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Cary you've been good to us!

we're moving in a couple days and we're so very excited! as thrilled as we are, it's also been sentimental because this is our first home and we have so many good memories here. don't get me wrong we are ready to be in raleigh, but your first place is always sentimental in my opinion. so in honor of our year, plus some change, in our first place i want to post some pictures from around this time last year just a few months after we had been married. you may notice Christmas and Autumn decorations out...i was so excited about having a home to decorate for the holidays i started in october, ha! enjoy these pictures and i'll be sure to post ones of our new place once we get everything in order!

turkey please...

many couples have everyday norms and one of ours is the grocery store. usually i will go during the day, but sometimes we go together at the end of the work day and split the list. caleb usually picks up the same things every time we go cereals, milk, eggs, etc. while i pick up items like salad dressing, deli meats, produce, cheeses, etc. and then we meet up and it always works out in the end. there are occasional times where c has gone to the store with a detailed list that i've written.

with caleb's permission i am sharing this funny and sweet story. well, this past saturday i was busy packing for our upcoming move and asked him to pick up what was on the grocery list one of those items was turkey for sandwiches. easy enough. well he comes home and has forgotten the turkey- oh well, no big deal to me and life goes on.

so the next afternoon, caleb feels bad for forgetting the turkey so he goes to the store again. the grocery store was totally out of the turkey we like so he comes home empty handed...again.

well, late monday evening he is feeling really bad about not getting that turkey for us (i had not mentioned it since, so he's just that sweet) so he goes to the store for the third time in 3 days on a mission to get me that turkey as a surprise! he comes home and i am putting food away and lo and behold....he accidentally bought HAM! oh my goodness this is classic.

so i'm still holding out for some turkey but its a good thing thanksgiving is only two days away! :)

C-U-T-E

if you know me you may have noticed i say the word, 'cute' to describe almost anything all the time (so much so that sometimes i annoy even myself!) you can usually overhear me in most any store saying, "oh that's so cuuuuute!"

in honor of my favorite adjective, here are some things i think are cute.

my husband, of course.


little kids with glasses like Aaden from Jon & Kate plus Eight

photo from tvguide.com

and lastly anything from my favorite, The Paper Menu

photo from lemontreepaperie.com (another personal favorite)

well you may notice some updates around here to spiff up the blog a bit and all i can think to say is--CUTE! so bare with me while i get it out of my system...

i found this super cute thanksgiving background last week or so from www.thecutestblogontheblock.com which carries some of the best backgrounds around.

rouge has a permanent spot on our family roll call to show off her definite cuteness. [side note: rouge surprised me when she just jumped so high she landed ON the couch mind you she's under 10 inches tall, oh my]. down rouge down!

and lastly the cuteish (if that's a word and you'd consider music players cute) player at the bottom of the blog by playlist.com. they have thousands of songs you can search for, FREE accounts, and best of all they take care of the 'rights' to the music so you don't have to pay any of the fees! anyone remember napster, eek?!

so that's it for cuteness around here...

In light of Thanksgiving...

As we approach Thanksgiving, I am reflecting on so many blessings of this year. I'm thankful for Caleb, our families and friends, an amazing first year of marriage, a great church, God's plan for us (what we see and don't see yet), jobs that we love, the little and big ways God provides, and lastly our puppy dog aka Lil' Roo as she's known around our household.

Rouge, however, is still learning what it means to "give" thanks in our family (as you see below.) We are hoping she will have a better idea of it all by the time there's food on the table... :)




**Disclaimer: This is not one of Rouge's good days a month ago when she was around 3 months, so don't be fooled by her inability to listen, sit, or give. :) Please excuse the 'I'm talking to my puppy really high' voice too.**

oops

well, it's good to know we've been missed while on our sabbatical from blogging. thanks for all the friendly reminders....we're well rested and mentally prepared for the journey ahead of us: updating you on the past two months of our lives!

rouge should have her own blog with all the videos/pictures i have of her and she's grown so much! she's doing lots of tricks and lots of teething, ha. she's still under 3 lbs. we took her to the vet this week, which was successful, but honestly those people should go into sales with all the stuff they tried to sell us. did anyone know a dog increases its chance of getting cancer by 200% every time they go into heat?!

