What a weekend!

Ya'll we had the BEST time this past weekend!! So glad we're back, because it's always nice to get back home. SO our weekend started out by eating dinner at Zaxby's on the way to Asheville. We love some zaxby's and the only one in this area is on the interstate towards atlanta/ asheville, so we get it any time we're on our way to places. we drove all night it seemed like be we got there at like 10:30. checked into the holiday inn, and it was SO nice!! we had a suite, with a separate sitting/kitchen area and bathroom, and in the bedroom it had a big whirlpool tub with jets! So we basically slept off the car ride that night.

Saturday we got up to go to breakfast before going to the Biltmore. We went to IHOP and there was the most annoying waiter ever there. He was just so chatty!! it was driving me insane because he was in the section right next to us, but thankfully he wasn't our waiter! We then drove over to the Biltmore estate and arrived around 9:30 only to be told that the gates don't open up until 10. So we pulled around into the gift shop parking lot with the other early birds. We had tickets reserved for an 11 time slot to go in the house, so we had plenty of time. So we looked around the gift shop and got a book about the biltmore (it turned out to be the official guide book that they sell you with your tickets if you want, but it was cheaper at the gift shop! -insider tip, arrive early, get the book from the gift shop!) Then we had our tickets reserved but did not print them out, so we had to stop by the ticket building (insider tip, print the tickets before you get there) and then had to be in the car line to get in the actual estate. but then we still had like 30 minutes until our tickets were set for so we just went on our way to the parking lot and took the shuttle up to the main house, so Gorgeous!! it was magnificent!! Then we walked around a bit, we had thought that we would look at the gardens and stuff until our ticket time, but it was really cold and nothing was really blooming, so we stayed up close to the house, and then took a pit stop in the gift shopping/ restaurant area before going in the house at 11. When you get in there you can get an audio tour for another 10 bucks, or do the regular tour, you can also get premium tours (like the behind the scenes tour or the roof tour) for like 17, but we decided to just stick with the regular tour at first, we figured if we needed more info we could always go back for more. the tour was wonderfully laid out, we basically followed a book that had the rooms numbered and then it would give you a little blurb of historical stuff. The audio tour people had these mp3 player things that they pressed numbers to hear extra factoids and stories i guess. they were slower than the rest of the people. we walked all through the house, through four floors and the basement, and it was all stairs, so not wheelchair or stroller friendly, though they told you that up front. comfy shoes are a MUST!! it was really neat for sure, so cool to see the 'new technology' like the fire alarms and indoor plumbing! the tour all total took about an hour and a half, so it was time for lunch. There is a restaurant right there in the old stables so we had lunch there. We thought that having lunch would be cheaper than coming back for dinner, and while it was expensive (30-40 bucks for the two of us) it was really yummy and was all local organic produce and fresh bread that is baked right there and stuff. So then we went back to our parking lot and drove up to the winery and farms. there was parking at both of those places and the winery tour was included in the tickets, including a tasting. Audie had grape juice with the rest of the kids and pregnant ladies (he's allergic to alcohol so he wasn't included in the tastings) but it was fun, though i'm not a wine drinker, it was cool. I wish there had been more information about how you make wine, etc. but there wasn't. Actually i think we could have skipped this part and been fine. Then we went right up the road to the farm. it had both a petting zoo and a look around the old farming equipment. i liked seeing the animals!! By then it was around 3 or so. We drove through the rest of the estate and just kind of looked around. We stopped by the stables, and watched the horses. ( you can ride a trail ride or carriage for extra, but i don't actually like horses, except for looking at them so we passed) So then we went on back to hotel and napped and i read through the guide book. it was right up my alley, a slow weekend tour, a full day, but not the whole day activity. That night we went to Olive Garden and just relaxed and enjoyed not having school/work stuff going on.

This morning we slept in and then had breakfast at cracker barrel. We then drove down to a really cool part of Asheville and did a paint your own pottery place. it was so fun. I have this plan for our kids to each have a 'birthday plate' that they paint themselves when they are approaching their 1st birthday. Then they can eat off it every birthday and special occasion. I have had this idea for a while, but didn't know when Audie and i would get to make our plates, so this was a good opportunity. Audie and i each did a dinner plate, i'll post photos when we get them in the mail! Audie showed off and made his really cute, while mine was kind of plain. i tried to do a cute design by doing the paint in different ammounts of layers. so i did an all over layer of the paint and then did multiple layers to do a swirl or stripes. Audie drew a lizard on his, and the lady at the paint the pottery thing actually gasped when she saw it! I mean really, what a show off. Just kidding, he's just putting his art degree to work, but i was a little jealous of his ability!

so then we made our way back to durham, and i'm supposed to be doing homework right now, but i'm blogging instead, probably not good, but i'm just not ready to get back in the groove of things! Ok i'm going to get going, but catch you guys later, and if you are heading to the Biltmore any time soon i can give you some other good tips of places to stay, etc. We had a great weekend and we have promised to do this for ourselves every year that we can!

