Weekend Recap

 Music on the lawn

Dane and I had a great weekend with some new friends. Friday night we went to the American Tobacco Historic District for some live music. It is basically an area where tobacco factories and warehouses were as early as the 1800s and the city was renovated the area while preserving the old buildings. It was packed Friday night. Lots of people bring lawn chairs, kids, pets, etc and sit in the lawn and listen to music. There is a water feature around the lawn and lots of restaurants in the old warehouses. We did not know about the area until Friday night when it was recommended to us. We will be going back!

Saturday was football day! We first went to the Duke football game at 3:30. One of Dane's classmates brought us some Bojangles Famous Chicken and Biscuits for lunch. It was awesome. I love fried chicken and I really think it was the best I have ever had. I actually ended up not going to the game because we did not want to pay for a ticket! Yikes. Dane said it actually turned out to be a better first half then he expected.

After the game we went home and I finished assembling a brownie trifle desert. We then headed to watch the Razorback game with other Razorback fans! We have actually seen several people here wearing Hog hats. We met some new people and it felt very at home to watch the game with fellow Arkansans.

This morning we went to another church. We are looking for a church home here in NC. We enjoyed the service this morning and feel that we want to go back soon. I particularly want to find a place to connect with other Christians. Monday night I am going to a spouses group meeting with other Divinity student spouses. I hope to join a bible study through this group as well.

I think that sums up a pretty full weekend. :)

Dane and I have this beautiful berry bush/shrub in our yard. When we first moved in we noticed the bush, but lately it has gotten crazy beautiful. Very fitting for this nice fall air. Every day it seems to have bigger and better berries.

We also have this Duke flag that I bought for Dane's birthday. I haven't had the heart to take the ribbon off yet either. Dane bought some nice fall flowers for a pots and they are doing well except for one pot that we think got too much rain from the roof.

This stage of life after the NPTE and before starting work is kinda like...freedom. ;)

The test is over.

 

Here is a picture of books I will NOT be reading tonight ;)

The NPTE was today. I took the test in Raleigh. Overall the test was uneventful. Just 4.75 hours of reading and reviewing questions and answers. I will not know if I passed until approximately 3 weeks. Yikes.

There was one terrible event at my testing center. The last person to check in (another therapy student) was not able to test because one of the computers was down. She had all of her information and was registered appropriately. When she was checking in the proctor told her that she would have to wait until a later time slot (when someone else missed their scheduled test time) because she was last person to check in. He did not know if that would be later today or another day. I honestly thought in my head "this is like a bad dream." The girl was very polite and respectful and left calmly. I was impressed with her behavior. I am afraid I would have burst into tears or let out a loud scream. I have a feeling she was pass the test.

I am glad the test is over. If I passed I will be completely finished with 7 years of college/graduate school and testing. I think that makes this a good day.

Labor Day Weekend 2011 and the NPTE

Dane and I have had a great Labor Day weekend. Saturday we went searching for a bedroom dresser. We have never owned bedroom furniture. We borrowed some pieces from Dane's grandmother and then we used some furniture that was in the rent house we lived in at Plumerville. We bought a dresser off of Craigslist last week and we absolutely love it. It is an espresso colored and the wood is nice. However, after we bought the dresser we have really struggled to find a piece of similar value/quality. We are convinced there is one out there! Saturday we went to a furniture resale store in Raleigh as well as the Raleigh Flea Market. The Raleigh Flea Market is INTENSE. The website says that are over 600 vendors. I believe them. There are vendors in a large NC state fairground building as well as rows and rows of vendors outside. Unfortunately we did not find another dresser. However, Dane said that he felt the entire day was proof that he does love me. After all, he did miss a large part of the first day of college football to walk around in an outdoor flea market.

