sorry i'm a bad blogger!!

so i told you things may slow down after school started back but i didn't even realize how much!! school hasn't actually been all the stressful yet, though i think i have read about 1000 pages this week in prep for next week! but the DNC was occupying lots of my time, and rightly so because it was awesome to see history in the making!!

so i guess i should reveal i am an Obama fan!! my closest firends and family know that but i feel like i should tell you that up front! i'm not a totally extremeist about it but it does irritate me when people tell stupid lies aobut him because they dont' want to vote for him. i mean if you don't want to vote for him becasue you think he's wrong about the country needed change, or because you disagree that he has enough experience or something else policy wise. but i HATE it when people make political decisions based on thier ill concieved notions that he somehow is goingto be bad at the job of president because he is bi-racial ( not 'black' or african american even- his father was from kenya, but he was raised by his very White midwestern single mom and grandparents!!- you can't get any whiter than Kansas!!) Anyway i think it is just as stupid as people believing that Hilary would be a bad political leader 'casue she has a uterus!!

ok sorry for the rant and raving about it, but it does iritate me, 'cause this is 2008 people. get with the fact that all people are created equal!!

so then i had a great weekend babysitting for two cute little girls!! and i am about to go there again and so it soon after i make dinner for me and hubby i get to go spend the night putting other people's kids to bed!!

-julia

middle of the week, ugg.

so today is wednesday. and that means that i have officially been to all my classes for the first day. So now i have to just attend them for the rest of the semester. So the outlook is positive, though i am sure that this semester will be must more difficult than the last two. i like all my professors, but they are all really good at their jobs which means my assignments will certainly stretch me beyond belief!!

I have Dr. Heitzenrater for Early Methodism, and he is like the man of Methodist studies. I was really excited about sitting in classes with a legend, and he is one of the main reasons that i came to duke, honestly! but wow he is kinda on the boring side. i mean he is great, but he could be a bit more perky up there lecturing.

Dr. Wacker is who i have for American Christianity. he is a really cute geeky man! he makes jokes and tells good example stories which is nice because he keeps me engaged in his lecture at 8:30 in the morning! really sweet man. the only bad part is that he is one of these, just keep up with the reading with no real plan for when to read what by when, professors. that really doesn't work for me so we'll see how much i actually read!

side note this is one of two classes that i have to attend not just lectures, but small group discussion classes -which is actually where i will ask questions and such. so last semester i had this preceptor- to remain nameless to protect his identity- but i had him for Church History last year and i got a C+ in the class. Then i had him AGAIN for New Testament AND Old Testament second semester and got two of the hardest worked for B's of my life!!! Anyway- when we register for classes it doesn't tell us who we have for precept for so we don't just take the same person over and over, but somehow i just gravitate towards his section for some reason. So i get to class yesterday and the preceptors are announced and introduced, and lo and behold there is this guy!!! he was SUPPOSED to graduate and leave me alone!!! so sure enough i looked online and there he is teaching my class!!! so great now he thinks i'm stalking him and i'll get a bad grade! - to put the positive spin on things, he isn't a jerk i actually like him a bit because i know him so well at this point, and he has really cute kids, but still!!

then i have Dr. Carter for Christian Theology, and he is awesome! he just got tenure but he is really young! He reminds me of a rapper for some reason, just his inflection and cadence to his words is really similar to someone who is used to reading poetry or something! he also has great timing, speeding up and slowing down for dramatic effect! really good!!

so all in all it will be great but still a bit stressful! also today is my big sister's birthday!!! she is an awesome person and great sister!! she turns 26 today and for the next two weeks will be three years older than me, but soon i'll be 24 and catch back up to her!! have a great day rebecca!! i love you a ton!!

-julia

first day down, many more to go!

