THE BIG EASY

One of the best things about working for my company - aside from the dart wars and generally awesome people - is the annual mystery trip. In past years, they've gone to places like South Beach, Chicago, Jamaica (I was on this trip!), Amsterdam and Iceland. And when I say "Mystery Trip," I really do mean that it's a mystery.

Here's how it works: each year, a small planning committee gets together and decides where we're going for the year's trip. Then, they periodically send out clues about the location, leading up to the start of the trip. We'll get clues such as "you'll need a passport" and "bring a bathing suit," which are pretty straightforward, but then we also get clues that don't make much sense at all. Then, when we get to the airport (usually painfully early in the morning) on the day we're leaving, we have a "reveal" and find out where we'll be heading for the next few days.

Mystery trips are fun, exciting, jam-packed, and generally cause office-wide hysteria a few days before the trip - especially if you're like me and have a severe Type A personality (which means that packing your suitcase is a panic-inducing experience)!

Here's a general idea of the clues we received for this year's trip to New Orleans - stolen from a Facebook post from one of my co-workers, which she apparently stole from another co-worker. :)

People were guessing St. Louis, Disney World, Denver, and NOLA, among others. Even after the trip, I'm still not 100% sure how all of these clues fit in. Regardless, we had an AMAZING time down in The Big Easy and I can't wait to find out where we'll be heading next year. I'll leave you with a bunch of photos from the trip:

5am Friday morning: the NC crew taking up almost the entire back half of the plane from Raleigh to Atlanta

Reuniting with the original account coordinator team at The Ruby Slipper for lunch. Best part? Take-out mimosas :)

Friday night karaoke

Doing a little sightseeing in the French Quarter early Saturday morning

Visiting Jackson Square (mostly just to get to Cafe du Monde)

Cafe du Monde beignets - absolutely necessary

The rainy weather made the swamp tour just a little more creepy

Gator spotting!

This big guy was almost a little too close for comfort. Granted, our tour guide was on the platform hand-feeding him, so he can't be ALL that dangerous, right?

Holding the baby gator! Her name is Alli and I might have taken her home if they had let me.

Hanging out at the Old Absinthe House with some coworkers Saturday night. I also learned that absinthe tastes pretty much exactly like Nyquil. Not my drink of choice.

Balcony view of Bourbon Street

Beignets round two (also necessary)

Closing out the trip with a visit to Pat O'Brien's for their famous hurricanes (which honestly weren't that great)

One more picture before we split and head back to our NC and MI offices!

JUST A FEW WEEKS LATE

To put it lightly, I've hit a blogging rut. My last post was on May 4th and now it might as well be June already.

I've discovered that it's really hard to motivate myself to drag out my computer after working hours and write for myself. I don't think I'd have such a hard time if I didn't work in social media marketing, but the fact is that I do. My job requires me to be in front of a computer and online for most of the day. Once you've spent your day creating content, monitoring your clients' social sites, responding to fans and followers, and sending email after email, the last thing you want to do is once again put your fingers to the keyboard and write (not that I'm complaining - I do love my job!).

I'm determined to get better at this; my goal is to dedicate a few hours a week to blogging for myself. Not for my clients, not for my agency - just for me. Because if I can't make time for the things I like to do outside of work, then I'm really not doing this whole "work/life balance" thing right.

For starters, here's a few pictures from our trip to Asheville a few weekends ago for Dylan's brother's college graduation:

Road trip time with Claire & her little dog Peyton

Charlie made a lot of puppy friends that weekend - this is Lyle & Sofie's dog Coach

Trash bag couture at the graduation ceremony (aka it rained...a lot)

Dylan's step-sister Claire, step-dad and mom modeling the snazzy trash bags

Lyle graduating! Soaked to the bone, but graduating.

Pictures with the graduate!

We found some horses to hang out with

And went on a hike

Played some (very competitive) games of cornhole

And did some grillin'

Ending the weekend with one very tired Charlie

During my blogging absence over the past few weeks, I also went on our annual work mystery trip (this year's was to New Orleans!), developed an annoying sinus infection, and enjoyed Memorial Day weekend with my family back home. More pictures coming soon! And more posts. I promise.

GROWING MY GREEN THUMB

I finally had enough time to plant my little mini garden in the backyard last weekend!

Isn't it cute? I had initially picked out another, more convenient, spot in the yard for the garden, but we ran into a slight problem. There was a small (or so we thought) stump in the way that I was going to have Dylan dig out for me. That sucker turned out to be at least 4' x 4' across, hidden under a few inches of dirt. There was no way we were ever getting it out without an axe, a chain, and a heavy duty truck - which, honestly, I would love to have. Alas, my choice gardening spot wasn't going to happen - so we moved it to smack dab in the middle of the yard, on the edge of the "landscaping" (the owners of our townhouse really did a bad job with that). I do like the cute little fence that goes around it, even if it's not so successful at keeping Charlie from trampling my poor little plants.

