I know, I know its been awhile since I have updated anything...oh well I'm doing it now.  Better late than never, right?

One of the more fun updates that we have is that Will and I have joined a dance studio!  We have been going for a few months and we are working on our tango, waltz and cha-cha.  Its been a fun way for us to spend time together.  With all three we are going through a bronze program, which means that we are past the basics but if we were to enter into a competition, we would be in the bottom rung of competitors.  A fun thing about our studio is that occasionally they will do themed parties that we can get dressed up for.  They recently had a Great Gatsby themed party and our costumes won first prize!  I'm proud of that one because I didn't buy a single thing for either of our costumes,  I just rummaged in our closet until I found stuff to use.

One of the interesting things about Will's job is that he has to travel for conferences occasionally.  If he flies, then it's usually cost prohibitive for me to go because we can't reimburse a plane ticket for me.  However, if he is driving I generally get to tag along with him.  So far this year we both got to go to AZ (I bought a plane ticket on that one so I could see family) and later on in April we got to go down to Florida.  Both conferences were at 5 diamond resorts...crazy huh?  Never thought I would stay in one of those.  For the first one, I was severely under dressed because I mostly brought tshirts and jeans....but I learned my lesson and I will be packing at least nicer casual outfits for future conferences, just in case.

How's the job hunt for me?  I'm glad you asked...It stinks.  I had a couple of interviews but they didn't go anywhere.  Now there aren't even any interesting job listings.  I'm revisiting the idea of starting an online graphic design type company and selling products on etsy...we shall see :)

Our garden is still growing!  We now have 8 bell peppers that are at least an inch wide,  our kale plant is large enough for one salad,  our tomato plant is about a foot and a half tall, and our avacado seed finally has roots(it was the first thing I planted but didn't do anything for months)!!!

Since I have time at home,  I've spent a lot of time crafting.  Right now I am currently trying to sew a cute but modest bathing suit.  If its not a fail, I'll post pictures when I'm done.  Today I also saved a thrifted bubble dress and turned it into a slightly more elegant a-line.  I don't know what body type bubble dresses are supposed to flatter but I know they do not flatter my type.  Another recent project has been to make my own laundry detergent...saw this project on pinterest and it's awesome!  I probably have a years supply, it did not cost much to make and it cleans clothes really well. I've also been working really hard to lose weight and its paying off!  I've lost about 12 pounds this summer....go me!

We also had the joy of spending the 4th of July weekend with Will's brother and his family...sadly the rain kept us from doing too much but we did get to go to 6 flags with them.  I'm starting to feel a little to old to get on roller coasters, but we still had fun and it was good to spend time with some familiar faces.

There's a lot to tell since it's been awhile since I've updated this thing but I will bore you (if I haven't already) if I keep going on....so until next time :)

I knew it had been awhile, but I did not realize that this is my first post of the new year.  Shame on me.  First of all, Happy Easter!  On Good Friday, Will and I went to Secret Church to listen to David Platt.  This year, the topic was heaven, hell and the end times and as usual, it was so encouraging in my walk with the Lord.  If you have never heard of secret church, David Platt is a very gifted teacher who can can teach a ton (literally flood you with information)and still make it easy enough to understand and retain all while keeping every topic Christ centered (which is why it is always such an encouragement to me instead of being overwhelming).  I think this year, because of the topic I was just reminded and filled with gratitude over Christ's finished work at the cross of salvation.  I highly recommend listening to any of the secret churches which can be found at http://www.radical.net/media/schurch/?cur_tab=series.

At this point, Will and I have mostly settled on a church we have been visiting for a few months now called New Branch.  While it is still new to us, I'm so thankful that we have been there long enough that we now know several names to put with faces and we are mostly past introducing ourselves to people.  It made celebrating our risen Savior that much sweeter that we were with people who not long ago were strangers, but are starting to become a church family to us.  We also had the pleasure of spending the day with Will's cousin, Jenna, who just moved to another part of Atlanta, which means that we now have family in Georgia!

