Life Updates: November (so far)

Lots has been going on and I haven't been good about uploading my pictures and updating the blog! Here's what we have been up to in November...

I'm over half-way done with my first semester of classes (this has been keeping me busy)! I have decided that since I work at a University and get tuition benefits, I might as well take advantage of it! I'm working towards a degree in Nutrition since it is something that I am very passionate about! I want to inspire people to healthy living by sharing the gift of nutrition with others.

Jake is also staying very busy during the week with his job. It seems like he travels to New York and New Jersey pretty frequently, and he is really enjoying this position. He's also helping lead a mens gym night at church on Tuesdays with a friend, Tyler.

Jake and I are both working with the middle school youth group on Wednesday nights. Jake helps lead the 6th grade boys and I'm with the 8th grade girls! We have had a lot of fun getting to know the kids and are looking forward to the Winter Retreat!

Our weekends have been packed this month!

The first Weekend of November - Jake was in Virginia and I was in Kentucky

Jake and Corey met up in Virginia because it was a good half-way location in between TN and PA. They spent all day Saturday and Sunday morning riding. Sounds like they had a blast!!

Thanks for the pictures, Corey!

I was in Louisville, KY celebrating Brandon and Lauren's marriage!! They had a gorgeous wedding and I was so happy to be there to celebrate with them! I was also very honored to be a bridesmaid! It was so good to see Lauren and Katie and their families since the three of us did everything together growing up! Love them!! My mom was also there, so I got to spend time with her (Dad was in South Africa on business).

I was pretty bummed I forgot my camera, but I did take 2 pictures on my phone!!

Second Weekend of November - Jake in Tennessee and I was Home

Jake went to Nashville to attend Luke and Jill's wedding. I wish I could have gone with him because it sounds like he had a great time visiting with college friends and fraternity brothers! I stayed home and got a lot done - cleaning, Christmas shopping, laundry, organizing, etc. I even made a trip down to Trader Joes near Philly! 

I think Jake has pictures on his phone...I'll post those later!

Third Weekend of November - John and Alma Visit Pennsylvania!

Jake's Dad and his wife, Alma came to visit from Florida! We had a really great time with them and got to show them where we live! Friday night we enjoyed a warm bowl of homemade chili with grilled cheese. After dinner, we went to see the movie Courageous - which I highly recommend seeing. It was so powerful. 

Saturday morning I made breakfast for everyone and then we headed out to explore the Lehigh Valley. It was a gorgeous Fall day, so it was perfect for walking. We ended up at the Lock Ridge Park, Allentown Farmers Market, downtown Bethlehem, and Christkindlmarkt. We finished the evening off with a delicious meal at the Limeport Inn - one of our favorite restaurants. 

 At Lock Ridge Furnace

Allentown Farmers Market

After lunch, we took a stroll around Lehigh...

Exploring Bethlehem...

I found this awesome hat with built in gloves at Christkindlmarkt...I didn't buy it because I don't think anyone would take me seriously with a pink bunny hat, but it's so smart...you would never have to worry about loosing your gloves!!

John and Alma left on Sunday morning before Jake and I went to church! We are looking forward to seeing them again soon!


Sunday evening we celebrated Thanksgiving with Fuse (more on that in the next post) and then Jake and I put up our Christmas tree!! Love this time of year!

Isn't Alice so cute? :-)

Life Updates

I meant to post this on Sunday evening, but we didn't have power!

I realize it has been a while since I have shared news about what has been going on with Jake and I lately. Here it goes:

In June, I posted about how we had an offer on our house in Nebraska...well we officially sold the house and closed on the offer at the end of July. The buyer was a little difficult and tried to take as much out of the deal as possible. We felt like we got walked on, but when it was all said and done we were happy to have sold the house.