So today was my first day of classes! i only had one classes today, but i still had quite a day. There was plenty of reading to do for the class so i spent the morning reading and prepping for class. Then audie went and dropped me off for class early so i could print the syllabus and stuff. tomorrow begins my first early day!

for those who are interested these are the classes i am taking. Gender and Race in Paul, American Christianity, Christian Theology and Early Methodism. So today was Gender and Race in Paul, for 2 and a half hours. And while in undergrad we had a soft first day where we just went over the syllabus and introduced ourselves and stuff and then went home. Not in Graduate school !! today we not only went over the syllabus but then went over the theoretical and theological basis for the class and what would be expected of us for each assignment.

This particular class is made up of not only second and third year students, but also has some Ph.D students in it. I think that is going to definitely raise the level or discussion and rigor for the class for sure. And the professor is AMAZING!! he definitely is awesomely scholarly and really hard, but in a down to earth way that makes him easy to listen to! he is from New Zealand and he is really relaxed and laid back!! he taught us today in cargo shorts, sandals and a button up short sleeve shirt, like a surfer for real!!

awesome discussion today about Genesis 3:28 ( that's the no slave nor free, no male or female, no greek nor jew text ) anyway so then we spent the rest of the time in small groups discussing the text and exegeting (determining the meaning and important nuances of the text) as much as possible from first glance. Apparently we will do this same text on the last day of class as well and using what we have learned in class will help us determine the answers to our initial questions about the text.

ahh!! i loved it, totally and completely every minute of it! this whole experience is totally the hardest thing i have ever done, but every time i leave a class i have such confirmation that this is where God wants me!! i love it!!! (but tomorrow at 7, when i have to get up for my early classes, which i have four days a week, let's see how much i love it!)

-julia

it's ovah!! or is it just beginning?

WOW what a ride! so after the massive shopping extravaganza the wedding stuff stepped it up a notch and amber, her mom and i went crazy getting stuff done. and now it is all over. when i get back to NC officially there will be pics and stuff but for now let's just say it was amazing!! Amber and Derek were amazingly beautiful and it was a ton of fun to see them get married. It was like a whirlwind though! i had the best time in the world hanging gout with old friends from college and seeing the most wonderful people in my life! My hubby also came down yesterday so of course i had to spend some time with him, after not seeing him for a full week and a half!

but the whirl wind of the wedding is over and now life gets back to normal! Audie and i left the reception and went straight to see my in-laws! so now things have calmed down considerably. Tomorrow the whole crew (audie's bro and sis and their spouse/significant other) will be at lunch after church and then it is back to ol' NC!! booo!!!

and monday.... the grind begins! i have my first class of my second year at Duke! so if the blogging slows down, that is why! i actually received an email from two separate professors telling us our reading assignments for the first class meetings this week!! ACH!!! so i will be prepared but just seeing those syllabi freak me out a bit! it will be fine just back to getting stuff done and work!

so i'm exhausted from all the wedding mayhem (amber it was awesome and i loved every minute of it) I really am pumped about some really great pics that were taken and ready to hear how amber thought it all went, but of course she is on the honeymoon, so i won't hear from her for a while.

anyway i'm rambling and pooped so i'll check back later!

-julia

CUTE shoes!

So yesterday we (amber, her mom and i) went shopping for different stuff needed for Amber's wedding and honeymoon.  Amber's mom needed shoes for the wedding and so the first stop we made was to DSW.  If you don't know that is the best shoe store in the world, i mean it's kind of like what heaven might be like.  

Well in DSW not only do they have really cute shoes, but also they have a back room with all their discontinued shoes, or shoes that are out of season, or on mega sale for whatever reason. they are all organized, which i love, there is nothing worse than unorganized chaos at a sale.  anyway they are organized by size, so you don't have to struggle to find the cute shoes in your size.   

So i found some great shoes in black that i really like, but were a bit small.   Which meant i wanted to find another size and so i looked like real hard to find some more just one half size more.  so around the area i went looking and looking- then i saw the same shoe in a half size larger, but it was in taupe- not bad looking, and they fit ten times better, but i thought that the color was a bit weirder and so wasn't sure that i would wear them as much.  

