Good Day

Today was one of those days that really uplifted me. I try not to rely on positive affirmation or to care too much about what other people think but there is no denying it is nice to hear when people think you're doing well.  I was very encouraged by several people today at the office and I'm excited for new opportunities to grow my business!

Spring League Tournament

Derrick and I are very active in local ultimate. This past weekend was the culmination of a ~10 week spring league season. In league you sign up as individuals or pairs and your name gets thrown in a draft. You play with a different group of people each season and compete in a weekly game with a two day tournament ending the season. This year we were drafted to team Hydra! We hadn't played with many of the people on this team before so it was great to meet new players in the area. Spring league is typically a little more laid back but it's one of my favorite leagues because of the weather. For the most part it was sunny and breezy...perfect ultimate weather!

Poor Derrick got officially diagnosed with a partially torn rotator cuff two weeks ago so unfortunately he couldn't play the last two weeks of the season or the tournament. He was the number one pick on our team and was a huge loss. Our friend and wHagonweel teammate Joey stepped in and took his place for the tournament. We definitely missed having Derrick on the field but I'm glad we got to replace him with someone we knew and enjoyed playing with.

We did not win a game the entire season. We had lots of close games but no wins. We always claimed we were saving it up for the tournament and we did just that! We started the tournament last in our pool and beat the number one seed in the first game on Saturday. We ended Saturday with 2 wins and 1 loss. Sunday morning we won our quarters game and headed to Semis. It was a close game but we ended up losing in Semis.

Hydra was super fun to play with and it was exciting to end our losing season with three good wins! Here's a team photo!

Haircuts, Goat-sitting, Lamps

There hasn't been too much to blog about lately. Derrick has been putting in extra hours with work and I feel like my work has been keeping me really busy too.  Isn't that why I decided to be self employed? So could sleep all day and answer emails while millionaire matchmaker is on in the background? Turns out that's not what it's like.....

 I did manage to give Crosby her summer haircut. She has a tendency to overheat so we started shaving her during the summer a few years go. Seriously...she'll run and run and she won't know when to stop and you'll know she's gone too far when her eyes get all glazey, her mouth is as wide as it will go, and her back haunches start drunkenly swaying.

Here's her before glamour shot.

And during. Look at that expression. Pure bliss. She loves it so much she doesn't move a muscle when I shave her. One of those is true.

And after. You can't tell from this picture but she resembles a palm tree now. I don't shave her head or her tail. She's a little embarrassed in this shot. The second we stepped outside though her head was high. I could tell she felt a million times better.

Last night we stayed at a friends house as a favor. They were heading out of town and needed someone to watch their dogs. Typically we'll just pet sit at our apartment but three dogs in our 2 bedroom apartment would be a little much.We try to keep the dog scampering noise to a minimum for the people below us.  They had steaks and veggies in the fridge for us to grill.  Derrick and I haven't had many opportunities to grill out before...dumb apartment fire laws...so we used this chance to hone our skills. They were delicious!!!

That's Chester in front and Dax standing behind Derrick.

I referenced goat-sitting in the blog title. These dogs are more comfortable off the ground...

It took us a while to get everybody settled for the night but we're always happy to help our dog-owning friends because we know we'll need Crosby watchers in the future. 

This morning Courtney and I hit up the Raleigh Flea Market.  I had big dreams for this trip. Have you seen the new HGTV show Flea Market Flip? It's pretty awesome and you should watch it. I think it comes on Friday nights. Anyways...I think I get overwhelmed by the stuff and the treasures are so sparsely mixed in with all the junk. Plus..when you find a treasure it's more expensive then I think it should be. And by expensive I mean the gold plated 8 drawer dresser is $100.00 and I'm all like "Will you take $5?" 

Needless to say we left empty handed but, much to Derrick's dismay, we have decided we are just a little green and need to go at least once a month.  The day was not lost though! There's always a deal at Homegoods :)

When our parents made-over our apartment (best wedding gift ever) we inherited this living room lamp. Not saying I don't love it Mom and Dad...but I don't love it.  Obviously...I didn't even take time to snap a proper "before" shot before replacing it so I had to take one after it had already been stashed in the guest room.

It's just a little dark for my taste. I'm sure paint would give it a whole new life so I'll probably hang on to it and gussy it up a little later.  I wanted two matching lamps for the living room though and I've been keeping my eye out for something that I love.  Voila! (spelled wallah before Derrick edited this....)