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I got a job! I am working at Lehigh University as an Event Coordinator. Last week was my first week and I am really excited about this new opportunity. It seems like it is right up my alley because I will be doing some event planning, college recruiting, marketing, and other fun things. I will never forget my first day of work because we felt the earthquake that started in Virginia! Feeling the building move was the strangest feeling. We all had to evacuate until it was safe to go back in. Lehigh is a gorgeous campus with  old buildings. I can’t wait to bust out my camera when the leaves start changing this fall! The campus is set on a mountain so everything is either up or down hill. I definitely wore the wrong shoes the first day of work...I wasn’t prepared for the hiking!

This is the admissions building...its a gorgeous campus!

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I have really enjoyed berry picking and the local farmers markets this summer. There are so many places to buy produce and eggs from local farms. I picked lots of raspberries and blackberries and canned raspberry jam and made a few blackberry pies. Here is a picture of my most recent farmers market finds:

I had never had eggplant before, but I decided to try it out. I made eggplant parmesan and I absolutely loved it. I have been finding more ways to prepare it and I can't wait to get another one soon! The peppers have been a great addition to my salads for lunch.

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My 23rd birthday was on Friday. I couldn't make up my mind about where I wanted to go for my birthday dinner, but I finally decided on Chick-fil-a. I was originally thinking we would get dressed up and do something fancy, but I really just wanted Chick-fil-a, so that's what we did! It was delicious, as always! After dinner, we went to the Lehigh Valley Velodrome with some friends to watch some bicycle racing. I had never been to a velodrome before (it's a bicycle race track)...and it was SO fun! The race we went to was the season finale of the World Series of Bicycling. It's a pretty amazing sport to watch.

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The effects of Hurricane Irene have been seen in our area. As I am typing (I'm offline), I am sitting by a candle with no electricity. Church was canceled this morning because of the high winds and flooding. We have also had some flooding in the area. My heart goes out to all of the people that were closer to the hurricane and experienced severe weather...hopefully the damage isn't too bad. Since the power is out, I haven't watched the news to hear how bad it has been. Our townhouse has a gas stove, so I was still able to make dinner. Before we lost the sunlight, Jake and I played a competitive game of scrabble...I lost by 3 points!

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Caleb got moved in at Tennessee Tech last weekend! I can't believe he is in college already! I am so happy for him as he starts this exciting chapter of life. 

Jake and I are looking forward to going to Knoxville this weekend! I hope we have good weather so we can enjoy the lake! I am sure there have been other exciting things going on in our lives, but that is all I have for now!

Life Updates, Beach Trip Extravaganza, & More

My family tries to take an annual trip to Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina. I love going to this place because I have so many memories there with my family. It used to be so easy to go to the beach when we all lived in Huntersville, North Carolina. Now, Jake and I are in Pennsylvania; Mom, Dad, and Caleb are in Tennessee; and Seth and Emily are in Colorado (Moving this week!). We still all made it to Ocean Isle and spent a week relaxing on the sand. Sarah Lou was able to come over from Atlanta and it was great to spend a few days with her. Jake and I had a 10 hour drive from Bethlehem. We left a day early and stopped in D.C. and spent the night with Cody and Becca. It was so good to see both of them!

Every morning Dad makes a castle...he has a unique technique and people always come and take pictures of his sand creations. Over the years we have seen several shapes and sizes.

These pictures were taken later in the day, so some of the walls had already caved in.

Mom and Dad sitting in the background...waiting for the tide to come in and wash the sand castle away.

Caleb and Kaleb wanted to build one too! Here's their creation:

Mom and Dad before we all watched a movie.

Seth and Emily

Caleb brought a friend (Kaleb), but somehow I didn't get a picture of the two of them.

While we were on vacation we found out that someone had put an offer on the house!! This was a HUGE answer to prayer because we didn't want the burden of the mortgage. It is so awesome to see how the Lord provides in HIS timing. The timing was perfect because on Saturday (the day we left the beach), Jake and I drove to Charlotte so he could go to the airport and I could spend the weekend with hometown friends. Jake flew to Omaha and packed up all of our stuff. He was such a trooper because he maintained a positive attitude even though his flight was delayed several times and he was stressed about all the logistics of packing and loading everything since his flight back to Pennsylvania was a close 36 hours away...not knowing if he had enough boxes and materials...or if he would be able to get more materials if needed because of the holiday. He was on a time crunch, but with some help he pulled it all off seamlessly! The gentleman that bought our house ended up buying our area rugs and several pieces of furniture. We are glad because we will not have the space in our new townhouse for everything we had in Omaha. 

