"32 AND RAINING"

Like everyone else in the country, we have been having some horrid weather the last few days - well mainly frigid. I think there were 5 days in a row where it did not get above 30 degrees here in Birmingham - awful... I am not used to this.

So yesterday we got somewhat of a different forecast - it will warm up a bit and we will get some rain for the next few days. They said "Wednesday morning it will begin to rain and eventually raise to above freezing by the end of the day...." My first thought was "Sweet, that means it might SNOW!!" I love the snow here and inevitably it snow might mean a "SNOW DAY" or at least a short work day and then snow afternoon? Boy was I wrong... instead it meant sleet and lots of ice on the roads!! Scary stuff!

Side note/Lesson to Floridians on what sleet is (because I thought I knew too and then I actually experienced it): Sleet is when the rain freezes right before it hits the ground. I knew this... but i thought that meant that it would look like snow and rain mixed together - NO!! It looks, feels and sounds like very small hail. I experienced this first hand on my drive into work yesterday - I am sure that I looked ridiculous as I was freaking out, trying to figure out what was hitting my car!!

Another thing that happens when it "rains" and is 32 degrees outside is seen in the picture below:

4" Icicles were hanging from the Pathfinder when I left work yesterday evening. Crazy stuff!! Just thought I would fill everyone in (mainly the Floridians) on the weather here in the Ham. I have to say - I am looking forward to spending Christmas in Jacksonville where it will hopefully be warmer this year :)

ONE OF MY BEST MEMORIES...

... Of my Dad was actually the night of my highschool graduation. We had dinner at one of my favorite restaurants (that is no longer there...) in Jacksonville - LightHouse Grill. My entire family was there along with a few friends, and of course my boyfriend - Josh. Dinner ran a little later than expected so I had to leave early since I had to be at the auditorium an hour before. It was decided that Josh could take me and then possibly start saving seats for everyone... just as we were heading out, my Dad screamed - "Oh, and I'll join you!! I can help Josh save seats." I am sure that at this point Josh was panicking at the thought of spending any length of time with his girlfriend's dad by himself - but he hid it very well. Keep in mind - we were only 18 and had only been dating for about 3.5 months. We get into Josh's car - Josh driving, me in the front and my Dad slides into the middle of the back seat. As we began the drive, the radio kicks on and my Dad is like "Sooooo, what are we listening to? - Do you have anything good?" Josh says, "I have Queen." (Knowing that I knew all of the songs after learning them from my Dad's CD.) My Dad - "Great!! Number 5, please!!!"

Over the next few minutes I was more embarrassed (or so I thought) than I had ever been in my life. I listened in absolute horror as my Dad belted out every word to (as loud and as high-pitched as he could) on of Queen's Greatest Hits, "Fat-Bottomed Girls." I remember getting out of Josh's Taurus and thinking that Josh may run away and never speak to me again.

This is still one of my favorite (and funniest) memories of my Dad. Josh and I talk all the time about we can embarrass our kids just as well as my Dad did us. I am so thankful for the many wonderful memories I have of my Dad who was there to love, mentor, guide, teach, discipline & yes, embarrass me for 19 years.

7 years today... I love you and miss you, Dad.

NEW ADDITIONS

We got our Christmas decorations up last week and I am excited about the new items that have been added to the mix. We have most of the same decorations for last year... but we have two main additions that make very big statements.

The first is the lovely tree that you see below - Josh and I used some of our Birthday money to purchase this beautiful 7' (artificial) tree a couple of weeks ago. I was very excited about it. Our first 2 Christmases in Jax, we got REAL Christmas trees (which are still my favorite). However, once we moved to Alabama - we were not here for Christmas week anymore and did not want to leave a real tree while we were gone (fire hazard?!?!) We decided getting a decent looking artificial tree was the next best thing - here she is. She is a beauty!!



The next exciting addition to the Christmas decoration collection at the Hewiett House is seen below:

Our nativity is complete!! The last piece that we needed was the actual stable - and my mom surprised me with it for my birthday last month - very nice!! Although the nativity still has no better place to sit except the bar (which will hopefully change in our new place next year), it now looks like a set meant to be together. I think this is (and will always be) my favorite Christmas decoration - such a simple statement of what CHRISTmas is about - the birth of our Lord. I also love that our first 4 Christmases as a married couple were spent collected all of the pieces.

That's all of the new decorations for this year! I just got an email notice that our shutterfly Christmas cards we ordered should arrive today!! Maybe will be motivated to address them and get them out tonight! (Be expecting your copy very soon!)

