ZOO Lights!

At the Alabama Adventure Christmas Party many things were given away... mostly things Alabama Adventure had been given by their corporate sponsors. JP and I won a tin of popcorn. I really wanted to win the set of 4 tickets to Zoo Lights. There were 6 sets and we didn't win. But, I was able to get them from a guy who won them and didn't want them. So, JP and I had fun going to the zoo lights for free!

Christmas Parties Galore

There have been Christmas parties everywhere! I've had several at work with the different departments and nursings units I work with. The dietitians had our party at P.F. Changs on Wednesday night. On Thursday night JP's work had their Christmas party at Ross Bridge. I had fun dressing up for it! I love Christmas parties!

Angel Tree

A couple of weekends ago Laurel came down to Birmingham and went shopping for an little girl off the Angel Tree. Tymia was 6 years old and wanted a doodle bear, books, and stuffed animals and needed clothes, shoes, and a belt. We tried to find her a doodle bear but could not. We did get her some cute clothes and shoes, the game Trouble, a soft stuffed animal, some books, a giant coloring book with tons of markers, and a few other things.


Besides shopping for little Tymia, we enjoyed a cheap lunch at Zoes with the help of a coupon. We also went to my church... and had a little trouble getting there thanks to my inability to remember directions.

Oveall it was a fun day!

Raoul...

Yesterday when I came home I saw a rat. It was black with a body the size of the diameter of a salad plate and a very long tail. It ran between my desk and the wall. I reacted by screaming and running out the door. Once out I realized I had nothing, so I ran as quickly as possible to grab my purse which had my car key and phone in it. It did not have the apt key in it but I could care less at that point about locking the door!

I immediately drove to the apartment office. I told the lady I needed to fill out a maintenance request form. I wrote.... "Rat, get it out!" She said the pest control normally doesn't come until Wednesday but she called and they said they would come on Tuesday for me.

JP invited me to hang out with him at his work party to escape the rat. After that I talked to Laurel for a long time during this ordeal. We decided the rat was Raoul the rat.

The rest of the night I was so paranoid and I wouldn't go into the apartment. I finally went and bought some sound repellant at Lowes which lets out a noise that only the rats can hear. To them it sounds as obnoxious as a fire alarm.

This whole time JP is totally cool with living with a rat. To quote him, "half the world eats rats" He did however at one point attempt to find the rat and bash him over the head with an iron skillet. He was unsuccessful. Last night I demanded to sleep in the middle of the bed (apparently i felt safer from the rat?) so poor JP was kind enough to scrunch over on his side so I could sleep in the middle.

This morning the pest control guy came while JP was still at home. He found some mouse poop (i still think i saw a rat not a mouse) in the bathroom. There was already some poison behind the fridge and stove that hadn't been messed with and there was a cheerio and sweetart under the stove. If Raoul was living here then those things would not have been here. We determined Raoul was just visiting and not hopefully not a permanent resident. The pest control guy put down some more rat poison so hopefully Raoul will transfer his business elsewhere!

Rat's are NOT cute at all so I don't think they should make children's cartoons out of them!

Community Group Thanksgiving Dinner and Fire

Last night JP and I celebrated Thanksgiving with some of the members of our Redeemer Community Church Community Group, Russell, Shireen, Ben, Virginia, and Kat. We went to Russell and Shireen's place for yummy soup, salad, bean dip, and dessert, as well as fire, and fellowship. Russell and Shireen had just gotten an outdoor fireplace for Christmas. We all had fun gathering around the fire, roasting marshmallows, telling funny stories, and laughing.
Our Thanksgiving celebration continues as JP and I head up to Decatur tonight to celebrate with my family on Turkey Day.
JP and Russell with marshmallows over the fire.

What We've Been Watching Lately

Chili Cook Off

While I was in Atlanta on Sunday JP prepared chili for the church Chili Cook Off. He won! I wasn't surprised since he is such a good cook but I did have my doubts when he was telling me what he was going to put in it. I can't give the entire secret recipe ;) but I do know it contained ham, chorizo, whipping cream, and chocolate.We also made homemade mac and cheese on Saturday! Really he cooked and I assisted :)

ATLANTA

The past two weekends have been Atlanta weekends.

The weekend on November 8 JP and I went to visit his grandparents who live right outside of Atlanta. We had a good time visiting with them and relaxing. We watched a lot of football and enjoyed the yummy ice cream and pound cake his grandmother prepared and a leaf filled walk with his grandfather. We also enjoyed sleeping in the king sized bed opposed to our full sized!

The following weekend I went to Atlanta on Sunday to visit Amanda, my roommate in Dallas. She was in Atlanta for work and had Sunday off. It was a lot of driving for me, there and back in one day, but it was totally worth it to see my dear friend who lives so far away from me! We at lunch at the Varsity and then went to the Coca Cola factory where we tried all the different Cokes and decided the Beverly is by far the worst!

The Start of Something New

JP and I were recently married on September 27. It was such a special day filled with fun, laughter, and happiness. We were so glad we got to spend this day with so many of our family and friends. We felt very blessed by the people who traveled many miles to be with us on our special day. We had many from Phoenix, a few from Texas, and JP's aunt all the way from South Africa!

Not only is our marriage "the start of something new" so is this Blog... which will tell the story of the life JP and I live together. Yes it belongs to US but don't expect any entries from him :) I'll be the story teller...