Then i noticed the sticker.  well the taupe ones were on sale for 70% off, but the black ones were only 40% off- well that must be a mistake.  well then i got concerned because if they are only 17$ i would have possibly bought both, but if they are both 40$ i'm not sure that i would pay that much for either of them.  

so off i went to the front of the store to ask, because this is imperative information to make my shopping decision.  so i asked the lady behind the counter and she confirmed that they were both marked correctly and so that the black ones would be 40$ but the taupe would be 17$.  so then i was like well ok, if they were bothe 17 i would have bought both, but ince they aren't i'm not sure if i should buy any.  (because i think i would wear the black ones more, but the taupe ones were the ones on sale- just my luck) well as i say this then the manager, who is right behind the counter as well says that we can work something out. 

Promptly they gave me both pairs for 70% off and my total was only 38$ which is amazing!  look at the picture below so see the awesomeness!! YAY!!

T- minus 4 days

Ok so there are four days left until Amber and Derek's wedding.  I am in charge of the programs and generally helping out while i am here.  So i have been rubber cementing paper together, punching holes, cutting paper and threading ribbon all week.  They are really cute, but are kind of tedious to do.  i feel like i haven't done anything else in a while but stare at paper, but i promised to update you all on my life so this is it. 

Also it has now been a week since i have seen my husband!  i miss him so much.  i think it's really funny because while we were dating we lived like two hours apart and we saw each other like every two weeks and spoke on the phone for hours each night before we went to sleep.  Since we have been married this is the longest we have ever spent apart.  And each night while we speak before bed we definitely don't talk for hours, more like 15-20 minutes.  maybe it just because nothing really has been going on but my glueing paper together, and his looking for jobs, and so there just isn't much to say.  

but i do miss those long convos in the dark of my dorm room, i guess that's what happens when you get married, but you get to trade it out for better stuff like spending a whole week together, 24 hours a day seven full days in a row. (we totally did that this summer several times) so i guess i shouldn't complain!  

but i do miss my sweetie!  i really just miss being around him, having him near me to help/ answer question or discuss things with.  i just love him a ton and i'm totally glad that we got married, and haven't EVER regretted it!  

ok enough mushy stuff, 

byee- julia

What a weekend!!

Ok so i sort of posted on Saturday, but Sunday was an awesome day, but i was WAY too tired to do any posting last night.  

so yesterday morning Amber, Derek and I all went to church.  SO great to see friend i haven't seen in a long time!  i loved seeing all the church people i haven't seen since i graduated a year ago.  we'll forget that Alvin forgot my name has changed!  ( actually it's not a huge deal i barely noticed, but then i was like, wait that's not my name)  It's funny how long it takes to recognize your new last name but then when someone calls you the 'wrong' name it registers quickly.  but most of the time it's not a huge deal.  

That reminds me of a story and i'll tell it to you 'cause that is what this blog is about anyway-  So on Audie's and my honeymoon we decide to save the much needed money by shopping for sandwich stuff, chips and soda to keep in our hotel room and to make lunch everyday and just eat out at dinner each night.  So the first afternoon we were there (married less than 24 hours) we go to a super Target to buy the groceries.  Well we are walking up and down the aisles and he gets slightly ahead of me down an aisle with a stock boy on it.  So i am talking to him, saying i wonder where the such and such is or whatever.   And the stock boy turns to me and is like "excuse me ma'am were you talking to me?"   and i just as naturally as can be said, " no i'm talking to my husband, thanks though" -  ACK so natural like we had been married for like 20 years and were just shopping at the supermarket for the weeks groceries!  so funny how quickly i switched over, but then i still slip up and call him my 'boyfriend' sometimes now!  haha 

ok so that was a side note, yesterday afternoon Jessica and I threw Amber a lingerie shower.  SO MUCH FUN!!  we played games we talked about sex, we talked about fun girly stuff and had some good food and really good cocktails.  and Amber got the cutest lingerie, and some things that she really will wear which is nice too.  

THEN amber and derek and i went to the movies to see Stepbrothers,  it was extremely funny - i laughed like the whole time even though it was mostly inappropriate humor!  really fun!!  