DAVE BARNES & SEAVER FEVER

Sorry for the lack of posting - things have been quite busy at the Hewiett house... Thanksgiving was great - we got to go home to Florida and spend it with both of our families. We are counting down the days until Christmas - which means another break from work and school and lots more time with family & friends!!

We have been busy shopping, decorating for Christmas, wrapping presents,etc. The Christmas parties officially begin this week with my work party this Thursday night!! (Will update later...)

This past weekend we started our Christmas celebration off to a very fun start by attending a Dave Barnes Christmas concert. He is absolutely hilarious - check out this video of him dancing as Santa Clause - his friend was headed to his house in order to film his annual Christmas Extravaganza video and walked up to him dancing in his living room.

On Sunday evening I joined a friend from work to go meet Kirk Cameron and hear him speak at a Boy's Ranch here in Birmingham. He was a great speaker - he of course did a few impressions to feed the "Seaver Fever" and then immediately began to share his testimony - I was so excited to hear such a clear and genuine presentation of the gospel.

He asked that his body guard be in all of his pictures so that there could be no appearance of scandel with him being alone with any women - very respectable!! The only thing I was upset about was that I completely did not even think to bring my FIREPROOF movie for him to sign - that would have been awesome - o well.

That about sums up our weekend - we have a very busy few weeks ahead of us - here are our upcoming Christmas activities:

December 9 - Rebecca's Work Christmas Party (Josh comes too!)

December 12 - Holiday House Tour with my friend from work

December 13 - Work Christmas Potluck

December 14 - Small Group Christmas Party

December 21 - Viewing of "Elf" at the Alabama Theatre with our Small Group

December 23 - Leave for Jax after work!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!

THANKS BE TO GOD...

JUST A FEW THINGS I AM THANKFUL FOR:
1. My Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ - His death has given us Life.
2. My awesome husband and best friend, Josh. (I am so proud to be your wife! Thank you for loving and supporting me every day.)
3. Our loving families - we are so thankful for all of your love and support. We are so excited to be with you for Thanksgiving this year :).
4. Our wonderful church & pastor.
5. Our amazing small group - such an answer to prayer. We are so encouraged and continually in awe of how God has us in exactly the place He wants us at this moment.
6. Our friends - both here - you are our family away from family - and back home - we miss you but we are so thankful for each of you as we continue to pick up where we last left off :).
6. My job & Josh's future internship!!
7. All the "things" God has blessed us with - we want to glorify God with everything that we are and everything that we have.
8. Molly - thank you for still loving us when we don't have time to walk you every day and when we dress you up in ridiculous outfits.
9. Sweet (and very funny) memories of my Dad - I miss him but am so thankful for teh time that we got to spend with him.
10. Our trip home to Jacksonville for THANKSGIVING this week!! So excited to take time off and spend it with our wonderful family and friends back home.

"Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." 1 Corinthians 15:56-58

FREE CARDS PLEASE!!

In case you have not heard... Shutterfly is offering 50 FREE Christmas cards to bloggers who sign up on their website and do a blog about how wonderful Shutterfly is.

I have actually not used Shutterfly personally... yet... but I have heard only good things about them. I have had several friends use Shutterfly as a way to share an album of photos - for a big event or trip, etc. They were very easy to navigate and their prices are very reasonable.

I am very excited about this promotion - here are some of this year's Christmas card layouts that I am thinking about:

So excited!! Christmas cards are going to be easy this year :)

HARRY FANS FOR LIFE

This picture says it all. Yes, Josh and I are part of THE nerd herd that follows everything that Harry Potter does... both in written word and on the big screen. This is a picture from early college with our friends Laura, Scott and Lauren where we waited in line at Barnes & Noble in the middle of the night for a book release...

For those who didn't know (and then therefore probably don't care) the 7th movie - Part 1 opens tomorrow and we have already bought our tickets with our friends Ryan and Laura to see it in IMAX on Saturday night. WE CAN"T WAIT!!

Also - side note - for those who know me well, you will recall that I don't read... usually... well with all of this work traveling I have been doing I have suddenly become a book worm (when on a plane and in the hotel at least) and among some of the big books (I mean, yes, this really is an accomplishment for me...) that I have read lately is Harry Potter book #5. I still need to read 6 and 7 but my new goal is to read both before Part 2 of the 7th movie comes out next summer... and with all of the traveling I have coming up - I am sure that this will not be a problem.

SECRET CHURCH & BIRTHDAY VISITORS

Last weekend Josh's sister, Melissa and her friends Hannah and Eliza came to visit us here in the Ham. They decided to make the trip in order to come with us to Secret Church and hang out a little bit to see Birmingham and celebrate our birthdays. They arrived Friday night and when I got home from work, we immediately headed up to Brook Hills to attend secret church - it was amazing. The conference lasted 7 hours and covered all topics related to The Body of Christ. Very cool.