In Charlotte, I got to spend time with a few of my favorite people and their families...Sarah Coffey, Krista Fulghum, and Erin Dickert. Sarah, Krista and I go back to middle school and Erin and I go back to high school. All three of these girls have been a huge blessing to me and I cherish my memories with them. I love getting together whenever I am in town because it feels like we have never been apart. On Saturday Sarah and I packed a picnic and went to see the Charlotte symphony perform in a park followed by an awesome fireworks show!

I drove back to PA from Charlotte on Monday. Jake flew into PA from Omaha on Monday evening. Before he got home I was able to drive all the way back, pack the car with all of our belongings in the Bethlehem house...clean the house...head over to our new townhouse in Alburtis, PA...unload...organize...clean...head to the grocery store...blow up an air mattress, and have everything ready so that Jake could come home and relax! PHEW! I think the vacation should have been post-move instead of pre-move! Now we wait for the truck to arrive with our furniture...Hopefully it won't be too long!

The townhouse is located next to a park with a nice walking path. I went on a long walk this morning and spent some quality time with the Lord. It felt wonderful to be outside in the early morning. I think I'm really going to like our new location.

I  pulled some weeds this morning and was really excited to see some beautiful plants in our front yard. Of course, the neighbors came out as I was crawling through the landscaping taking pictures. Oh well!

Life Updates

Jake and I have been SO busy lately...


1. Our kitchen has successfully been renovated on a budget. Before and after pictures to come soon. Jake has been working his tale off lately getting things done on the house. He is such a hard worker! Seriously...we have been running around like crazy people. 


The reason why we are kicking it into high gear? .........


2. We're moving! Jake got an exceptional job offer on the East coast. We prayerfully made the decision to accept and will be moving at the end of the month! We weren't looking to move so soon (I've lived in Omaha for less than a year), but this opportunity just dropped in our laps. Between our full time jobs, Jake traveling constantly, and my part time job....we have been really crunched for time to actually get our house ready to sell. The for sale sign went in the yard this morning! With Jake's new job we can live anywhere in between NYC and DC. Neither one of us have spent much time in that side of the country, so it will be a great adventure for us as newlyweds! I am applying for jobs like crazy in DC and PA, so I'm praying something will work out...SOON!

3. I got into a little car accident last Monday...nobody was hurt, but poor Leon (my Dodge Neon) was totaled. This was my great grandma's car and the car I've used since I was 15. It was my first car accident and I was pretty upset about the whole experience...mainly because it was my fault, I was shocked, and I just felt SO bad for the other lady...just causing a huge inconvenience for her. I remember thinking when the ambulance, police, and fire trucks came..."I caused all these people a huge inconvenience!". If I wasn't the one that caused the accident, I don't think I would have thought that...but since I did, I just felt awful! So, what happened was I ran through a stop sign at an intersection and got t-boned by someone going through the intersection. I wasn't talking on the phone, texting, or even listening to the radio...I was just in my own little world. Praise the Lord for his protection and every time I have gotten behind the wheel since then, I just say a little prayer asking the Lord to help me be alert and to be safe! Having this experience just makes me realize even more how important is to be safe on the roads.

So, we went looking for a new vehicle and we found...a 4 Runner! YAY! It was a great deal that we found on Craigslist and quite an upgrade for me and I love it!

4. Other recent home improvements: Stained the deck, painted the sun room (again...I like colors, but apparently the realator likes neutrals!), landscaped the front yard, planted grass in the back yard, new doors, drywalled and painted hall closet, and more...pictures to come!