Of course, we made it home in time to watch the Razorbacks. Apparently there is some system where people in Arkansas can watch games that are not televised on pay per view, but if Arkansans choose not to purchase pay per view then they cannot see the games on the internet (I honestly do not understand this..I don't even understand how cell phones get internet through "3G"). I just know that we had never watched a Razorback game online before, until Saturday. Dane connected my laptop to our tv and we watched the game online for free (on our tv...). Craziness. We were pretty happy about our high speed internet access. :) A much much appreciated change. Oh and we had delicious grilled steaks, salad, baked potatoes, and grilled squash for dinner. Talk about a good night. The Razorbacks obviously won. Dane explained that the competition (picked to finish 9th in their conference) was not too competitive. ;)

Sunday we went to to Wrightsville Beach. Dane  had not yet been the beach and we know that our lives are about to get too busy to spend driving 5 hours in the car. We ate a delicious lunch and then attempted to park. The parking situation was tough. Wrightsville Beach was very crowded. We ended up paying a guy $20 to park. I told Dane that I thought he would have paid $50 by the time we found the spot. ha. Surely not. Well, maybe so. The beach was pretty crowded, but the weather was amazing and the water was perfect. Overall it was a great day. A sort of staycation.

In the midst of all of these activities I am preparing to take my National Physical Therapy Exam (NPTE) on Wednesday at 8 am. Yikes. I am taking the test at a testing center in Raleigh. Tomorrow I am going to get up early and drive in rush hour traffic to practice for the test. The testing book recommends it. I am very ready to get the best behind me. In the mean time, my Cooler Ranch Doritos are my BFF.

August 30, 2011

 Well the big August 30th birthdays have now come and gone! Beth and Dane were born on the same day exactly two years apart. I did not take many great pictures so I wanted to post a few that I do have. The above picture is Dane with his BBFs at Bart's wedding in Arkansas. I think it is a great picture and I wanted to post it before I forget. Dane was glad to spend some time with his dear friends before moving (5 days later) to NC.

Beth came to visit me on Saturday the 27th. Hurricane Irene also came to visit that day. We did not have any damage in Durham (although there was some in Raleigh and on the coast of course) and Beth's flight made in from Nashville no problem. Saturday we spent mostly at home because we did not want to be out in the wind and rain. We did eat some pizza at Satisfaction Restaurant. I love that place. The pizza is amazing. We also went to Blockbuster to rent a movie. Unfortunately the power went out while we were in Blockbuster and it turned into quite a hilarious scene. Beth and I couldn't stop laughing at our bad luck.

Sunday we went to church at Duke Chapel. I found this picture of the inside of the chapel on Google Images. It was a very nice service. The choir is amazing. There is a church that meets at Duke Chapel ever Sunday and of course many Duke students and facility also attend. I was very encouraged by the sermon and the people there.  We ate lunch at Elmo's diner, a local favorite.

These pictures are from our adventures on Monday! Beth and I headed to Wrightsville Beach, NC which is near Wilmington, NC. We saw a local television station report that there was no damage at Wrightsville and the businesses were encouraging people to return.

We bought a couple of chairs to lounge in and played in the water for a few hours. The water was not cold, it was actually very comfortable considering it was pretty hot. It felt like the Gulf. We think that might have been the result of the hurricane. After lounging on the beach we headed to lunch (around 3 pm) at a local restaurant. We found The Oceanic online and loved it. It was the perfect beach restaurant. The food was delicious and the lunch menu was priced appropriately. We ate outside. I think Beth enjoyed the pre Birthday celebration.

  

Monday night I cooked dinner and we had a birthday cake and some presents. I had the best time with Beth and I cried like a baby when I dropped her off at the airport on Tuesday (her actual Birthday). Oh well. Some things never change. I was so glad she was able to come visit me before her program gets too intense and my work schedule prevents us from long visits. She was very sweet to spend her birthday with us.

Tuesday night Dane and I went to eat for his birthday at Spartacus a local greek restaurant. We both got pasta and greek salad as well as a delicious appetizer of shrimp gorgonzola.

