I could get used to this!

Gosh! Why I have I had such a slump in blogging recently?!? Maybe it's because real estate has taken off recently...whoo hoo!! Or because I'm organizing everything for my ultimate Frisbee team and that takes more time than I expected. It could be because I'm doing maid of honor duties and LOVING it so I'd rather be out looking at pretty dresses then in front of a computer. There really isn't an excuse except for life and I'm out living it instead of inside documenting it. I do love blogging though and I need to get better about it again. I think another issue is we have been doing a lot of the same routine recently. We haven't had much time for surprises or fun little adventures. I feel like this is very stream of consciousness right now.

Anyways, onto the topic of this blog post. I have been absolutely spoiled two weeks in a row. I think it is very atypical for realtors to get gifts after closings. And I promise I'm not writing this as a nudge to all of my clients out there. It's just true...it's not standard for clients to give their realtor a thank you gift. For us, getting to closing is our reward. I love that closing table and it takes hard work to get there! Seeing my clients actually sign those papers and take the keys and knowing that I can officially file their 3 inch thick file away is a pretty great feeling.

That being said I was completely shocked when I got called down to the front desk and had a vase full of gorgeous roses and other pretty flowers and a box of chocolate waiting for me from my last closing!

There was such a sweet note with these flowers and it totally made my day. These were particularly sweet clients and I also learned a particularly tough lesson during their transaction so I was particularly touched by these flowers.....particularly?

Then, not even a week later I got another call from the office that there was another gift waiting for me! What???

I was racking my brain trying to figure out who this one could be from and when I got to the front desk this delicious display was waiting for me.

It was from a rental client that I helped out a couple months earlier and who had just moved in. It was so sweet and I was so surprised. Rentals can be time consuming but don't require nearly the amount of work a purchase does and it was so thoughtful for them to send this is a Thank You.

Both of these clients are vets and are going to working at NC State for the next couple years.

Wolfpack and Vets...they are a good crowd :)

So Honored!

My best friend is engaged!!!!! I am SO excited for her and her fiance Justin! Nikki and Justin took a trip to Europe after she graduated from vet school as a celebration trip and everybody was hoping she would come back with a ring on it! Justin did not disappoint and her hand is now extremely distracting!

Nikki was my Maid of Honor and she was amazing! She was so selfless and helped me out in every way that she could. She also spoiled the heck out of me. She was truly a dream and I'm so glad she stood up as my first hand woman as I said "I Do" to Derrick.

A few weeks after getting engaged Derrick and I dropped by her house to drop Crosby off for a long weekend and she had a present for me. Check out how cute this is!

When I opened it up, Nikki had written "Will You Be My...." on the inside cover of the top of the box. 

And inside there was this adorable champagne glass where she had used glass etching cream and stencils to spell out Matron of Honor!

How amazing and creative is that??? And her Matron of Honor? It is such an honor and I am sooo excited!! We've already started some venue shopping and we'll be doing more fun wedding things this weekend. I am so excited to be a part of her wedding and so thrilled that she is involving me in so many important parts.

I love you Nikki! You and Justin are just perfect together and I love seeing how happy you make each other. I can't wait to be there for you like you were there for me on the best day of your life!! You are going to be STUNNING!

Frisbee on ESPN!

I've been a little delinquent on this blog lately! I think life is just getting busy and it takes time to sit down and write one of these. Also, nothing too exciting or out of the ordinary has been going on lately so there hasn't been too much to share.

Last week on the 4th of July Derrick and I started the day by heading to the US Open with our friends Travis and Claire. The US Open is a yearly frisbee tournament (well...this is the 2nd year) and it brings all of the top teams from the previous year and some international teams to play in one gigantic 4 day tournament. Last year the the US Open was in Colorado and this year it was right here in Raleigh! It was so awesome to have such a big event in our backyard. Travis and Claire had never seen a really high level ultimate game so it was fun to bring them along and show them what all the hype is about. We spent the morning at the US Open and then had a very laid back evening watching fireworks off of our back deck.

Friday night we had an unexpected game night with CK and Irene! Nikki and Justin joined us and my parents and Jack showed up as well! We hadn't seen Irene and CK since Christmas and it was so exciting to have them back in town. Mom, Dad, and Jack had just finished a vacation up in Virginia and stopped by for the night so that Jack could watch some of the US Open with us on Saturday. Saturday was the first round of the Semi Finals and some of these games were even televised on ESPN 3. The local men's team Ring of Fire made it to the semis game and just barely missed on finals with a score of 14-13.

That's a picture taken during the Ring game. Check out the nice turf fields and scoreboard. Ultimate is getting big time! It was so fun to watch our home team playing in this kind of arena and in the public eye. They'll beat them next time!

Sunday, Derrick and I decided to watch the finals games from home since it was a 30 minute drive to the fields and Ring wasn't in it anymore. It was just as cool of an experience to watch ultimate on TV. I hope it leads to more broadcasting and the sport starts getting more recognition.