Right now, there are three tomato plants, four cucumber plants, and three bell pepper plants (there was supposed to be one red, one green, and one yellow, but somehow I ended up with two yellow's and no green). And yes, as my mother lovingly reminded me, I do realize that those cucumber plants are going to start taking over everything very soon. Instead of letting them grow out, they're going to be trellised so they grow up and don't smother every other living thing in site. She also warned me that I'm going to have way more cucumbers than I'll know what to do with - anyone think they'll want/need some cucumbers in a few months? Maybe a whole basket full? :) Worst-case scenario, I'll be making a lot of pickles this year. I do love me some pickles.

I also did some container gardening with a bunch of different herbs to save space, and also because I like how they look on my porch.

Oregano, dill and parsley!

I also planted a second pot of just basil yesterday. Can't wait to make pesto and more caprese salad! Oh, and Charlie helped... in his own special way. Mostly just by chewing on the roots and clumps of dirt that we dug up.

"Seriously, mom, stop with the pictures."

I'm hoping that I actually get some decent herbs and veggies out of this little gardening experiment. But let me tell you - I will Sharpie-marker my thumb green until I'm one hundred percent positive that they're actually growing! (I am pretty positive that the crazy cucumber plants have already grown a good few inches in the past week.)

Happy gardening!

TWO MILES? BEGINNER'S STUFF.

Yesterday I ran two miles without stopping to walk and I'm still alive today to blog about it. I consider this a pretty big success, even if every person I passed on my run thought I looked like I was about to keel over and die (which is probably exactly what they were thinking).

This pretty much sums up my feelings exactly:

5K, schmive-K. I've got this... I think.

JUST KEEP RUNNING...

I'm five weeks into my 5K training and I'm still going strong! I started off dreading having to run for 90 seconds at a time, and now I'm running five minute intervals with no problem. That might not sound like anything to brag about to most people of minor athleticism, but it's pretty darn impressive to me.

My Week 5, Day 3 workout is scheduled for Thursday, and it includes a 2 mile (20 minute) jog with no walk breaks. Intimidating? Absolutely. But I'm also excited to see if I can do it. I WILL do it - because what's 20 minutes of jogging, really? Especially when this is the scenery on your route:

And when you have awesome all-black running shoes like these:

I'll post another 5K update in the next week or so with my progress - I can't believe I'm getting so close to the end of the 8 week program. Next challenge: running a 10K. Yikes!

THE CHARLIE STORY

This past Tuesday was the pup's unofficial 6 month birthday (only unofficial because we don't actually know his birthday), so I think it's time to tell the story of how Sir Charles Barkley came to be.

He always gives me this look when I take pictures of him - in my head he's saying, "Stop pointing that little box that flashes at me and making me sit still. This is stupid." 

It all started in about October 2011, when I somehow ended up browsing Petfinder.com at an exceptionally increased rate. I'd been living alone since August when my roommate and her dog (more on Orvis' antics later!) moved up to Michigan for work, and it was getting a little bit lonely in that big old apartment all by myself, especially now that it was getting dark so early. I knew I wasn't quite ready to get a dog, especially with the holidays coming up, but I was definitely entertaining the idea of one in the very near future. Fast forward to January 2012 - Dylan had moved back to NC from Florida in November and was (more or less) living with me at that point, and I had absolutely decided that I wanted a dog. By this time, the few dogs I had been keeping my eye on over the past months had already been adopted - one in particular was a flat coated retriever puppy named JoJo, who, incidentally, is now named Tanner and is in Charlie's dog training class with him. Small world, right? He lives with a great family with young kids, and I couldn't be happier for them.

Now let me tell you something - Petfinder.com is a great and terrible resource for people looking to adopt a pet. On one hand, it's incredibly easy to search for animals in your area. You even have the ability to customize your search by age, sex, or breed. On the other hand, these same features are a danger zone for an indecisive animal lover like me (who also has trouble saying no). I was able to narrow my search to young, male dogs for the most part, but that didn't stop me from having a list of 30+ dogs that I wanted to take home with me the very instant I saw them.

But one listing was different. The first time I came across it, the little white and red speckled puppy was listed only as "Pup 4" with one small picture and the description "I am a little sweetheart. I love to cuddle. I am a little boy about 8 weeks old." Almost all of the other dogs on my "list" were at small, no kill animal rescues and were usually being fostered at someone's house - but not this puppy. He was listed at Person County Animal  Control, a kill shelter about an hour from where I lived. The minute that I saw him I knew, no questions asked, that he was the one I needed to save.