Alright folks, gotta get going, it's almost bedtime!

julia

Thursday?

Wow it's already thursday!? i can't really believe it, but i'm glad it is, because thursday is the new friday around here. Hannah came up and we had so much fun just hanging out Wednesday night, and then today she visited the school. the admissions office had her running all over and in official business all day, but she did get to sit in my morning class and go to chapel together. big fun!

i did not do good today in self-care. I wore myself out by not sleeping last night and then got to school hungry because i didn't eat any breakfast, but i went and got a coffee, but with no real food to go with it. i ate a later lunch than usual, and only had two pieces of pizza (i realize that sounds bad, because obviously pizza is pretty bad for you, but i hadn't eaten since dinner the night before) then i didn't get home and eat dinner until 7 (i had audie pick up chicfila) again bad Julia for not eating good today, or taking care of myself all day. i was getting really ornery and shaky by the end of the day, eww.

but i have tomorrow off of school, and Audie and i are leaving for Biltmore after he gets home from work!! woo hoo, i'll give you the update on Sunday/Monday! for now i'm going to enjoy my night off!

Julia

slacker

Ok i know i've been MIA for a few days, but i have hit the ground running on working for stuff this week. Sunday morning i slept a good long time! I had to rehydrate all day, but didn't feel that bad after our big party saturday night. So all day sunday i was working on trying to get motivated to start my sermon for Tuesday (today) so i have spent the last few days working on that, getting my exegetical notes don (basically the biblical and theological reasons for what i said in the sermon, along with sources) That is the real booger! but then last night i was practicing the sermon and working on making sure it wasn't too long or too short.

Also i found out today that a good friend is coming to spend the night with us and visit the Div. school Thursday. I got a heads up from her on Sunday night to make sure it wasn't too inconvenient, so she could finalize plans with the admissions people, but it wasn't final that she was coming until this morning. SO last night audie cleared out the office/guest futon for her to sleep on, and cleaned the bathroom upstairs, i did the dishes and probably tonight we'll finish getting out house clean enough for other people to see! Luckily we just had folks over on Saturday so it's not too bad right now.

ok got to go for now, my classes today are going to be awesome. We're watching a movie in my first class and then i'm preaching in my second (which is nerve racking but it also means no lecture) and then my third class of the day is a 'crap class' i hate to say that about a graduate class, but it is.

TTFN!

-Julia

one productive day!

I have gotten so much done today ladies! (ok i'm going to put this out there, i don't think any guys read my blog. my own husband doesn't read so i'm thinking there aren't any boys who read out there. Actually i'm not sure that more than like three folks read my blog, so if you are reading, out yourself and comment)

So Audie needed to get the oil changed in the new car, and i gave him a list of stuff we needed at the store, so i got my errands done without even leaving the house, or my pajamas! We're having some friends over tonight to celebrate my new job news (also my friend Meridith applied for the same jobs i did, and got herself a job too! though she still hasn't decided between the two offers she got, she knows she'll take one of them!) so today i had to finish up some homework, clean up around here, and cook some yummy fingery foods for our party! So i'm already done with the majority of the homework, and cleaning, so now i just have to cook stuff. Nothing too hard, just chicken wing dip (recipe below) pigs in a blanket, sausage balls, and some pizza rolls ( i love them things!) It's kind of a BYO food and drink party, so i'm also serving pink lemonade spritzers ( equal parts pink lemonade and sprite, with a shot of citrus vodka in them if you want- such a yummy girly drink!)

So i'm just happy we got a ton of stuff done today, which is good because i have to get more homework done if we're going to have a homework free weekend at the biltmore.

Ok here's the recipe, i got it from lynsAU over at fluffy, fashionable and famous a while ago, and i love it! it's really easy, and i don't make it in the oven for parties, i like it in the crockpot!

Chicken Wing Dip


2 large cans of chicken
2 packages of cream cheese
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup hot wing sauce
1 cup ranch dressing
2 cup shredded cheddar cheese.

•Preheat oven to 400 degrees and spray a 9x13 Pyrex with cooking spray
•Melt the butter in a small pan over the stove. Drain the chicken and stir with melted butter.
•In another pan melt the cream cheese until it is creamy. Stir in the ranch dressing, and wing sauce.
•Mix chicken in the cream cheese mixture and pour into the 9x13 Pyrex.
•Sprinkle shredded cheese on top, and bake for 30 minutes.
•Alternative directions: After the third step, mix the remaining ingredients, including cheese and pour into a crock pot and heat on low for 2-4 hours.