Overall it was a great 4th of July weekend. I'll try to post more frequently in the coming week!

Winning My Heart!

As if I didn't already think highly of Coldwell Banker HPW, my workplace did it again! We had a great first half of the year and they threw the office a cookout on Friday. That was great...of course, but look what else made an appearance:

That's a cupcake truck! And it was delicious and Coldwell Banker HPW took the tab as a Thank You to the agents. I had the cookie dough cupcake....and I'm drooling again.

BUT WAIT...it gets better!

He let me inside the cupcake truck!!! Pink florescent is totally my color and being surrounding by amazing smelling cupcakes is totally my new hobby.

Thanks to Coldwell Banker HPW for being such gracious employers! It's truly a great place to work and I will stay forever if you keep giving me cupcakes!

Raleighwood! Raleighwood!

For the past three years Derrick and I have played on an ultimate team called wHagonweel and we loved it! We practice really hard and we were really competitive. I think we both got a lot better in those three years and it's something that we have loved doing together. Well, this  year, wHagonweel ceased to exist. The same two people had captained the team for 3 years and were burned out which is very understandable. It takes a lot of hard work to run a team like that. 

This didn't mean we didn't want to play frisbee though! We love it and we'll always love it so a new team has formed called Raleighwood! The entire premise of this team is to have fun with people we like and the sport we love. We are only doing one practice per week which is a far cry from what was required with wHagonweel. It's a much more laid back season this year. I wasn't completely on board with it at first. Change is always hard and Derrick and I are just so used to devoting our summers through October to ultimate that I feared I was going to miss it. But, now that we're into it I think it was the best choice for both of us. This is my first summer in real estate and it can be really unpredictable. Derrick has also had to increase his hours at work so the fact that we don't have practice during the week has been a huge help to us. 

This past weekend we had our first tournament up in Axton, VA. Derrick and I came up Sunday since we had the wedding on Saturday. The team went 3 and 1 on Saturday only losing to Cahoots (out of Asheville) 10-13. On Sunday, Jack also came with us. We were a little short on numbers for this tournament and we figured the guys could use some extra legs on the second day of our first tournament.  

Jack.was.awesome! Holy cow! He was cutting all over the place, skying people, and being very patient with the disc. I was so proud and it was so cool for him to be on my team. The best part was that the rest of the team loved him too.  They completely accepted him onto the team and trusted him on the field. No one thought twice about throwing it to the rookie from Wilmington and he ended up throwing our game winning goal to win the tournament for us! It was a very tight game against Cahoots and I put him in on double game point. He cut in for a huge gain and then sent it into the endzone to Dave to win! It was so awesome. 

The best news is that the team has asked him to join the team for good! I am so proud and so excited to get to play with him in the competitive club atmosphere. I think he will be a great addition to the team and I also think the team will teach him a lot. 

I am so excited for Raleighwood. I think it's the perfect team for Derrick and I this year and the people on the team are fantastic! The picture below is after we won the tournament. It was sponsored by Savage Ultimate so I stole this off their facebook page. We are the team in green at the bottom. The top team is from the other division. 

Wedding Time!!

This time last year Derrick and I were in the middle of a crazy wedding season. I think we had 5 total, 3 of which we were involved in. This year is much slower with only one wedding on the calendar at this point and that wedding took place this past weekend. I love weddings so I was so excited to get at least one in this year.

I lived with Madeline for 1.5 years in college. She is hilarious, spontaneous, and full of life and energy. We got along magically and I was so thrilled for her when she found her now husband John! They went through quite a lot during their relationship that really tested their will to be together. Most of their relationship was long distance (very long distance.....overseas long distance) but they persevered and celebrated their love on Saturday. It was beautiful!

Derrick and I drove to Hickory on Friday night since the wedding was in Charlotte the next day. Derrick hadn't been back since Christmas and my parents really wanted to see him. I love that they love him so much :) I thought this picture of Bear I snapped was hilarious!

My parents house is under major renovation and I'm so excited to blog the before and afters. Right now it's in that messy middle stage so I'll save that post for later. Since the inside was under construction we spent a lot of time on their deck enjoying the lakes views and Mom took this pic for us before we headed off for the wedding.

Courtney and I had the honor of welcoming people to the wedding so Derrick and I met Courtney and Jeff at their hotel to change and leave for the wedding. That way Courtney and I could go ahead early and Jeff and Derrick could hang out and watch TV instead of having to sit in the sanctuary an hour before hand.
Here we are heading out of the hotel! This picture was harder to get then it looks...

Madi's dress was stunning and the ceremony was beautiful. It was very vintage. Her dress was form fitted GOLD! lace and her bridesmaids wore a grey-ish khaki color. I don't feel like my description sounds very pretty of the bridesmaids dresses but they looked great! The reception was outside and tented on her neighbors land. It was right next to a pond and was really nice!

