What's New...

As for what is new. Other than continuing our painting, I have joined our neighborhood wine and book club; there are a few other people outside the neighborhood as well. All the girls are terrific! Our first one was last Thursday. We all decided to read the book, Bitter is the New Black. It is so far terrific and I am hosting the next wine and book club at our house in February! I try and read the book everyday while I am working out. This Sunday we are having a Super Bowl party plus it’s a reason for all of our friends to see our house as we have planned to have every room complete except for the hallways; they will most likely stay white for a while. Oh we have finally ordered our bedroom furniture. We still probably wont have it for a month or so, but we are looking forward to the newness and fun. Once we get that I will for sure post pictures. Hopefully either this weekend or Monday, I will post pictures of our last rooms we have been working on this week. All is still well and married life is still fantastic! I do have to run and time for my work out. More to come in a few days :)

Kendra's Visit

This past weekend my sister, Kendra, came into town. Only Ryan and I knew she was flying into CHO at 11AM Friday Morning. Kyle, our brother, had no idea as Kendra didn’t want us to say anything since she was planning on surprising him! Oh and he was surprised with that cute little smile of his… picture soon to come.

Kendra works way to much, after a red-eye flight in from Vegas, Kendra insisted on going to work with me as she brought her work laptop to do business while I finished my busy Friday doing my work. Then I did a quick workout as I usually do following a day of work. And after me getting all sweaty, Kendra and I did our duty by surprising Kyle. To our surprise, Kyle and all his roommates were home cleaning their place and cooking! I had never seen so many guys clean and cook before at one time. After surprising Kyle, we rushed home to get ready quickly for bowling. Kendra and I had pizza for dinner at the bowling alley and we played a couple of games. Kendra and I of course being the only girls amongst 10 guys (1 of them being my wonderful husband of course), needless to say we had a good time. After our bowling fun, Ryan, Kendra and I went to visit Kyle and his buddies at his apartment. We ended up staying far too long. Kendra stayed over with Kyle and Ryan and I hit the bed a little later than normal. It was very nice for the four of us to bond more though!

Saturday morning Ryan and I wake up at a decent hour, so I can watch Joshua James. Maddie had some info session for her classes, so she dropped off Joshua James. He is a little over 1.5 yrs. and is the best little man ever! He was so good and is too cute. Meanwhile Ryan went to pick Kendra up from Kyle’s and get some Bodo’s Bagels. Kendra and Ryan made some eggs to have an egg’n cheese bagel sandwich for breakfast. It was delicious. Joshua James thought he wanted some of mine, so I gave him a little egg and he certainly didn’t like that. He just stuck with his goldfish. After breakfast, while Kendra and I were hanging out with Joshua James, Ryan was downstairs chillin’ with Abby. Abby is not accustomed to kids; she tends to growl, so we rather not take any chances. Before too long, Maddie came back to pick up Joshua James and we were so sad to see him go. He is the sweetest boy ever and has wonderful manners!

Once he and Maddie left, I headed out to get my eyebrows waxed and ran some errands. Then came home and changed for dinner. Ryan picked up Kyle while I was out and Kendra napped as she needed any rest she could get. Then we went to Sakura Japanese Steakhouse. It was so delicious and nice again for the four of us to chat and spend some time together! After dinner, we dropped off Kyle at his fraternity house since he had a rush function. Then Kendra, Ryan and I went to the downtown mall movie theatre to watch the “Bucket List”. It was good and I think we all enjoyed it. When we got home, we just headed to bed.

Sunday morning Ryan and I went to church as our regular Sunday morning routine, and then came home got Kendra and headed to pick up Kyle for Brunch. We ate at the Horse and Hound. I wanted to try something new. A little pricey, but it was good. Ryan and I treated the two of them and then Kyle and Kendra had to say their goodbyes. And then it was time for Kendra to pack up. I took her back to CHO and then Ryan and I headed to the basketball game and dinner followed at Aberdeen Barn with a Donor. Overall we had a great time and it was one of the most relaxing weekends we have had in a long time. We enjoyed our time with Kendra for sure as we do miss her!

New Kitchen Stools & Sunroom is complete

I am so excited, my mom got Ryan and I new kitchen stools as our Christmas gift. We finally got them in and they match our dining room table brown perfectly. We are enjoying them, so thank you mom! :) Mom, below is a picture of how they look in our kitchen.