So best day for sure!  after the movie amber and i wound up falling asleep at like 11  like old ladies or something- but we had a long day so it was ok 

so see you later- Julia 

Today's events

hi all!  I'm staying in Lagrange this week with Amber for the wedding!! We went bachloretting last night.  We wound up just going out to dinner, and it was amazing.  We laughed and laughed and talked seriously and loved spending time together. 

But before it all started i realized that i had brought everything i needed, but my dressy clothes.  So i had to work something out so i would have my dress clothes for church, and the shower for tomorrow, the rehearsal dinner and of course for the wedding.  But thankfully my mom worked it out, and i went to Thomaston to get my clothes.  then i spent the rest of the day running errands getting things ready for the awesome shower that Jessica and i are throwing for Amber tomorrow afternoon.  But really not a huge day, but things are sweet 'cause i get to live with my roomie again!!  

Early Morning Post!

Wow, so those of you who know me are aware that i am like the worst morning person in the world and are surprise that i am awake at 8 am, much less doing something productive. But i am still at my parent's house for the week and so I am waking up earlier each day because they are up making noise, the light in my high school bedroom isn't like the light in my room in Durham, I'm in the bed alone instead of being with the husband, etc.

Today though i am headed to LaGrange! I loved being in college there and one of my two best friends ever is getting married. The three of us are all bachloretting tonight in Atlanta and i am looking forward to being dressed up, good food, good laughs and LOTS of fun!! Then i'll be in LaGrange the rest of the week being the wedding elf for Amber.

She's been a really great friend to me form the start of college on, and i love that we met so randomly and that we think and act the same so much, but are also so different! She's marrying the wonderful Derek, who is actually perfect for her. Now that she is with Derek i feel like i know the real Amber better, just by seeing her interact with someone who really is perfect for her. She is quirky and funny and loving to everyone and everything( in theory, in reality she can be a bit snippy without realizing it, but we are working on it) and was my first real friend at college.

Jessica is equally an amazing friend and is the person who reigns Amber and i back in. I think Amber and i are sometimes too loud, impulsive and kooky, but Jessica is none of those things. She is the voice of reason, the responsible one who knows how much is in her bank account down to the cent! I value her opinion and thoughts about matters so much, because she approaches life in such a different way than me that i know she has the answers to the questions i haven't thought of yet. She also has an amazing man in her life who is perfect for her, and stretches her- because i think he is more impulsive and feeling oriented and she is more analytical and facts oriented (and both are great). They make a good team. She also is beautiful, graceful, and a good dancer, and let me know that it was ok to think outside the box on issues.

I'm not really sure why this is what i posted about, but i am so excited to see and hang out with these girls. They are some of my most favorite people in the world! You know who sometimes people (or games or something) ask you who you would most like to have dinner with living or dead. Well i know the answer is supposed to be Jesus or someone equally famous, but i'm going to have dinner with my answer tonight!

Hannah's Dorm

So we went and took Hannah to school today (side note- sad day that my baby sister is old enough to go to college). It went remarkably well as move in days go.

However her roomate is a no show. Well she hasn't shown up yet, but maybe that means hannah can kind of pick her own roomate. Or maybe she won't come at all and she can have the room. So yeah tons of toating boxes, but not really because the cheerleaders and football players were there to help everyone carry stuff. Sad day that it was raining cats and dogs most of the time!

Basically i'm pretty tired and just wanted to say something to the greater wrld about the fact that my baby sis is growing up (hopefully she'll turn out ok). We all learn/learn so much about responsibility at school and we all need those lessons. Hopefully they will stick and the partying all night not going to class ones won't.

But right or wrong everyone must live with the choices they make, i just hope that she knows to surround herself with people that are better than her and that will motivate her to acheive more than she has already (though she is a great person already!!). I just mean that i know that my est friends were always motivating me to do things better than i would have done them on my own, not worse and i hope the same for her.

