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!!