Also, Ryan surprised me when I came home from Wilmington. He had finished the sunroom off the kitchen! I was so elated and surprised as I figured he would have waited for my help. So, now we have the two guest bedrooms and bathrooms to complete our painting. I will be happy when it is all over :)

Sara's Bon Bon Weekend

This weekend was a blast in Wilmington, NC. Maddie & Katie drove down with me from Charlottesville to Wilmington on Friday. We took out leisurely time and arrived around 12:15AM. We then hung out with Sara and Chris's sister, Angela, that night and stayed up talking till about 4AM at Sara's house. We really had a grand ole time. This was Maddie's first weekend away from Joshua James, so she was a free woman again. In the late hours Maddie began telling us stories she reads to Joshua James, but all by memorization. I think that was a mixture of all the tiredness and the Champagne (probably more of the latter). I think she needed this weekend away :) Needless to say that was a great night to start off our weekend.

Saturday morning I was the last one to wake up around 10:30AM; I know what a surprise. That day we had some breakfast and a late light lunch. It was a rainy day, so one of those days we were in our pajamas until about 3pm. At that time we all decided it was time we stop our chatting and get ready for the celebration night. We all got dressed and drove to her parents’ beach house. We then had a few appetizers and wine. Soon after the toasting to her engagement with her girls, mom and future mother-in-law, we all got into two taxi vans and were dropped off at South'n France. It is a home owned by a married couple who makes bon bons for a living. They met in France. They host these bon bon parties where you drink champagne or wine and eat a few hors d'oeuvres along with learning how to make bon bons (hand made sweets dipped in chocolate). We learned the process and saw a tour of their home. It was very intriguing. We really enjoyed ourselves there. Sara and her mom did a great job of picking out such a perfect and fun place! From there we all got back into out cabs and went to the bars downtown. And of course the best was saved for last, "City Limits", where Sara was able to enjoy herself on a bull ride!!! After we closed down the bars we headed to the beach house and of course ate some more and talked some more, and finally hit the beds around 4AM again!

For more information on the Bon Bons see this website!
http://www.southnfrance.com/ - they are sooo good I am totally Addicted!

The following Sunday morning, we awoke to Marley and Chris making a fabulous breakfast for all of us girls. Sara's fiancé is a chef, so he is a terrific cook! We loved the food! We then finished getting ready to head out of town. We packed our bags and the car and said our goodbyes. it was sad to leave, but good in a way since I do think we could have handled many more 4AM nights! So, Katie, Maddie and I hit the road and stopped in Smithfield, NC for some Smithfield's Bar-B-Q. It was terrific and just what we needed for lunch. Then we headed home and reached my house at about 4:45PM. We had a terrific time and by the time I came home I crashed. I will always remember this fun weekend!

I hope you all enjoy viewing the photos.

This weekend...

Tomorrow I leave with Katie and Maddie to Wilmington, NC for a get together in honor of Sara Rawlings. We are some of her bridesmaids and she is getting married on September 27, 2008. We are looking forward to making her engagement time the best 9 months of her life. Next time I will be blogging will be when I return for NC with photos of the fun weekend. You all have a safe and fun weekend!

Today!

Today is our first White Snow at The White's New Home! See the beautiful photos!

More Painting!!!

Since we have been home in the New Year of 2008, we have begun our painting process once more. As of now we have finally completed our Living Room, Dining Room and Kitchen. We still have the Sun Room off the kitchen to complete as our next project. See the pictures to see our progress thus far. Ryan had been so helpful and a really wonderful husband through this process. I just want to be able to get the painting over with so I can begin my scrap booking again (I have lots to catch up on with that) :)



During these couple weeks we were painting we also watched Basil while Katie & Michael were in South America. Basil and Abby were great together!

New Years

We were able to go to the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, FL for New Years. Virginia played Texas Tech at 1pm on January 1st. We got to the Jacksonville Airport on Sunday, December 30th in the early afternoon. After our taxi ride and checking into the Crown Plaza on the river, we went up to our room to take a little nap. Then, we got up and got ready to meet some donors in the hotel lobby bar. We had a drink with them and socialized a bit. Then another donor came to pick us up for dinner. He treated us at this nice restaurant nearby. After dinner, we went to the Jacksonville Landing on the other side of the river. It was a very nice area with live music outside and restaurants surrounding it. We took some photos as you will see.