home sweet home. we are moving back to raleigh in 3 weeks which is a huge answer to prayer! it was unexpected, but the timing is perfect with our current lease and when the old tenant is moving out. we're going to be in a condo near fletcher park, very close to caleb's job and our church so we're very, very excited! we'll be updating a lot of the interior to fit our style but looking forward to the task ahead. can you say wallpaper??

loozieloo: i've been hired by a childrens designer in london to make all of the bows for her line so that is keeping me busy on top of the show i'm doing in early december. i'm not doing as much for her line until after Christmas because of the move and the other show i'm in called holly days. i'm packing all the time now and making bows too!

caleb's job is still keeping him super busy, but it is a great fit for him and we are so thankful. i'll have to get him to update for you. he's also been making games for the iphone and is always thinking of new ideas, which is so fun to be a part of!

soooo that's us in a nutshell. i'm not promising any routine posts at the moment, but this weak attempt should do for now.

also, i have a very big announcement!! no, not us...i know what you're thinking! anyway, we found out two of our good friends are pregnant!! ashlee and jereme are expecting in early july! ash and i have been friends since freshman year at meredith and have done so much together since then. when they told all the girls at dinner i screamed in the restaurant! i'm going to be an aunt again!!! yay!

Things we've learned about Rouge:

• little fur ball of love, fun, and curiosity
• barely whimpers when we put her in the crate
• sometimes it feels like we're in the witness protection program because we have to dodge all the strangers that want to hold her, etc. when we take her anywhere.
• we've been stopped all over town by people who think she's adorable
  
• people always want to take her picture (not sure why..)
  
• she's extremely friendly and good natured with anyone
• stays calm when she's in a new place
  
• i've only heard her bark about 10 times
• a picky, picky eater (but we aren't giving into it...)
• she loves to snuggle up and take a nap especially in the morning
• loves loves loves being outside and thinks she is a huge dog most of the time
• can make any man melt with her cuteness
• attracts LITERALLY swarms of children wherever she goes (and who would blame them?)
• freaks out if a doggy dress comes anywhere near her
• convinced that our pant legs are going to attack her and will do anything she can to chew them
• beware of wearing socks and walking at the same time she also thinks its her personal mission to attack those as well
  
• LOVES chewing on cedar blocks like the kind you put in your shoes. I think we're on to something here....
• sleeps through the night, every night
  
• is SUPER smart and can do several tricks that she learned in one afternoon
• learned her name by the first day she was with us
• sometimes sleeps with her eyes open
  
• likes to ride in my lap in the car and she immediately goes to sleep
  
• has a precious little "hmmph" noise she does when she doesn't like something
• we love her, we really do, and even if C doesn't always admit it he really does love her to.

SO if you're still reading this 1) you know more about Rouge than you did at the beginning and 2) you must really love our little family to have made it to the end. :) I have more pictures of our Rougie, but they're on Caleb's phone but I will post them soon!

New Posts!

I've posted a lot of new happenings in our lives, but Blogger is not putting them in the order I want or the actual day I wrote them for that matter! But rest assured its all here...including pictures of ROUGE!!! Her post is at the bottom of the new ones so be sure to scroll down!

I gave her her first bath this morning and she did really well! She was shivering because she was so scared and I felt so sorry for her. Rouge is playing as I write this and is back to her normal fun loving, teething, hippity hoppity self. :)

Emerald Isle (from July)

Every summer we go to EI as much as we can. We love how peaceful it is there. These pictures were on C's iphone and I just found them and wanted to post them. The first picture is from one of our walks on the beach at dusk (my favorite time to walk out there). We took these at the Pine Knoll Shores aquarium when we went with Taylor, Betsy, Emily, and Rebecca. We had so much fun with them and it was nice to be out of the heat for a little while!

This one above of Emily seriously looks like it should be in an Anne Geddes calendar!

Fabrik Agency

Caleb started a new job about a month ago as the Senior Web Developer at Fabrik Agency (FA) in downtown Raleigh. I'll let C post about the specifics of his job, but here's the office on his first day there. I'll post more up to date pics of the rest of the office soon. Just a sneak peek!

Caleb's desk on the first day. More pictures to come!!