I also usually cut the recipe in half because there are a ton of leftovers if you don't, especially when there are pigs in a blanket and pizza rolls around too!

bye folks, hope you have a productive saturday!

Julia

last few days

We've been up to both lots and nothing at the same time. It feels like i've been working like crazy, but getting very little done, does that make sense?

I had a paper due yesterday morning, so Wednesday i wound up staying home from class (because i'm a slacker) to work on it and other work. I spent the day sort of working on the paper, and eating really weird. ( like i didn't eat lunch, just some cereal in the AM and then some microwave popcorn in the afternoon) and by the time Audie was on his way home i was beginning to get pretty stressed about not getting things done, and my head was hurting pretty bad. I had a Skullcrusher ( of Katie Fame) and nothing was helping. When Audie called to say he was on his way home, i lost it, i mean full toddler tantrum meltdown, tears and all. I didn't have the energy to cook dinner, and didn't want us to go out because we had the last two nights, and nothing was good enough, basically. SO Audie was like, calm down, i'm on my way and i'll cook dinner (i know, i have an awesome husband). He came home, made me lay down in a dark room while he cooked us chicken fettuccine alfredo, garlic bread and a salad. After i ate dinner, i felt 20 times better! I think i really had a sugar crash at exactly the wrong time.

That night i finished up my paper at midnight, an early night as far as paper writing goes, and then had class all day yesterday. Last night Audie picked up our new TV. It's awesome, a flat LCD screen, HD stuff and all. Loving it!! We set it all up and enjoyed some tv last night, grey's anatomy and Survivor! both were awesome!!

ok got to get back to a LONG to-do list for this week so that i can go on my weekend with Audie to the Biltmore without taking homework with me! i have to preach on Tuesday for my class, and have a big paper due the next tuesday, so i'll be doing a good amount of reading/writing/preaching this week to get it all ready!!

-hope you have a great weekend!

Julia

thoughts on Bachelor

i just realized that i never told you how i felt about the bachelor monday night. I know you were waiting to here what i think. ( you were wondering, you know you were)

I was really surprised that Jake told Ali to not come back! basically what happened was she went home last week because she was told that she would be fired if she didn't come home, and so she chose to go back home. This week she called Jake and said that she had made a mistake and she would like to come back. Jake told her that he didn't feel it was fair for her to come back since she decided to leave. I was really proud of him for not letting her come back, but was sad for Ali. She was totally my favorite girl but when she chose to go home i thought for sure that she would be back next week. I also thought that Jake would have a hard time picking her over a girl that didn't decide to go home. so way to go Jake for not bringing her back. BUT i think that Ali should be the next bachelorette!! i'm totally for her!

I think that all the three dates were good for them, it was totally awkward each time the fantasy sweet card came up, and i thought that Vienna with her 'outfit to make Jake know she's a woman' was especially awkward, because it looked like something you would wear on a wedding night. I'm pretty sure nobody did the deed, because i think Jake values waiting on sex until he's married. (he's never said that, but i get that vibe from him- i think that's great, but i was surprised that he didn't lay down the law a little better about what he expected to happen, or not happen in the fantasy suite, i think Vienna had another idea, for example) But i saw it coming that Gia was sent home, and she accepted it with so much class and was so nice. i have never seen a real connection between the two of them, like i see in the other girls.

Well between Tenley and Vienna i'm for sure going for Tenley, we'll see which one he chooses, but we'll have to wait until two weeks for now, because next week is one of my favorite things! the women tell all episode!! i love how they bring all the girls back to hear what they really think about all that has happened!!

ok there are my thoughts and reflections on it all!

Julia

I have a new skill!

Ok Guys I'm going to try this because my resident blog guru told me how to put links in my blog that are clickable. I realize this is probably like elementary education for most bloggers, but not me, i feel like i just got my master's of blogging!

SO last night audie and i went here to celebrate our new job wonderfulness. I did accept the job that was offered to me at the hospital in Raleigh. I don't want to name the hospital, just because there could be creepy people out there, and also i'm not sure they would like to be the subject of my blog. I do know people who have received offers from the other two hospitals i applied to and so that means that i probably won't get other offers from them. And that is totally ok by me, because i wanted to go to the hospital that already offered me a job.