I am proud of Dane. He has been studying very hard. He chose to take Hebrew. Languages are optional at Duke but he wanted to learn as much as he can while he is here. He has really been working hard. 

Yesterday we saw this deer in our backyard. This is literally Dane standing on our back patio. He was whistling for the deer and the deer continued to walk toward us. It was a little scary. I actually went back into the house. I'm not sure if the picture shows it but the deer was a buck. We live in a very wooded area, obviously.

North Carolina.

Last week Dane and I moved to North Carolina. We are renting a great townhouse style/duplex that we love. Dane started Duke Divinity School today and life is just moving on.

The move was pretty intense. We literally packed up all of our belongings and drove them across 1/2 of the U.S. Both of our dads helped, Corey helped, and Beth helped with the first half of the journey. Callie helped at home the night before we left (basically all night).

We had to put the house we were staying in at Plumerville back together. We were renting a parsonage that belonged to the Baptist Church. It was a great house. However, it was fully furnished with towels, dishes, pictures, etc when we moved in. To live in the house we had moved everything to one room to store. So then when we moved out we had to put it all back. Callie was a huge help, because by the time we started reassembling the house we were exhausted.

We rented a Budget truck to carry our belongings (and tow my car) and we then drove Dane's truck and my Dad's truck. My Dad recently bought a truck with a very comfortable spacious interior so I managed to sleep in the passenger seat ~50% of the time. ;)

We stopped in Nashville to break up the trip. Dad and I stayed at Beth's apartment and the Womacks rented a hotel.

We left Nashville at 6am and we arrived in Durham around 3 or so. Unfortunately our electricity was not yet turned on and our house was a little warm during move in. However, the electric company came around 8:30pm and finally turned in on so we spent our first night at home with our dads and Corey.

They stayed another night to explore NC. We ate pizza at a fantastic restaurant Satisfaction. It was very very good pizza. They have a special sauce, yum. We were sad when our dads and Corey left and we are looking forward to their visits later this year. Saturday my sister is coming to visit!!! Awesome. She moved to Nashville this time last year. She got a round trip direct flight for $99. We are excited.

I know Dane is having a wonderful first day at Duke. I am currently sitting at Panera sipping a frozen strawberry lemonade in this wonderful 83 degree weather. We went to a Durham Bulls game last night and I got chilly outside. It has been a long hot summer and I am ready for some fall weather!!

Mom's 50th Birthday, Angie's Birthday, and Graduation

Life has been crazy.busy. Can you say crazy.busy.

My mom turned 50 on July 26th. We waited to celebrate until Beth made it back from her 3 weeks at Stanford in sunny California. We had a simple celebration with dinner at Coltons in Batesville and then cake at home with Julie and Sam. I love a good birthday party.

Last weekend (August 8th) my dear friend Haley Heath married Chris Burks. We had a great time. Haley was a perfect bride. She was very happy and we had so much fun. For example, over the course of one bachelorette weekend and one wedding day we practiced the Cupid Shuffle 3 times. You know life is good when you have an excuse to do the Cupid Shuffle 4 times (including the wedding) in 2 weekends. ;)

Yesterday, we celebrated Angie's Birthday at the Womacks house. Corey is home for a few weeks. (He is also helping us move to NC!!). Jody, Ritchie, Mert, and Vaughn were there for the party too. We had sandwiches and one of Dane's awesome salads. Birthdays are fun.

I am graduating tomorrow. Yes, that's right. GRADUATING. I am very very excited. My parents, sister, Julie, Sam, Poppy, Dane's parents, and Corey are all going to be there. It is going to be a great day.

There is one person I will miss terrible tomorrow. My Gran. Ok, I miss her terribly every day. Graduation will be particularly tough though. Gran supported me throughout the entire journey of my undergraduate and graduate coursework. She reviewed my papers for me, encouraged me, inspired me. I miss her today, tomorrow, everyday.

Here is a picture of us at my UCA undergraduate graduation. I would love another hug tomorrow. I am thankful for the person she was/is to me.