This was at the very beginning of January, right before Dylan and I were set to leave for England for his best friend's wedding. Not really a great time to go pick up a dog. So we decided that we couldn't get a dog until mid-January when we got back from England and were settled down. Realistically, I knew that I wouldn't want to adopt a dog and immediately have to pawn him off on my parents or a boarding kennel so I could jet off across the Atlantic.

Once we were back, I still had my list of dogs that I was checking daily, hoping that it would get smaller and smaller as some of them got adopted. I knew for sure that I wanted Pup 4, now named Kippy, but there were a few others that I couldn't quite write off. Dylan helped push me to narrow down my list to three, and, shockingly, I did. I was now down to Kippy, a lab/shepherd mix named Icee that looked like a husky, and a little Corgi mix pup named Maxine (I know, I said no girls - but I'm a sucker for short little Corgi legs and big Corgi smiles).

I was still 100 percent sure that I wanted Kippy, but if it was really up to me, I'd take all three of them. Luckily the universe stepped in and someone adopted Maxine the very next day. Dylan really liked Icee (he's a sucker for Huskies), so we decided to email and inquire about both of them on Monday. The shelters emailed me back by early Tuesday morning: Kippy was available immediately and had never had veterinary care in his month at the shelter, and Icee was available at the end of the month, after a very exhaustive application process that the shelter hinted that I might not pass without a current vet reference. Considering that I didn't have a vet reference (because I didn't currently have any pets), the extended wait time, and the fact that Icee was at a foster home and multiple people were highly interested in adopting him, I was finally able to convince Dylan that Kippy was my dog. He had been all along.

Dylan picked him up that same morning from Person County. The shelter volunteers cried when he got there; they were so excited because he'd been there for a month and they were so worried that nobody was going to adopt him, but at the same time they were sad to see him go. He came home with us that afternoon - now named Charlie (or more formally, Sir Charles Sampson Percival Barkley Bright) - and there's never been a question of whether or not I made the right decision. I even checked up on Icee a few weeks later and found out that he had been adopted as well. Even Dylan is coming around and realizing that Charlie was the right choice, even when he suspiciously forgets all of his potty training and pees everywhere.

Visiting me at work right after Dylan picked him up from the shelter.

4 months old. He's clearly already learned how to give me the judgmental look.

Playing with Fletcher, my parents' Rottweiler/Australian Shepherd.

My favorite picture of him. :)

His Petfinder page is still live, now as an adopted dog, and has a few more pictures. When I look at it now, I still feel an overwhelming need to save this puppy, even though he's usually sitting right beside me (probably chewing on a sock liberated from my laundry basket).

Here's to what is hopefully many happy years of squeaky toys, crooked ears, missing socks and musical howling with my loveable pee machine.

BRAID CRAZY

One of the first things that people usually notice about me - or at least the first thing that they comment on - is that I have a lot of hair. And when I say a lot, I really do mean A LOT.* I have thick, long, wavy hair that is highly resistant to any type of styling. I can't do most cute ponytails or updos (they just fall out) and straightening my hair is a multi-hour battle to the death.

So, naturally, I resort to the big-haired girl's life-saver: the braid. I probably find a way to incorporate some sort of braid or twist into my hairstyle at least three or four times a week, if not every day. Not surprisingly, I even have braids in my hair today. (Side note: If you're looking for a good braid tutorial, this post by Hair and Makeup by Steph has a handy breakdown of the popular braids right now and how to create them.)

After seeing The Hunger Games last week (and yes, I read the books first), I decided to try my hand at a Katniss-inspired braid to keep my hair out of the way while I was horseback riding - because who wouldn't want to emulate a strong, independent female heroine?

Anyways, here's how it turned out! Apologies for the sub-par photos. One day I'll invest in a decent camera, but for now I at least get to play around with the Pic Stitch iPhone app.

Don't judge my (lack of) makeup here - I was going horseback riding, not to a beauty pageant.

I think it turned out pretty well, considering the amount of finagling I had to do to get the braid around the back of my head without any help. Dylan and Charlie (the dog) were the only ones around that day, and I don't think either of them are very apt at braiding. I think I need to befriend a neighbor... preferably one who also happens to be a hair stylist.

*If you're a grammar stickler like me, you'll get a laugh out of Hyperbole and a Half's post about the misspelling of "alot."

5K, HERE I COME

I recently decided to start training for a 5K. I know what you're thinking: "Training for a 5K? Do you really need to train to run 3.1 miles?"