I mean this is really a lesson for me in how God has such a perfect plan, that i have to just get out of the way and let God lead me and it's all going to work out. Like i only applied to my choice as a backup, and wound up loving it so much. and i kept kind of saying to myself, God make it really clear where i should go and work next year, help me out here. Even if you have to only give me one option, give me your plan. and you know what, God has got this! God totally knew what i needed more than i knew what i needed for myself. and THAT's why i serve a big good, wonderful God. really, because some people (myself included sometimes) get all caught up in how life isn't going the way they want it to, but God has a bigger plan, and that plan is for you to prosper (not in the earthly sense, but in God's prospering in you!) and for you not to be harmed! I think in the long run there is always the hope that God has a greater purpose behind all our pain and hurt, even if we never see the good results that come from it.

Ok sorry for the sermon, but it's a sign of my trade, i can't help it. i know you guys that know me don't mind! Ok i hope that you can see some hope in your life today! and i also hope that you get the privilege, honor and blessing to see the fruits of God's goodness that are the results in the hard times that you may be going through.

alright, got to get going on some homework!

Julia

love my new look!

So excited because my friend Amber gave me a link to get one of those new fangled cute blog background, and it was so easy! I went to this link and basically it was a step by step process!! SO easy, and free!

http://www.thecutestblogontheblock.com


Ok i don't know how to make something a link yet, or to do that cool thing where there is a word in your sentence like "click here" and the here is the link to the place where they went, so you may have to just copy and paste, but i hope that if you are wondering how to make your blog cute that's how!

also: i got a phone call this morning and i have an official offer of a job at the hospital in Raleigh! and i pretty much accepted it so that they would know that i'm pretty set on working there.

SO that means in the next few months Audie and i will be working on moving toward raleigh and all that fun stuff!! woo hoo!! maybe we'll get a dishwasher in this apartment!

Also when Audie talked to his boss today and told him that we'd be around another year. He (the boss) said that there was a possibility that Audie could be made a supervisor! that's another thing to celebrate! we'll be going out to dinner (cheesecake factory) to enjoy a night out to celebrate our new job news!!

ok love to all!

Julia

New look and what i did Not do today!

So i decided to change up my look for the first time ever! i wish i was cool enough to have a beautiful background like some of my bloggy friends, but i'm not that talented, and i'm not sure where to put stuff to make that happen! so i just switched to another template from blogspot. but it's looking good, and i like it!

So today i definitely did NOT:

- get four boxes of girl scout cookies delivered (and i certainly did not eat like 7 right away)

- get audie to pick up fast food for dinner because i just didn't feel like cooking what i had planned on.

- watch 4.5 hours of olympic coverage that is DVR'd from this afternoon. (i also don't have 20 other DVR recordings scheduled for this week alone)

- decided that i was too nervous waiting for word tomorrow that i can't do homework.


Ok that's what i haven't been doing ;) now on to watch the Bachelor! You'll probably get my thoughts tomorrow as well as hear the final choices for my hospital jobs. i have already drafted an acceptance letter back to my first choice (that i got an offer from on Saturday) We'll see if i get any other offers tomorrow.

- Julia

weekend activities

So this weekend was pretty calm and quiet. We slept in and then went grocery shopping (our typical weekend activity) and then settled in to watch the olympics and for me to do some homework! I have a paper due on Thursday, so I'm trying to get my stuff down so i can settle in Tuesday night and get a good start on it. I also have to anticipate that i have two big papers due next week, so as soon as i'm done with this week's stuff i'll be getting right on next week! It never ends! Audie went out to do some shopping for some technology for our house, and when he got back he got the mail for us. In the mail there was a letter from one of the hospitals that i applied for a job at for next year. It was an acceptance letter offering me the job!! I was totally shocked, because we weren't supposed to hear back until Tuesday! So i'm really excited that i have a job for next year, but still waiting to get an official phone call on tuesday before we go out to dinner to celebrate! Also there is still the possibility that i get other offers. The hospital that sent me the letter is who i want to choose over any other offers, so that takes a lot of pressure of the waiting for Tuesday.

Today, we did more olympic watching (i'm official obsessed, and DVR helps me to catch all the coverage!) and more homework, including blogging for my class, which i'm taking a break from to write this.

I hope all you had a great weekend and enjoy your week!

Julia

yep his gift rocked!

The chicken turned out really great everyone! what i did was basically pound chicken breast until they were pretty thin. Ok and can i say that they make this task look really easy on the food network, but it was a little harder than it looked. it wasn't too bad though, but i was glad i only had to do two. I then layered the swiss cheese and ham in the center and rolled the chicken up. I dipped them in flour and then egg and then italian bread crumbs (i think regular would have been better, the italian herbs didn't really hit the flavors right) and then i kind of tucked in the ends and baked them for 30 minutes on 350 degrees. They turned out so yummy!! they will probably be a part of our regular menu from now on, or something we make for special occasions.