Do you love it? Ignore the makeshift table...that's next on my list. The picture doesn't even do it justice.  And there is a matching one on the other side. I keep looking at them and drooling a little. And, thanks to Homegoods, they were only $30 a piece which turns out is pretty good for a lamp.  Lighting is expensive!!!  

Happy Birthday Mumsy!

It's my Mom's birthday today! Thank you, Mom, for being an example of what a strong, independent, and self motivated woman looks like! I wouldn't be where I am without your love and support. I love you!!

Hairspray!

Nikki, Somer, and I went to see the Jordan high school production of Hairspray on Saturday night. Holy cow are these kids good! It really was an incredible performance. How do so many people know how to sing? All of these kids had incredible voices and no fear at all. It reminded me how much I love plays and musicals and Nikki, Somer, and I already have our list for this summer at DPAC in mind!

And since no post is complete without pictures, here we are before heading in to the theater.

Weekend Visitor

Derrick and I are dog-sitting for our friend Kurt and his family while they enjoy some family time down in Charleston. Crosby is not happy about it. There have been a lot of death stares and growling going on. Luckily Maya doesn't seem to feel the hate :)

It was gorgeous so I took the dogs on a long walk after work today.

Crosby is thrilled it's swimming weather again.

Maya wouldn't even look at the water.

Cheers to tired dogs!

Derrick's Birthday Bash

Derrick turned 26 on Friday and we spent two days celebrating! I'm so thankful his family and friends could be a part of his birthday. He really deserves it!

On Friday night, Derrick and I met his family at Carrabba's for dinner. It was so nice of them to drive up to celebrate. We ate dinner then came back to our apartment for cake and facetime with my parents.

I somehow ended up with two giant bowls of pasta. I didn't read that part on the menu and was totally surprised. 

He got angel food cake with whipped cream and strawberries for his first birthday cake. You'll notice a trend with his second cake. 

Mom and Dad facetimed in for What I Love About Derrick and Jack facetimed in to them. Leanna is holding them up to sing happy birthday. If you've never had happy birthday sung to you from 3 different locations via the media you should try it. It makes for a very funny birthday song. 

The next day Derrick didn't know what he was in for. I told him to be ready to go at 9:45 for a day full of surprises. All of his best friends met us at Briggs for brunch at 10:00.  He told me after we got there that he thought that was what was going to happen. I don't think I'm very good at this surprise thing.

Derrick and I had a frisbee game to get to so everybody parted ways with plans to meet up at 5:15 at our place. Derrick didn't know about any of this and had to run into work at about 3:30 that afternoon. I was stressing a little bit but told him to make it back by 5:15 if he could. It actually worked out perfectly because Holly and Alexander got to our place before Derrick and we were able to get the 2nd cake in the fridge before Derrick got home.

Once Derrick got home I handed him a puzzle that would reveal our next destination. It was a crossword puzzle. The clues were pictures of NBA and NC State basketball players and he had to know the name that I call them for the crossword. (ex: Blake Griffin = Brandon, James Harden = Beardface). He flew through it without any issues. Then I gave him another puzzle where he had to pick out specific letters from the crossword puzzle to spell the address of our next location. Luckily I was sitting right next to him because there were a few mistakes in it :)

After he googled the revealed address he found out we were heading off to Rush Hour Karting!  This place is awesome. It's a go-kart track where the karts get up to 40 MPH. We were signed up for the sprint race which consisted of a 5 minute practice, 6 minute qualifier, and a 10 minute race.

Here are all of the couples in their head socks.

 Meredith didn't race with us but was awesome and took pictures!

Here were the results after the final race. Kevin took #1

The boys as they finished: (Alexander's face is the best in this picture)

And the ladies:

After racing we headed back to our apartment for chicken tacos, cake, and games! I was excited to use both leaves in our kitchen table :)

Crosby wasn't as excited about the party hats as we were. 

Here's Derrick's 2nd birthday cake! Strawberry shortcake from Nantucket Grill. He loves this cake and had a piece for breakfast this morning. I'm sure the leftovers will be gone by tomorrow.

Kevin, thanks for helping him out! BFF's for Life!

The rest of the evening was filled with games and quality time.

Thank you to everybody who helped make Derrick's birthday so special! It turned out perfectly and I'm so glad we were able to celebrate together!!

Happy Birthday Sweet Husband!

An acrostic poem for my man on his 26th birthday.

