Slow blogging month

It has (quite obviously) been a slow blogging month for me. It is not for a lack of things going on, that's for sure. I have been busy with school and packing and wedding stuff. It has been a busy month to say the least. We'll start with the first weekend of the month:

I dragged my fiancé back to where we will be living in a few months. It's "home"...sort of. It's where both of us spent the majority of our time growing up. It's where our parents and most of our friends live. But, it's not really "home" right now. Boone is our home, for now. (That changes in a few and short 3 weeks.) Anyway, Friday was an all around good day. I spent time with my wonderful fiancé. We went to see the "new" Narnia movie since it was at the $1.50 theatre. It was good -- quite a few laughs from it. I really enjoyed it. We also went for dinner at Chipotle, one of Jon's favorites restaurants. I quite like it too. For that weekend, I also found myself working for a whole 24-hour period. The day wasn't too bad of a shift...until about 11am. We didn't run a single call throughout the first 4 hours. I got myself a little nap in there (which was of great benefit later that day). Then, everything broke loose. There were structure fires and cardiac arrests everywhere. I found myself working a structure fire at a nursing home. We have jokingly talked about how this particular one should be burnt to the ground. Well, a portion of it tried. Something in the laundry room (presumably the dryer) caught on fire. Thankfully someone had the forethought to build the laundry room as a separate building from the main nursing home. However, as this building has a U-shape to it, they did put the laundry room in the middle of the U. The day was super-windy and we were worried that the wind might make the fire jump to the main structure. It didn't and the fire department got it under control rather quickly. The rest of my day was pretty much steady straight through until 6am the next morning. That was pretty much the extent of that weekend.

We came back to Boone for another week of school -- and a short week overall for being here. I had a test and the first draft of a paper due that week. With the help of Jon, I did super-well on the first draft (48/50 points) and already received a 40/40 on the final draft which I don't even have to write! That's huge! One less thing to worry about for this coming week. The added bonus was that I did really well on my test -- so much better than I thought I could have done. (Walking out of there, I felt like I had failed it...or gotten a low "C" at the best.)

Last weekend, Jon and I went home again. I was to have bridal portraits done and it was Jon's birthday so he got a chance to see his family for the special occasion of him turning 26. It decided to rain quite a bit Friday evening after several dry and hot days. It made for an interesting shoot since it was done outside at the WRAL Azalea Gardens and at the Arboretum at NC State. My photographer did an excellent job. My maid of honor, Samantha, came out to help me out with carrying the dress and all kinds of other things. Her mom came along, my mom was there, my photographer's sister (Mom's coworker) and niece were there. It was quite the party! Here are two teaser photos:

Beautiful ring, awesome bouquet and Mom's pearls

My super-cute purple shoes...I mean, how fantastic is that?!

So, Sunday, after church, we celebrated Jon's birthday with one of his brothers and his parents. Lunch at Applebee's after church and strawberry cake for dessert back at his parents' house. He got several cool gifts...all technology related. He purchased a new-to-him Nikon D40 camera (got it from a racing buddy who basically looked at it since he got it, from the sounds of it) and got some accessories for that (memory card, tripod, etc). Soon after that, we took off to head back to Boone.

Monday was the big event: Jon turned 26! I threatened to call him at 5:26 in the morning to wish him a happy birthday, since it officially began then. I didn't. I was nice. After we both finished class, however, he met up with me and we hitched a ride on the bus back to my apartment where I cooked up a birthday dinner for him, followed by some Mississippi Mud Cake/Brownies. It was really good. Took a few minutes to figure out how to do it...but I successfully deciphered the instructions and they turned out well.

The rest of the week has been rather slow. I have made significant progress with the packing that must be done so I can move my things out next Friday. Tonight, I made breakfast for dinner for my wonderful Jon. Chocolate chip pancakes, diced potatoes, scrambled eggs, turkey sausage and apple cinnamon muffins. I think (and Jon might agree with me) the best part were the potatoes. I made up the recipe pretty much on the fly....turned out super well. (Peel and cut potatoes into cubes, 1 potato per desired serving...if they're smallish. Cook in some olive oil and butter in a fry pan. Once about half way done, sprinkle with a little garlic powder, a little more salt and pepper, and a lot of paprika. Yummy!)

For the rest of the weekend and week: I have a paper to write for geography that's due Tuesday. I'm cooking again on Sunday for Jon (that's the plan, anyway) -- probably orange rosemary chicken if I remember to prep it tomorrow. Also, lots of packing to finish up. I'm pleased with that progress, but I still have a long way to go. The kitchen is the main thing that's left. I just don't wanna stop cooking!!

49 days, 15 hours and change. :-)