Anyway, so i hope hannah sleeps well in the otherwise empy dorms and has a good few weeks before the onslaught of school begins for her! Meanwhile-back with ME!

I'm going to go to the District office of the UMC in my hometown to get paperwork signed and have lunch with my dad and stepmom! hope all goes according to plan but don't have other plans.

love to all

-Julia

HELLO from GA!!!

YAY I made it fine to my home state! Audie dropped me off at the airport this morning just fine and my flight went awesomely well! I had a window seat and the middle one was free so that meant a TON of extra space. Awesome! I also used my Ipod to listen to great music for the whole (1 hour) flight. AND.... dan da da da(trumpet music).... I finished the Go! magazine crossword during the flight.

FINISHED it, that is awesome by the way. I only looked at the answers a few time, and only when i thought i already knew the answer. That's good by the way if you didn't know. Anyway i have to go have dinner with my family!!!

Both of my sisters are here and my parents which is cool 'cause since i got married we haven't done that.

AND tomorrow my younger sister Hannah moves to school! ACK I'm getting old, 'cause my baby sister is growing up!!

More from GA later!!

The weekend!

This was an amazing weekend, tiring but great! Saturday Audie and I had lunch with a friend of mine from LaGrange. She just moved here to Durham because her someone special is attending the Div school with me this year. It was really fun, and after an awesome lunch at Elmo's Diner, my favorite place in Durham, we did a tour of Durham for her, since she is new and all.

Then we got back to watch the Olympics for a while and then I went and babysat for a family in Chapel Hill. The kids were basically asleep the whole time, so that meant i watched the Olympics at thier house rather than mine. But the youngest, who was 11 weeks old was kind of up and down, which meant I got to hold her a LOT and it was AWESOME!! I love babies, and she was really cute!

But it was a long night i was really tired when i got home and i didn't feel well and then this morning i was pretty worn out so we didn't go to church. Which is a big downer for the day in the first place. We were really excited about going to our church in Raleigh for the first time since i was at field ed.

So more relaxing and Olmpic watching all day. I really need to pack and get ready to go to GA on Tuesday!!

-Julia

Little Lin Hao!!

Ok so i just finished watching the Olympic Opening Ceremonies!! WOW!! China's was definitely one of the best i have ever seen! If they ever want to take over the USA they could just syncronize thier dance movements and we would be so in awe that they would have no problem getting passed us! But wow at the technology and coordination that went into that whole spectacle of China pride.

I cried like three times. (I'm a bit of a crier in general- one of these times was a McDonald's commercial that aired during the ceremonies) But one of them (a bit more apprpriate) was when a little boy named Lin Hao was introduced. I'm not sure if that is how you spell his name or not but he is my new favorite child and the highlight of the ceremonies!

Lin Hao walked into the stadium with Yao Ming who carried the Chinese flag in front of all their athletes. Lin Hao survived the very deadly earthquake that occured earlier this year in China. He was one of ten survivors in his 30 person class of students. But remarkabley when he freed himself from the rubble he went back and freed two more other children from his class.

When people asked him later why he went back for others, he responded by saying that he was the hall moniter and that was his job! He is nine years old. Wow, what a great kid! (ok i'm crying again-Cute little baby!!)

I just am overwhelmed by the attitude of helping others that is symbolized in his actions, that he felt a responsibility for his classmates and didn't shirk that responsibility when many would have. In fact no one would have blamed him if he hadn't gone back for others, but he in this crisis reacted with valor and courage!

I hope that my children have that same kind of courage and valor (though i also hope they never have to use it in that way). IN FACT i hope I have that kind of reaction under pressure. I'm not sure if i would or not, but this little boy gives me inspiration and i thought you might enjoy hearing the story again or for the first time.

-Julia

My Bench!

So I didn't post yesterday, but i have a great reason! my new bench that i made! We had been looking for a while for a bench to put at the bottom of the bed to use for storage and to sit on when needed. After looking and finding out how expensive that kind of thing is i decided to make on myself ans set out to find a bench i could cover.
I finally found the above coffee table at the Habitat Hand-Me-Up store for a bunch cheaper! so yesterday i had the first opportunity to go look for fabric and supplies to made it match the bedspread.