On January 31st, Ryan woke up early to go play golf with a donor at Sawgrass. Ryan took many photos of the beautiful golf course and clubhouse. Since he was golfing, I decided to go shopping at St. John’s Town Center. It was nice and new; they had great stores. I bought a few things and then headed back to the hotel to shower and freshen up for dinner and New Year’s Eve. The donor Ryan played golf with invited us to dinner at Ruth Chris Steak House. This was not a big commute as it was in our hotel over looking the river. After dinner we walked across the bridge to the other side of the river to the Jacksonville Landing. UVA had a function for donors at this nice bar called Twisted Martini. There was a DJ and it was very packed for the New Year’s countdown. The Landing has a huge TV screen in the outside open area which is where they showed the NYC ball drop. We enjoyed our first New Years as Newlyweds :)

The following Day we had to wake up at a reasonable time as it was Game Day! We got up showered and got ready for the big day. We went to the UVA tailgate for a bit and then headed to see some of our friends who cam down there as well. We got into the game at a reasonable time and were sitting in the club level. It was very nice. The game was going well for the majority of the time. In the last few minutes of the 4th quarter, Texas Tech came back and ended up wining the game. It was sad and hard on Ryan. After that game we were happy to head home as there was no reason to stay there since we had nothing to celebrate after the loosing outcome.

We flew in and out of Raleigh, NC as it was the least expensive place to fly in and out of. Therefore, Abby was able to stay with Grandma and Grandpa White. She enjoyed her time, but we were happy to see her when we returned. We were then in Charlottesville late afternoon / early evening of the 2nd. That concluded our vacation time.

Christmas Vacation

Ryan and I woke up a little before 7am on Sunday, December 23rd. We had to get ready to go tailgating prior to the Bengals Game at 1pm. My Dad has a bus for the tailgate and Bengals experience. When we got to the parking lot, we talked with family and friends and grilled some hot dogs. Then we went into the game around 12:30pm to be sure we were able to see kick off. We ended up coming out with a WIN 19-14 over the Cleveland Browns. Then we came home to eat dinner, rest and hit the bed early. It was a long morning. We had a long day, but enjoyed our time in the city.

After our much needed sleep for the night, Ryan and I woke up around 9:30am, fed my dog Abby and we had breakfast. Then we took turns getting showers and getting ready to drive around the city and to run a few errands. We had lunch at Skyline Chili which is famous in Cincinnati, OH. As a mid-day snack we took my husband, Aunt and Grandma to get some Graeter’s Ice Cream also known in Cincinnati, OH. Before we knew it, it was just about dinner time, so we headed back home to meet up with my dad and the rest of the family. We had dinner with the whole family this Christmas Eve. After dinner we wrapped some last minute gifts while watching Christmas movies. Lastly we headed to bed early, so we could be rested when we wake up early Christmas Morning.

Ryan and I woke up early Christmas morning. After opening gifts, my dad made us all pancakes. We got lots of fun gifts and enjoyed spending time with our family. After an early morning, Abby and I felt as though we needed to take a nap. Therefore, we napped for about 4 hours. Once we awoke, we showered and had our Christmas meal. After dinner we all went into the living room to play the game Cranium. After the game we watched a movie and then headed to bed to get a good nights rest.

Lastly, we had fun with all the 8 dogs we had in my dad’s house. The three to the right are my dad’s dogs. We then had two Havanese were my aunts and 2 Shih Tzus. Of course lastly, my dog, Abby also came along for the Christmas Vacation. They all had a lot of fun playing together.

Preparing for the in-laws and the holidays!

This past week, I have been trying to do my best in getting the home organized for Ryan’s parents and myself of course. I get so anal at times where I want everything to be perfect. Well we are far from perfect, but hopefully we will be there soon. From organizing the messy office space areas to doing laundry, dishes cleaning we have been keeping ourselves quite busy. I have also decorated a bit for the holidays; I love the decorating part, but will be sad when I will have to take it down. Whenever someone walks in our home I just want it to be clean and as organized as I can make it at that time. I hope his parents enjoy themselves as I know Abby is looking forward to seeing the grandparents. Tonight we will be opening gifts with them and then tomorrow Harriet, Ryan and I will be going to Christmas at the Paramount. And we will be up early on Saturday for our departure with Abby to the’Nati! I cannot wait and Abby will have a ton of dogs to play with! Well that’s it for now until next time.