On Saturday we slept in to recuperate from the late night and then decided to go hiking at Oak Mountain. The weather was beautiful and we had some much fun hiking around the mountain.

On Saturday night, Melissa took us out to dinner for our birthdays - to one of our favorite BBQ joints - Jim N Nicks. Afterwards we did a little shopping at the Summit.

Later that night, I made a birthday cake to celebrate - Josh's favorite: yellow cake with Chocolate Icing. I only had a few candles - not 26, or I guess 52 with both of us - we did not want to start a fire.

There are more pics - to see them all check out facebook. We had such a fun weekend with the girls - thank you all for visiting. We are so glad that we were able to "share secrets" and show you around Birmingham :).

This weekend Josh and I will be relaxing after all of our fun weekend guests from the past few weeks. We are getting excited for our trip home to Jax for Thanksgiving (and then again for Christmas...) Happy Friday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY HIGHSCHOOL SWEETHEART...

... who is now my wonderful husband. I can't believe that this will be the 8th birthday that we have celebrated together. This picture is from - you guessed it - our Senior Prom. My, how time flies!

Joshie - I love you and I am so thankful for all that you do. I am so proud of how hard you work every day and so happy to be married to you. I hope you have a wonderful birthday today. I love you.

BATON ROUGE AGAIN

So do you remember the project from August in Baton Rouge that I complained about here? We went back again earlier this week on a short 2-day trip for a follow-up and this is what we saw...






Not too bad, huh? Maybe all the hard work (and sweat) was worth it? Please tell me YES!

MOM & AUNT LALA VISIT THE HAM

This past weekend we had a visit from my Mom and Aunt Lala. We were so excited to have them visit Birming- ham - we did lots of site seeing, went to a Fall Festival that our small group did and of course tasted lots that Birmingham only restaurants have to offer.

Friday when I got off work I hurried home and then was off to pick them up at the airport. We went home first to let them see the apartment, met Josh and immediately headed off to dinner at Dreamland - a Birmingham must. After dinner we toured downtown so that Josh could show my Mom and Aunt Lala his school and UAB Hospital.

On Saturday we did lots of shopping and site seeing in the morning but made sure, of course that we were back in time for the beginning of the Florida - Georgia game to begin. We left later that afternoon to head over to a Fall Festival that our small group was throwing as a Ministry Opportunity in Inner-City Birmingham. We had so much playing games and handing out tons of candy to all of the kids. We were excited for Mom and Aunt Lala to meet some of our small group buddies as well.

On Sunday morning we went to church and then had lunch at Jim N Nick's BBQ - YUM! Josh had to head off to school for a group project and so we went to the Galleria Mall to check out a new Christmas store that just opened... very fun. We finished up the afternoon with Frozen Yogurt from Yogurt Mountain - delicious!

Site seeing at Vulcan Park

Beautiful hills of the Ham :)

Always trying to come up with new pictures with Vulcan

Mom & Aunt Lala working a booth at the Festival

My Favorite Costumes of the Night: Our Small Group Leaders - The Tooth and The Tooth Fairy (Richard and Tara)

Josh helping the kiddies get candy :)

Mom and Aunt Lala - We are so happy that you came and we can't wait until you visit again soon! See you in 3 short weeks at Thanksgiving!! Love you both.

COUNTRY LIVING FAIR (WITH SARAH!!)

This weekend we got a visit from one of my very best friends - SARAH!! She now lives in Memphis with her husband who is in the Marines, but for the past 3 years she has lived in Hawaii (5 time zones away...) It was so good to see her!! I think it has been over 2 years since the last time we saw each other.

We had planned this weekend a few weeks ago - Sarah found out about the Country Living Fair that would be in Atlanta this weekend and we made plans for her to come to Birmingham for the weekend and she and I would drive to Atlanta on Saturday morning. We woke up and were on the road by 7:00 AM. The fair was held at Stone Mountain Park and the weather was absolutely beautiful - could not have been better. The park was prett crowded but it was manageable -there were oer 250 vendors there with various crafts, decorations, furniture, etc. Sarah was on the hunt for several things in order to decorate her and Logan's new house in Memphis -

I came away from the Fair with these Christmas ornaments that you see above - they are rather unique and made of wire and beads. Overall the weekend was a ton of fun and so great to be ablet to spend time with Sarah. Once we got back to Birmingham on Saturday, Josh went with us to dinner and some more shopping on Saturday night - I think this is the longest that Josh has gotten to hang out with Sarah as well - we had so much fun!