D- Dashing. Most handsome man I know :)
E- Entertaining- he makes me laugh all the time. And he thinks I'm entertaining too...not just a weirdo
R- Respectable. Respectful too, but I think being respectable is even better. He is a man that is respected by everybody. I value his character, morals, judgment, and attitude so much and I hope that our future kids turn out just like him.
R-Ripped. Have you seen his 6 pack? Back off he's mine
I- Intelligent. This one is obvious. I don't know how he knows some of the random stuff that he knows. If I don't know some piece of trivia, I get over it. If Derrick doesn't know...he looks it up. I'll ask him a question, he'll fake an answer that I totally believe, and then he'll look up the right answer for me, which is usually what he told me in the first place :)
C- Caring. He is so thoughtful and kind. He is constantly thinking about me and shows me everyday. I am very loved and I am lucky to not have to question that...ever.
K- Kissable :)

M- Married. For 11 months to the day!!
A- Athletic. I have been asked more then once how he is good at every sport he tries. He's so fun to watch play sports and there are lots of times on the Frisbee field where I'll just forget to guard my girl because he's making some crazy play on the disc. He also catches everything I throw at him. I've been known to get the wind knocked out of him but he always catches my throw!
R-Relaxed. I mean this in the best possible way. He balances out my crazy and he's also not afraid to tell me I'm being sassy and need to calm down.
C- Confident. It's the first thing that attracted me to him.
E- Eggs. He doesn't like them! Why don't you like eggs?
Y- Nothing starts with Y. I just love him a lot. No Y about it.

Happy 26th Birthday my love!

Fools Fest Recap

I know I've blogged about this tradition before. When someone in my family celebrates a birthday, the entire family calls/skypes/facetimes in to each other to talk and say what they love about that person. This past Thursday was Jay's 27th birthday. 27!! 

 I just tried to type that in all caps and it came out @&!!! 

This year, Jack was home with Mom and Dad on spring break, Jay was in Richmond, and Derrick and I were on the road to a frisbee tournament. Mom, Dad, and Jack facetimed into Jay and Derrick and I were on speaker phone on Dad's cell phone. It was great as always!

Here's Mom, Dad, Jack, Derrick, and I sitting on top of Jay's birthday present!

And here we are next to his new espresso machine! That's Derrick and I up in the front.

That was Thursday night and Derrick and I were on our way to a Frisbee tournament up in Fredricksburg, VA. It's called Fool's Fest because it happens every year close to April Fools Day and everybody at the tournament acts foolishly! There is loud music playing and people in costume all over the place. Here is a picture of a team dressed up like the Muppet Babies. See Kermit and Cookie Monster?

There is also a beer garden which is basically just an area fenced in with construction tape and a beer truck with taps on the side. Needless to say, it's quite a party. Derrick and I played on a team called Lefty Lucy. This team started several years ago and was made up of primarily left handed players. Since it started, they've had to pick up more right handers for numbers so Derrick and I got picked up this year. It was our first time at Fools Fest and we will definitely be going back!

Also, it was Alison's birthday on Easter Sunday! Alison left me to get her PhD at Penn State so I love when we can get together. Here she is in her birthday bunny ears.

Derrick and I both played really well this weekend which is always a good feeling to be driving home with. Derrick didn't escape un-injured though, unfortunately.  Here's the thing about Derrick. When he plays frisbee he throws his body around the field without any concern for it. His goal is to make the appropriate play on the disc whether it's to lay-out and catch it for the score or get a crazy D on someone. He laid out all over the field this weekend and skyed the crap out of everyone he was matched up against. For those non-frisbee players: 

Lay-out: Throw yourself on the ground to catch the disk

Sky: Jump high in the air for the disc in a one-on-one match up and come down with it

D: Defensive play. You prevent someone from catching it

Well..on his last offensive effort he laid out for a disc and his defender landed on top of his outstretched shoulder. He immediately jumped up yelling and I took him off to the trainer. Luckily we don't think it's a joint injury. It appears to just be a pulled muscle but he is really feeling it. He can't lift his arm more then a foot away from his body. Hopefully a stiff regimen of ice and Advil will take care of him soon enough!

Richmond is on the way  home from Fredricksburg and were finished on Sunday at 2:00 so we gave Jay a call and stopped by for lunch and ice cream. It was nice to see Jay so close to his birthday and to get a little family time on Easter. 

Jay doesn't read my blog regularly so I took this picture and told him he'd be featured in hopes that he would check in this week. Love you Jay!

It was a great weekend but we are still exhausted and recovering from this long weekend. We're also so thankful for a fun activity that we enjoy doing together and with such great friends!