For me, the answer is a resounding YES. I've never once in my life been a runner (aside from my 8+ years playing rec. league softball, which probably didn't require all that much running ability anyways). I think the last time I ran a mile was in my 6th grade gym class, and only because it was required to graduate from elementary school (but really now, who made up that rule?). There's also this pesky little detail where I'm not supposed to run due to some issues I have with my left foot - basically, one of my toe bones is too long, which causes pretty serious arthritis when I bend the ball of my foot up (which, incidentally, happens when you run). It's gotten to the point where I'll need surgery by the end of the year, regardless of whether or not I run, so I decided that I'd like to be in shape when it happens. Thus my goal of running a 5K by the end of May - and, if my ambition stays solid, a 10K by October.

I'm about two weeks into my training program with the C25K Free iPhone app (which is a pretty decent resource to have if you're a beginner runner), and I've found that I'm actually starting to look forward to my workouts. I even went to a specialty running store and bought a pair of shoes that was recommended to me, so I feel like I'm doing this the right way. I may only be running about 9 minutes out of the full 30 minute workout right now, but I'm excited to be able to see my progress and know that I'll be running more and more as my training goes on. I'm hoping that I'm still this excited when I actually have to run for a straight 30 minutes... more likely I'll be cursing everything within eyesight. If you see me running in a few weeks, you may want to steer clear!

So here's to getting fit, working towards a goal, and finally being able to (maybe) call myself a runner - oh, and getting a few free t-shirts from the races, too.

RENTAL SUCCESS

We finally found a townhouse to rent! After scouring every rental site imaginable, dealing with ridiculous realtor drama, severely increasing my nail biting habit, and just generally being stressed out, we put in a rental offer on a townhouse a few days ago and got the call that it was accepted today!

Considering that I only have about three weeks until my lease is up at my current apartment, it's definitely a relief. The icing on the cake? I actually really like the place. It has three bedrooms, a fireplace, walking trails in the neighborhood, appliances made in the past 10 years, and even a little fenced-in backyard area for Charlie - that means no more running down two flights of stairs and around the back of the apartment building to take him out to the bathroom five times a night! Now we can just open the back door and let him out, sans leash. I'm getting spoiled just thinking about it.

Here are a few pictures of it (from before we've moved in, of course):

The front of the townhouse - we even got an end unit. Not the most modern colors, but I don't hate them.

A real fireplace? Dylan's going to be chopping some wood this winter.

This is our cute little backyard. You can't see it, but there's a grassy section down on the right. It's not very big, but it's already better than a 3rd floor apartment.

Lucky for us (but not so much for my wallet), we have a few days between moving in to the new place and moving out of my old one, so we won't have to pack up, clean the apartment, move to the townhouse, and unpack enough things for it to be liveable all in one day. Even better, both Dylan's and my families are pretty generous in offering to help with the move. I'd do it myself, but I don't think my little Chevy Cobalt is going to be able to transport all of the furniture, or even pull a small trailer.

I'm excited to move in next month and finally be able to delve into my 'DIY' Pinterest board for decorating ideas! Here's hoping that I'll still be blogging by then and can actually show them off (unless they fail, that is).

WHY CAN'T REALTORS BE MORE REAL?

I've been on the hunt for a townhouse or house to rent for the past month or so, which means that I've had to work with many different realtors in the area. So far, my experience with them has been, let's say, less than stellar.

Photo found here

For example, I emailed one realtor who responded and asked me to call him to discuss the property. Okay, that sounds legit. After my boyfriend and I called him a few times and left him messages, he finally called us back simply to tell us that the townhouse had been rented over a week ago. Really? He couldn't have just put that in his first email? Despite the property being rented, the listing stayed up on his website and on other rental aggregation sites for another three weeks before it was taken down. Interactions with other realtors have yielded similar results - they don't call you back, won't coordinate with you on dates and times for viewing properties, and don't update or take their listings down for weeks after they've been rented.

I've talked with coworkers and friends who have also rented in the area and the general consensus is that realtors don't care about you unless you're buying a house, despite the fact that they are listing rentals along with their sale properties. I guess money is really they only thing that they care about.

Since about 90% of the rentals available in my area are listed through realtors, it looks like I'll have to keep dealing with them. But is getting them to do their job too much to ask? I guess we'll see.

ADVENTURES IN BLOGGING, TAKE 3

As the title of this post implies, I've tried my hand at blogging before. The past two times didn't go so well, ending after a few posts. But this time will be different...I think. If nothing else, having yet one more medium to post pictures of my animals to should be motivation enough.

Here's one to start. This is Charlie, my rescue puppy, at about 4 months old. He'll be showing up pretty often on here.

Au revoir for now! Hopefully this isn't the last you'll hear from me.