Sarah - Thank you so much for visiting this weekend :). It was so great to see you and catch up!! I am so glad you live so much closer now and I can't wait till the next weekend we make plans.

SWEET HUSBAND

I have the sweetest husband :). I came home from my work trip this past Wednesday night (on our annviersary) and this is what I saw - Pretty tulips (my fav), a card and a delicious cake from Edgar's bakery. Josh went through the trouble of taking a picture of our wedding cake to the baker here in town so that they could try to imitate the top of the cake complete with red ribbon (which he brought to them) and black icing dots around the edge. He even remembered the flavor that was on the top of the cake - chocolate with raspberry filling: it was delicious!!

Joshie - thank you for going through the trouble of re-creating our cake. It means so much to me when you are so thoughtful :). Happy 3 years!!

GAINESVILLE PROJECT

Last week I traveled to Gainesville for a site visit to the project that I told you about here. It was so great to see the progress of the project at the beginning of construction. Hopefully the next time I see the project, it will be complete and I will be managing the furniture installation sometime next summer.

Just a refresher on this project - what you see in these pictures is the building that formerly housed the First Baptist Church of Gainesville, FL built in 1922. The church sold their building to a development company (us) in order to get out of debt and move to a smaller, newer facility. The sanctuary building will now be the "front door" to the housing complex that we are developing. Inside will be housed the leasing and management offices for the building, the fitness center for use by residents as well as several retail vendors (restaurants, cafes, shops.) Most of these uses will be in the lower level of the building - former sunday school classrooms and church offices will now be the leasing offices, etc. A vendor to lease the actual sanctuary space has not been found yet - it will be interesting to see what they do with the space. In the agreement with the church and the City of Gainesville, the sanctuary has to be restored inside and out and the original architecture and detailing must remain. I can't wait to see it all fixed up by next summer!

We are building 3 housing buildings and 1 parking deck that surround the sanctuary building. There is not much to see right now - but you can sort of see the concrete framing for the first building through the construction fence in the photo above. While I was there last week, I helped set up the temporary leasing office for the facility in one of the old pre-school classrooms of the sancturary building. It is not much to see right now as we did not want to spend a lot of money since this office will move in about 9 months or so when the final one is complete. We did a teal accent wall and dark vinyl plank "wood" flooring that shows potential tenants what finishes they will get in their units.

My main contribution to this project will be the furniture... I am designing it, presenting it to the project team, purchasing and coordinating the installation. We will have over 600 beds which means a whole of furniture and money!! Since the units will not be ready until move in day - we decided to contract out and have a workroom make scale models of a couple of the unit types in order to show tenants what the furniture and finishes will look like. I was amazed by the models when I saw them - all those long hours in the architecture studio (just a few blocks west of where this temp leasing office sits) made me truly appreciate the time and detail (and money) that went into these models... I can say one thing, I am so glad I am not spending my days (and nights) making scale models anymore... (can I get an "AMEN" from any former studio girls out there?!?!)

Being in Gainesville for work was great! I felt like a tourguide to the management staff that was there with me. We took a drive around campus to view all of the important sites such as Shands, Turlington, The Reitz, Jennings Hall (my freshmen residence) and of course all of the off-campus good eats such as Leonardo's pizza, Burrito Brothers, Satchel's (which is still cash only by the way!) and the Swamp. It was great to be in my second home so close to friends and family - on Monday night I got to have dinner with my good friend Laura and on Tuesday my Mom drove down from Jax to take me to lunch!

When I got home, I had someone who was beyond over-joyed to see me (which, of course made me feel good!) We spent the next hour sitting as you see below, waiting for Josh to get home. Molly says, "Don't leave me ever again!"

Visiting Gainesville and my project was a lot of fun, but I am definitely looking forward to being home for the next few weeks! The next trip will be in November (on my birthday...) to Baltimore, Maryland to visit the other project I am working on at Towson University. Until then, I am home for a while and very exciting about some guests we have coming very soon! Sarah (who I have not seen in over 2 years!) is coming this weekend and my Mom and Aunt Lala are coming the next... can't wait!

3 YEARS!!

Today I am traveling home from a work trip to be with my wonderful husband on our 3 year anniversary. I can't believe that we have been married for 3 years already -time has literally flown by.

October 13, 2007 was such a pretty fall day and one that we will always remember and cherish... of course, as wonderful as the wedding was - the marriage is even better.

Joshie - I love you so much and I am so proud to be your wife! Can't wait to see you soon!