it's way below my pay grade (because it is), but you gotta do what you gotta do sometimes.  This is just one of those times.

Because it is retail, I did end up having to work Friday night, but only until 9:00 pm.  I was excited to come home to Ryan and a perfectly spotless apartment.  It was just one of those weeks where I did not want to even pick up after myself.  I worked 4-9 three days in a row and accomplished NOTHING before 4:00 pm those days.  So I was so grateful that Ryan cleaned up all my messes and even started some laundry.  It's weeks like this that remind me that maybe I'm not quite ready for a baby because there are plenty of times I can barely look after myself, let alone Ryan, too!

The remainder of Friday night was spent with our favorite classmates of Ryan's - Hillary and Laura (our pumpkin carving friends) as well as about six others.  They were watching Hocus Pocus (LOVE THAT MOVIE!) when we got there, but we were THAT couple that started talking so much they ended up pausing the movie and it never got restarted. After a few hours of good conversation and bellies full of pumpkin and regular cheesecake, I don't think anyone minded.    

On Saturday Morning our ward had our Halloween Party and Trunk or Treat.  We are part of the Activities Committee at church but weren't involved in any of the planning of this event.  We just helped before and after and I was the official photographer.  I must say, I just love all the trees in North Carolina.  Look how pretty these are, right on the church property!

The woman who did put it all together did a great job! Just look at her cute labels for the food and drink.  I've yet to decide if I will ever be like that.  While I appreciate it and think it's cute, I don't know I'll ever think it's worth MY time.  I've never had the desire to be that perfect hostess with the perfectly coordinated food, decor, treat bags, etc.  We'll see if that changes with time.

Ryan and I were really lame and didn't dress up, so I didn't take any pictures of the two of us.  But, here are some pictures of my favorite costumes.  Some families are just so creative and it makes me want to get more into it in the future!

Our Bishop

Sesame Street

101 Dalmatians

New York
The little taxi driver even had a beard and tattoos!

Fire Hydrant, Firefighter, Campfire and Fire Dog

Chefs and their victims
They put the little baby lobster in the pot and it might
have been one of the cutest things I've ever seen!

Charlie and the Chocolate factory
(their son's name is Charlie!)

Wayne's World

Aren't they just so fun?  The rest of the day was filled with football (GO BIG RED!!!!) and baseball and our favorite game, Monopoly Deal.  We just could not seem to get off our lazy bums and it was fantastic.  This uneventful Halloween we're off to our friends Ali and Daniel's apartment to help them cheer on the Texas Rangers. I hope y'all enjoyed your holiday weekend!! 

NC State Fair

Overall, I must say that I was very impressed! I only went to the Nebraska State Fair once and I was not impressed.  Instead of the decrepit fairgrounds in Lincoln (I know it's moved now, but that's where I went), these fairgrounds are beautiful.  The food stands and games went on, and on, and on; and it was one giant maze.  I don't think we went down the same row twice.  I do think our smartest move of the evening was splitting each of our fried goodies between four of us!  That way we got a taste of everything without feeling too disgusting.

Also, these pictures are a reason why all those Photoshop Actions in my last post are so much fun!

 

 
 

 

Photoshop Actions

Last night I discovered a miracle - Photoshop Actions!  I am constantly amazed at how much of photography is in the editing.  After finding and downloading all these free actions, it is just one click and voila - the picture completely transforms! A big thanks to the people who took the time to do all this so I don't have to.  One day I might eventually figure out all the inner workings of Photoshop, but until then, I'm loving this!

Much to be Grateful For

First off, I figured out how to make the pictures quite LARGE but I'm not sure if I like it or not - for a post like this it makes it incredibly long.  So let me know what you think!

Ryan and his classmates have decided that school isn't worth losing your insanity, so I've been able to spend a lot more time with him and them.  We definitely had plenty of bonding time during Duke's Graduate Campout for season basketball tickets.  Around 2,000 students gathered in tents, RVs, and U-Haul trucks for two days straight and had to be ready at a moment's notice to check-in as the obnoxious alarm rang at any time - day or night.  We had a tent in this mess, that we sort of stayed in the first night, but there was not much sleep going on.

So as you can see, we were catching shut-eye whenever and wherever we could on Saturday.

I just realized that this picture happens to be pretty much our favorite of Ryan's classmates!

Because you will be seeing more of them in the future, they are (L->R):

Patrick, Annika, Melina, Hillary, Ashley and Laura.

See, there they are with a few others!  We went dancing in Raleigh last Friday at a place called "The Mirage" and had an absolute blast.  It was our time to prove to his classmates that we weren't just a boring married couple.  They were definitely in awe of our ability to cut a rug!

Ryan and Patrick put their manshake to music and turned it into a dance.

Heavens, we may have proved that we can have fun, but we were EXHAUSTED after our night out and spent almost the entire following afternoon watching football and sleeping in our hammock.

This week we got all dressed up for the Physical Therapy's "Black and White Party"

Poor Ryan, still can't quite get enough sleep and still crashes whenever he can - this time as he was home for lunch.

This Friday night, Ryan was in heaven as we went to Duke's Countdown 2 Craziness - the kickoff of Duke Basketball 2010-2011!  He didn't win season tickets, but 19/40 of his classmates did and they then divide them up so he/we did end up with 10 tickets.

On Saturday we went to Raleigh to watch Nebraska at the Huskers bar, but we won't talk anymore about that.  At least we finished the night off happy with our dear friends Hillary and Laura as we carved pumpkins and watched Disney Movies.  

Lastly, I have been so frustrated with finding a full-time job that last week I began picking up applications for part-time retail jobs.  After only turning in two resumes, I got a call back and hired at A.C. Moore.  It's a craft store almost identical to Michael's and it makes me happy.  BUT, I am still holding out for one more full-time job that I feel I will love.  It is a Life Enrichment Coordinator at an assisted living home and I would be planning the activities for the elderly.  They told me they want an interview, I'm just waiting for the phone call! So please cross your fingers and say a little prayer. Until then, I really am so grateful for this other job, no matter how small it may be because it gets me out of the house and into an environment that I love. 

Also, after an exchange of a dress that was a total failure, I got this in mail today. I immediately fell even more in love with it once I threw on the belt and boots.  I might still be wearing it...