As far as other updates, Will is still enjoying his job and his job is still treating us well.  Like I mentioned, we are mostly settled on New Branch and we have been visiting their small groups, trying to find a good fit for us.  I have finished all major projects in the living room (more on that later).  I have also started our own container garden despite my brown thumb so hopefully this summer, we might have some of our own produce (more on that later).  Now I am in the midst of job searching.  While it can be encouraging that Atlanta has a lot more jobs for graphic designers than Clemson did, its also a little discouraging that I haven't heard back from a single job that I've applied to.  I rest in the fact that God will place me where He wants me.

That's all for now!  If I need a break from job searching tomorrow I'll post about all of the living room projects that I've done!

I haven't given any real updates on our move to Atlanta, because there is a lot to update and I didn't know where to start. I figured I would start with one of my favorite parts of Atlanta. Coming from a small town (to say the least) where Will and I have both lived at for the better part of a decade, we had kind of run out of things to do. Even though we had only dated and have been married for two years in Clemson, we were already cycling through some previous date nights. It's important to us to go on at least one date a week to make sure that we are getting some good quality time together. The great thing about Atlanta is that there is so much to do that we don't have to cycle through previous date nights again unless we want to! Here are some of the ones we have been on since we have moved here:

Mini golfing in a pirate ship....the most difficult course I have ever been on

Medieval Times for Will's Birthday.  Don't judge us.  If we don't do the touristy stuff now, we never will.

The Botanical Garden's Christmas light event

Nutcracker!

Last Monday, Will and I celebrated our first year of marriage! I am so blessed and thankful to be married to this wonderful man.  It hasn't been the year we expected but through the year I've learned a lot and have grown to love Will even more.

To Recap the year:
I had a stress fracture in my foot the first several months of marriage and was on crutches
Will successfully defended his dissertation in November and graduated with his PhD in Civil Engineering in December.
We flew to AZ to visit my family for Christmas and it was the first time Will had ever flown in his life and the first time that either of us got to visit the grand canyon.
We moved into our first (rental) house in march.
8 things were replaced on my car
6 weddings were attended
4 sets of twins at our church have been born (I know, random, but still worth remembering)
3 major appliances were purchased and then completely broken within a month of being purchased...I think we will stay away from craigslist for awhile
2 demolition derbys
I ended my internship at crosspoint, and started working for first sun management as an IT assistant
We are still waiting on a job to open up for Will somewhere (that isn't in Afghanistan) but are still trusting in God's provision

The year has flown by but I'm daily reminded how blessed I am by the way that God has graciously provided for us. My husband's unwavering steadfast love for me has been such a beautiful reminder to me of Christ's love for the church and for both I am thankful.

To celebrate the day, we slept in (yay!), went to Panera for lunch, and then Will gave me my gift which was an hour long massage at a spa.  We then went to Frankie's fun park and went mini-golfing.  The heat was a little overwhelming so afterward we went to a bookstore to cool down and then headed to downtown Greenville where we had Thai food and Coffee Underground.  We then headed home and enjoyed our anniversary cake while watching the video of our wedding day!

Congrats to David and Sarah who got hitched on Saturday.  They were a couple who joined our church shortly after getting engaged and joined our newlywed cp group to learn from newlyweds before getting married, graduating, and moving on to jobs and their next stage of life.  We enjoyed getting to know them this past semester and I look forward to seeing them grow as a couple the next few months before they move away.  Here are some of the highlights of their wedding...

Its hard to tell but we managed to grab our own cp group block seating at the wedding

Funny story...so we were are coctail hour of the reception, hanging out waiting for the party to show up and Laura looked over and this burlap square had caught on fire by one of the chafing dishes...Kelly's maternal instincts suddenly kicked in and she started running to the fire and started fanning it (which kind of made the fire grow more).  Luckily its hard to miss a pregnant lady running across the room and then stopping to wave her arms, so she grabbed Ben's attention who rushed over and poured his beer on it and put it out.  My husband then retrieved the burlap square and wrapped it as a gift so we could give a group gift to the lucky couple

Yesterday I was honored to attend Jon and Meredyth Merkling's wedding.  It was such a sweet time of celebration to see these two get hitchified (as my husband would say).  When I was roommates with Meredyth a couple of years ago I appreciated getting to see up close how they interacted and had an intentional relationship and one that honored the Lord.  So excited for them :)