Audie totally outdid me on the gifts by the way!! i got this:



I KNOW! i have the best husband ever! I had hinted that i would like this ring as either a valentine's/birthday/graduation/ or save it and get it for me as a push present even, because i loved this ring!! AND i got it today!! I'm so excited! it looks beautiful in person too!

Audie also revealed to me where we're going on a romantic weekend! in two weeks we're going to Asheville to tour the Biltmore!! I'm so pumped about that too. I'm not sure if i mentioned this trip or not, but Audie has been planning this trip in secret. I knew that we were going somewhere and when, but i didn't know where we were going. I really have been wanting to go to the biltmore for a long time, even before i moved to NC, but have never been. I'm so excited! and i don't have to plan anything for this weekend. the only condition for Audie planning everything was that i'm not allowed to bring one book on the weekend and not allowed to bring any homework with us. I'm so excited to have a weekend to spend to my husband and get to see such an awesome landmark. If any of you have ever been to Asheville, any suggestions about what to do while we're there. We have tickets for the house tour for sure, but anything else that is there that we should make sure to do?


Ok now i'm going to quit blogging and go back to watching the opening ceremonies!! loving the olympics so far!!!

-julia

plans for tonight!

WOW, thanks so much for all the support in my stress over de-friending. I think i put way too much thought into the whole thing, because he probably doesn't even know that i defriended him. I feel a lot better about it for sure thought. And in the midst i don't think i realized how many people read my blog! I just kind of write this thing to get out my feelings about stuff, chronicle what is going on in our lives and stuff, but i don't really think about that people actually read it.

My sister asked me about what i actually decided to cook tonight to go with the opening ceremonies, so i'll give you an update. After googling what kind of things were canadian food i decided to go with more 'french canadian' stuff. the canadian recipes not only looked really hard to make and didn't look like things that Audie and i would eat. (we're a bit picky) so i decided to go with chicken cordon blue (not sure how to spell that but you know what i mean), garlic mashed potatoes, ceaser salad, and crescent rolls (i mean croissants are french right?). So i'm not sure if that really qualifies as Canandian food or not, but it works for me!

in other news, Audie and i had planned on celebrating Valentine's day tonight before we realized it was the opening ceremonies. So we're combining my yummy dinner for the olympics as a valentine's day dinner. OF course i had to go get Audie a gift, so i went to target today and got him a video game. I know that's not super romantic, but i'm cooking him dinner too! i'm sure he'll get me a killer gift, so i'll report back once i see what i'm getting!!

Ok i have to go pound chicken breasts, never done that before so we'll see how it goes.

hope you enjoy your valentine's day, and if you don't have a significant other to celebrate with you can always celebrate Ferris Wheel day instead, it's Feb. 14th as well. Have a great weekend!!

Julia

Unfriending people

Ok guys i had to unfriend someone on facebook! i don't think that person reads my blog, so i'm going to vent here if that's ok.

Let me just say that i'm a total weinny when it comes to insulting people on facebook. If i get offended by someone on FB i just get angry in real life and vent to audie. Well last night this guy pissed me off for the like third time, and i was complaining to audie about it. He told me to man up and just defriend him because everything that this guy says pisses me off and them i'm mad for days but never do anything about it.

So this morning i defriended him!! it was very nerve wracking, because this guy is a friend of my mom's back home and i was afraid that he'll be mad and tell her. I know, I know i need to not get too worked up about what other people think of me, but i do worry about that, so i was worried. But i decided that i need to be strong and to maintain my sanity rather than dealing with my anger over his posts all day.

So what did he do to piss me off, so that you don't do them, for fear of not being defriended??

Well first off he's always making snide comments about the Obama administration. NOW i'm all for you disagreeing with the government, and i don't agree with everything that the Pres. has done, AND i realize that he is a sore loser (the guy, not the pres.) and he's just still mad that his person didn't win. I just think that at this point you need to get over it! if you didn't want Obama to win, fine! but he did and you can't just get livid over EVERY thing that he does, because it can't ALL be bad!! That is just frustrating to me when people are babies about everything. AND if you have a real like political reason for opposing healthcare or whatever then we can talk about it, but Facebook is NOT the forum for that! because people don't care that much on Facebook, FYI! especially not me, it gets you defriended.