So first i covered it in about 10 layers of batting. I was going to buy foam, but it was really expensive, but this made it cushy without being to much.

Then i covered the top in this fabulous floral fabric i found and got 40% off! the teal is the color of the darkest stripe of our duvet cover and the green is also found in the duvet cover.

Then i added a box pleated green skirt that the fabric was only 1.99 a yard!


Finally i hot glued this golden rope trim to the seam in between the two fabrics.

And here it is in place!! I am so excited! It was a ton of work, but a lot of fun. I love that it coordinates but doesn't match too much. And i cost me all total about 55 bucks, as opposed to the 100 dollar version in stores, that doesn't even look this good!

Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Today

So I know that I said this blog was so that ya'll could keep up with our lives, but basically right now our lives are pretty boring! Sorry!

I just finished up an amazing ten weeks at an internship that I worked all summer so I'm not doing much these days. With Audie being unemployed he spends most of the day on the computer looking for new job postings, new websites with information for him and what not. I spent most of the day doing nothing when I should have been productive.

One thing that did get accomplished today was I called maintenance from our apartment complex to fix several small things that needed to be done before school gets back in and I am so busy that i won't even remember to call them. There were four things on my list:

1. install a peep hole- the apartment complex has apparently ordered a ton to install and we are now on the list to receive one. -sad day!

2. put new weather stripping on the back door- he did that pomptly, but now our door doesn't close easily anymore- headache!

3. fix the running toilet- he installed new 'guts' inside the tank- but after he left it started to run immediately again- more headaches!!

4 fix the light switch in the bathroom- he looked at it and told me that the only thing he could do was put in a new switch, but that may not fix it. I asked if he would try it anyway. two hours and four other maintenance men later.... the switch was broken, then fixed then broken again, and now it is finally fixed for real (though maybe they are just telling me that so I'll stop calling them to come do stuff) - that's a good thing at least for now!

Well the most important thing going on right now is that in one week I will be back in GA for 12 days!! My best friend (well one of them) Amber is getting married and being a great Matron of Honor I am going down to celebrate, and help do all the last minute wedding errands and projects. This also coincides with my younger sister, Hannah, moving to college, so I get to help tote all her things up to her new dorm room too!! Also Audie's sister Leah and brother-in-law just found out they are expecting a baby and they are going for their first ultrasound while I am down there. I'm really excited about being an aunt!!

I'm flying down all by myself, but then Audie is coming in just for the rehearsal dinner and wedding and then we will go back together! But we'll both get to see our respective families for a good while which is going to be awesome!! We haven't been to GA since Christmas so it is long awaited journey to the homeland!! More on all this later after the fact, and possibly pictures!

-Julia

Intro

Hi everyone! This is my new blog! I've been obsessed with several blogs recently and I keep telling Audie that i wish i could do my own. Well today I have. No real reason for starting it today, just that things have calmed down since the summer is winding down. so a bit of introductions are in order.

I'm Julia, and my husband is Audie, hence the name of the blog. We are both pretty big dorks in several ways, but you'll figure that out on your own soon, so we won't get into that.

We met now two years ago and have been married for a bit over one year! We both love being married and think that it is the coolest thing ever! We don't have any kids mostly because I am a full time student in seminary. I'm getting my Masters of Divinity, which means in about 2 years I will (hopefully) be ordained as Reverend Julia. (which is kinda scary to think about) For now Audie is unemployed, but looking hard for a graphic design job (or just one that will pay the bills until he gets one) in the Triangle area.

School starts back only three weeks from now and I'm really excited to get back in the swing of things. In theory i would like to update the blog every day (because i check my favorite ones everyday and i wish there was always something new to see) but in actuality with my busy schedule of classes, readings for classes and papers and projects for classes I'm not sure how often that will be.

Well I guess that's about it- Hope that's enough for a first post and that you'll continue to check in and see what's up!

-Julia