Second, a few weeks ago when we had all that snow, i complained on FB about how Duke did not give us a day off, or a delay of any kind while literally EVERY school in the tri-county area got at least a delay, and some got three (THREE!!) snow days in a row. and he commented "well that's what happens in the real world" Then this week i said something about hating school, and he said "I wish i were back in school." OK so i know that being in school is not the same as being a 'full fledged adult' but graduate school is not the same as say, elementary school where your mom gets you all ready and reminds you to do your one page of homework and lays out your clothes the night before. Grad school means that you read 500-1000 pages a week, write papers and midterms at least every other week (including, my former friend, a 30 page midterm coming up in a few weeks, that you may certainly do for me if you like) that keep you up to midnight or later every night. All while stressing about job choices, graduation, working around the house to make sure that we both have clean clothes to wear and food to eat. Now i know that you guys out there with kids and 'real world' folks have hard days too! i KNOW you do though and i don't go around telling you guys to man up! I'm sorry but this is my pet peeve! because seriously if you (i.e. the people who say that they want to be in school) want to trade places by all means come on, because you certainly can. I realize that you envision my school to be like college where you party all the time and still make A's, but that's not what it is like OK! I get stress headaches and actually had to go to the dr. last semester because i was so stressed that i had stomach aches, chills and elevated heart rates. that's why you aren't my friend anymore, because you caught me on a bad week, and just hit the wrong/right buttons!!!!

ok now that i have that off my chest, i hope you (and i) have a great day!! and i hope you have the guts to tell people how you really feel, i obviously don't because i just de-friended him without telling him all that! (though maybe he reads the blog, we'll see)


julia

Robe Day!

I am so excited about what i ordered today from the Robe sale!! So I got a black preaching robe like this:



mine is the black one, but I ordered it in a lighter fabric (for breathability and coolness) and i got black trim instead of red trim. I also got full pockets put in and a button hole on the right side above the pocket for a microphone cord!

I also got a white alb like this:



I also upgraded to the lighter fabric but got it lined so that it wouldn't be as thin (i.e. not see through - 'cause it annoys me to see a pastor's choice of loud patterned shirt under his/her alb) I also got the full pockets and microphone hole, and a white cincture ( rope like thing that wraps around the waist.

All that is going to be custom made for my measurements and will be sent to the store on campus in a few weeks! I'll take some photos when i get them in, if i remember to do so.

I also ordered my graduation hood and i got to take that home with me today which is so awesome! I got a free garment bag and stole because i ordered over a certain price. I got 25% off because i ordered today! So excited to see all my fun stuff for my future career, and preparing for graduation! I'm loving this because it got me through this week and it helps me keep going through the rest of the school year.

ok i hope you got to have an exciting thing happen to you today!!

Julia

bachelor thoughts!

wow two posts in a day! that's like almost a new record! it was a lot easier to do this time because i just wrote down my thoughts as i watched the episode.

Here are my thoughts on the hometown dates:

Gia's hometown: nice date, parents/family seemed really nice/open to Jake, no drama but no sparks either

Ali's hometown: sweet how she 'introduced' him to her grandmother. Asked for mom's blessing to marry her, that bodes well for Ali's chances.

Tenley's hometown: her dance was cheesy and awkward, but i think that he really dug it, he's a cheesy guy too. Asked for her parent's approval to marry her, bodes well.

Vienna's hometown: Went on a pontoon boat down the river. she seems really fake in many times on the date

then came the drama of Ali showing up on Jake's hotel room doorstep and telling him that she had to choose between staying on the bachelor or keeping her job back home. Sad day, because i love her and i think that jake and she are like perfect for one another! Basically I think she wanted to say "are you going to choose me because if not I can go ahead and go home." I mean i can totally understand her wanting to make sure that she had a reason to stay before she decided to go home or not. the previews of the episode on the commercials said 'there is no rose ceremony' that made me think that she was going home after i knew that was what the drama was this week.

She did decide to go home in the end, which i thought sucked. I mean i know in this economy she should really think about keeping her job above all else, but come on! if you really love him then you would have stayed Ali!

most of all i hated that it meant that Vienna was still there, i mean really Ali, take one for the team so that she'll go home. it will be interesting to see if Ali does the whole Ed/Reid thing from last season and comes back. AND the phone call scene from next week shows that she does something like that!!! drama, so much drama!!

ok i hope you enjoy my musings!

Julia

monday!

i hate mondays, going back to school each week just makes me cringe! so i have 38 more days of class left and i'm not loving it right now! i can't wait until spring break/ graduation!

i do have a few things to look forward to this week:
- the Bachelor tonight - um hometown dates! and hopefully Vienna going home!

- Robe day is tomorrow! that is when the bookstore has preaching robes on sale 25% off for the day. most people wear a preaching robe for baccalaureate and our hooding ceremony. So excited! I'm getting a white alb and a black preaching robe with a little red trim.

- this thursday Survivor premiers and i'm so excited, then you can look forward to my weekly thoughts/ musings about the episodes!

- this weekend in V-day!! yay! i look forward to valentine's day because Audie Rocks at giving gifts!! I however am not so good at getting gifts for folks, but you know we'll work it out, i'm expecting a run to target friday/saturday to get something. last year i did not do so well!

- also i'm so excited about the olympics! last olympics audie and i got chinese food (obviously) and watched the opening ceremonies, so fun! i haven't figured out what we'll eat because i'm not sure what is considered Canadian food so we'll see what we eat on Friday night, but i want to do a Canadian food theme!

ok i'm going to get dinner together so we can eat something.

Also: i was pumped that the Saints won the Super Bowl last night! i never want the same person/team to win multiple times so i like it that the team that had never been to the super bowl before won! and that quarter back guy and his little baby and wife were so stinking cute!!

ok done! love to all!

Julia

today's activities:

Included:

Finishing some homework.

Audie working and then getting home at 3pm. (which means that he's cheated out of like 30 bucks on his paycheck, but still has to work saturday!)

We decided to plan an impromptu super bowl party, invited five friends, two of which can come.

Went to the grocery store and Sam's to get groceries for the week and said party.

Decided that we are going to get each other Valentine's gifts this year (scrambling begins now! let it be said that my husband will come up with an awesome gift!) I know i may have thrown you off by saying 'decided' but Audie is planning a weekend off for us in a few weekends on the condition that i not bring one school related thing to do. I promised and then cried! SO i was hoping that would count as our valentine gift to one another because i suck at valentine's (and all) gifts for him! and he rocks at it which makes me really happy, yet depressed at the same time.

i started reading the archives of barefootfoodie.com, a new blog that amber told me about! hilarious, can't stop laughing or hitting the previous post button!

After a while i realized that i wanted to help out the fun at our super bowl party by making my pink lemonade spritzers ( citrus vodka, sprite and pink lemonade! yummy!!) but then realized that tomorrow is sunday and the liquor stores are closed, and they are already closed tonight, i guess we'll have to do with Mike's hard, parrot bay wine coolers, and the bud light my friend is bringing. well since it's only three of us drinking that should be fine!

realized that my house is probably too dirty to have folks over tomorrow, so we'll see if it gets cleaned before folks come over to watch the game/ really the commercials!!

i'm really excited about watching these commercials with DVR, so that i can rewind and watch the funniest ones again and again!!

Love to all!!

Julia

UGH!

Ok So i interrupt this day of homework to bring you a story from my day.

So i was up in the bed, reading for class next week, listening to the rain. (i know that's not a good study habit, but it helps the naps that happen when i read for class be better if i'm in the bed to begin with!) ANYway! So i'm having a really awesome dream, and then my phone rings, waking me up!

SO i reach for the phone ready to see what emergency meant that someone had to call me in the middle of the day! It was a number i didn't recognize but i answered it anyway ( probably because i'm on pins and needles waiting to hear about jobs from the hospitals, even though i won't find out until the 16th) When i quickly say hello, i hear the dreaded, "we have an important offer for you on the line, please stay on the line." OK so it's a telemarketer. in the second it takes me to think about hanging up i hear their 'important offer' speech begin. There is a sound like a bull horn, and then an offer of a cruise. OK so now i'm really mad! i have gotten calls from this particular group of folks about 4 or 5 times in the last few months. Usually i hang up right after the cruise horn, but this time they had woken me up from an awesome nap!


So i pressed 0 - hoping to get an operator i could tell to take me off the call list, if i got there quick they would be lucky enough not to hear me yell.

I got to a survey that they wanted me to take. after the question began i press 0 as my answer to it about 10-15 more times, finally it told me that i was now going to receive two tickets to Nassau and to stay on the line. I push 0 again, and then am told i will be talking to someone soon. after about a 30 second wait, a lady answers the phone by asking me if i would like to give her my full name.

I Promptly responded "NO, i want you guys to never call' click, automated voice: "You have been automatically put on our do not call list." Thank you very much!

End of story- unless they call again next month.

ok guys catch you later!

Cookies and Homework!

Hi ya'll I don't have much going on to update you on. Friday is homework day in my house so i'm trying to read up for this week. Audie and I are headed over to a friend's house for a game night party tonight, and i'm excited to get to have a ton of fun with them. Boo on the fact that Audie has to work tomorrow so we'll have to leave relatively early.

So in other news last night my friend, who is a youth minister, was telling me how stressed she is right now. Next weekend her kids are going skiing and they had a fundraiser dinner to make money for the trip planned for last weekend. Because of the snow they canceled and rescheduled for THIS weekend. She also was supposed to have a district lock-in tonight, the fundraiser tomorrow, preach sunday, and like a million other things. The lock-in was moved thankfully. So I asked her what i could to do to help and Last night i baked 50 cookies for her to use for desert for the dinner for tomorrow. The were really cute and "valentinesy" so i thought i would share them with you! ( you can also use hersey's kisses but the heart shaped chocolate is what makes them valentine)


Peanut Butter Cookies with Chocolate Candies

1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated)
¾ cup peanut butter
2 cups Original Bisquick® mix
1 teaspoon vanilla
Sugar
About 36 heart-shaped milk chocolate candies or heresy’s kisses

•Heat oven to 375°F. In large bowl, stir milk and peanut butter until smooth.
•Stir in Bisquick mix and vanilla.
•Shape dough into 1 1/4-inch balls. Roll tops in sugar.
•Place sugar side up 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
•Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until bottoms of cookies just begin to brown.
•Immediately press chocolate candy into top of each cookie. Remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack.

They came out really good! So i hope you enjoy, and have a great weekend folks!!

Julia

111

Today is my 111th post. I know it's probably more conventional to celebrate post 100, but i got behind and didn't notice i was in the hundreds until a few days ago. SO i have been blogging for almost a year and 1/2 but have only done 111 posts. Which means that the streak i have been on lately is even more impressive!! Be proud please!

So today i didn't have class until 2:30, usually i go in at 1:45-2 to get to my classroom and get settled before class actually starts. My three good friends, Meridith, Danny, and Sarah, all have class/ work on Wednesday morning. We usually try to find a day of the week that works for the four of us to go to lunch together. Wednesday is shaking out to be the best day for everyone but me. SO today i hauled my cookies to school 2 hours early for us all to have lunch only to have Meridith bail on us!! not fun! I mean she wasn't feeling well, but still she could have come out for us!!!

Anyway the real amazing part of the day was that i made it from my house to the meeting place on campus, the chapel in 15 minutes! I parked my car in a VERY slushy parking spot (i had to really work to get out because there were some bad people who basically parked right behind me!) Then i made my self walk/hike/briskly get up to the chapel in only the remaining 7 minutes. This is actually quite a feat, because i am the world's slowest walker! I usually take the walk in about 15 minutes (if i don't wait for the bus, which takes at least 10-12) SO it's good to know that i can book it to class next time i oversleep! (not for the 2:30 class, but the 10:00 one on tuesday/thursday) ANYway i was proud! But of course i was all kind of winded, glistening with sweat and had definitely had increased my heart rate! That probably means i should make the walk faster more often!!

Ok i hope you had as exciting a day as i did!

Julia

today!

Oh good! Durham Public schools and all the other counties in our area have their third day off of school for snow tomorrow! And did Duke give us ANY of that time off??? NOPE!! am i a little bit bitter??? YEP! i mean i know that each school has to do what is right for them, and i didn't have a hard time getting to school these last two days, but it still sucks.

In other news, not much is going on because of the snow. We're going to school and work like normal now. The snow that we had from Saturday is all icy and a bit mushy. This morning it began raining which did not help at all. So i had some real issues getting out of my parking space this morning and this afternoon, but the roads were fairly clear, so it wasn't bad driving.

In other news i got my first grade back on one of my papers due last week. I got a B but she did say that she was going to grade this first paper a bit harder than normal, so maybe that bodes well for my grade in the class. This was the class i was really on the fence about taking it pass/fail or not, so now i think i made the best decision.

Ok guys, going to watch Biggest Loser, Teen Mom, and Little Couple. Actually all that in being recorded so i have to do some homework too!

Julia

NO!!!

He kept Vienna! I wasn't really surprised based on how the show has been going. BUT i was pretty disappointed personally!

I'm hoping that the hometown dates will open his eyes to the fact that she's not ready to be his wife. I thought that her idea of marriage: Where you get up everyday and say "i love you!!!" was a bit immature. Not that audie and i don't love each other every day, but you can't expect yourself to be that kiddy kind of love everyday!

but i was so proud of Corrie for being really open and real about her choices about not having sex before marriage. I'm glad that she was honest about it to Jake. I'm sad that it didn't work out between the two of them, because i liked her from the get go!

Sorry there wasn't much drama this week, looks like there will be tons of drama next week. I'm not sure what's up with the no rose ceremony, and what's on the other side of the door that sets things off, but i'm excited about it!!

Ok girls (pretty sure you're all that is out there) I'll keep you updated on what's up!

Julia

Snow Day - Monday

Ok so Audie got today off, his boss called and told him that they would be closed today because of the weather. So Audie spent the day at home. We ventured out for chic-fil-a today. Mostly because we NEEDED to get out of the house and i wanted to check out the roads to see if i should go to class.

Audie decided that if i wanted to go to class he could drive me. So here i am. Waiting for my class to start. At least i have a chauffeur.

TTFN,

Julia