Jeff and Courtney! So cute and I saw Jeff and told Derrick he needed a bow tie!

The bride!! And that is Laura-Nelle in blue. She is an incredible singer and sang at the wedding. It was beautiful!

Here is a bad picture of the bridesmaids dresses. Madi has two sisters who were both MOH and John has two brothers who were both best men. It's was so fun to watch these two families come together. All of the siblings get a long and were dancing with each other through the night.

Table settings.

 Cut the cake! I loved that John wore a gold vest and tie to match the gold is Madi's dress.

My pile o cake

They had a live band. It was so fun and Derrick even danced quite a bit with me :) He does not enjoy it but he knows I do so he's very sweet to humor me when we go to weddings. I think I help by not asking him to take me out dancing any other time.

Madi and John's first dance choreographed of course. Madi used to be a professional ballet dancer and knows how to move so she had to live up to high expectations.

Congratulations Madi and John! The wedding was wonderful and you both deserve a lifetime of happiness together! I know you will get it!

S.L.A.B Day 2 and Day 3

I'm going to consolidate this into one post because I have a lot to catch up on here and we did a whole lot more on Day 1 than we did on Day 2 and 3 combined. I think we went crazy on the first day we were there and were in recovery mode for the rest of the weekend. On Sunday we slept in until 11:00! It was crazy. Poor Alison was still recovering from major jet lag. She flew in from a month in Australia just a few days before and her sleep schedule was all whacked out. I don't know what the rest of our excuses were.

Sunday was Father's Day so we all called our dads when we woke up and then headed over the Shannon's cousin's house for a Father's Day cookout. Shannon'a family is huge and it was really nice to get to meet so many of them. They were so welcoming and invited us right in. We felt like part of the family. I wish I had more pictures of her family but we were too busy eating, playing soccer, listening to the bonano (piano in 4 year old speak) and eating oversized portions of desert. Here's a picture of the cute house though!

After lunch we headed off the Anheuser-Busch Brewery tour. It was so cool to be in such a well known brewery. The best part was they had the Clydesdales!!!

This the inside of their barn. It was absolutely amazing!

This is Bruce!

This is the front of the barn...so pretty! The horses stay here for a while and then every week or so they are taken off to a farm about 20 minutes away to enjoy green pastures for a while. These are the same Clydesdales from the commercials. It was so awesome.

This clock tower is the 2nd most photographed thing in in St. Louis next to the arch. Talk about iconic!

I forget what these tanks are...they are the first part of the brewing process though and are freezing cold.

Trolly ride back to the two free glasses of beer. Blue was sick of pictures.

After the tour we headed back to Shannon's apartment to rest up before dinner. We went to Rosalita's which was a mexican restaurant right next to Shannon's apartment. We had margaritas and I had the best fajitas ever! It was so delicious. We went to this little hole in the wall bar to round out the night and Blue fended off male predators for us.

This is one of my favorite pictures of the weekend and the timing was perfect! Long story short, Shannon and Alison were in an iphone race to look something up and Shannon won. Picture perfect!

The next day was our last day in St. Louis and we had three more things on our list. The Zoo, Pappy's BBQ, and a Cardinals game.

The zoo was awesome. It is totally free and it's the 2nd best zoo next to San Diego. The habitats are all natural and it really wasn't too crowded. The animals were pretty active too which was a nice surprise!

This guy totally surprised us when we came around the corner. We had just seen a bear scratching his head and we thought that was good...

A little weird? Probably...

Poor lady gorilla. He boyfriend was being really bossy and she was over it.

Photo credit: Alison

National Geographic worthy

This was probably my favorite. Usually the big cats are never awake but we saw this guy swimming!

As we were walking past the Hyenas, Shannon called up Pappy's BBQ and ordered our lunch to pick up on the way home. She hadn't eaten there before but heard it was amazing...she was right. Thank goodness we called ahead. The line was wrapped out the door and into the back of the building. We were in and out of there in 10 minutes and the line had barely moved. And the BBQ was delicious! If you are ever in St. Louis I totally recommend it. Get there early though because they start serving for lunch and just serve til they run out.

That night was the Cardinals vs. Cubs game. The whole city is crazy about this team so it was fun to see a game. It was pouring rain at 5:30 and the game was scheduled to start at 6:00 so we called a cab and went to Paddy O's which is a bar right next to the stadium. We were able to stay there until about 7:00 and the game started around 8:00.

Outside the stadium after getting out of the cab:

At Paddy O's waiting for the rain to stop! Thanks for letting me borrow your jersey Shannon!

Our seats were awesome. We were in the first row on the third level right along the first base line and our seats were covered so if it did sprinkle during the game, we didn't even know it! Check out the arch in the background!

The field was really cool. They had the arch mowed into the outfield. 

And the sunset just got better and better as the sun went down. 

This weekend was so refreshing! I love all of these ladies so much and I was so glad to get to spend some quality time with them. Shannon was so great to welcome us into her home and show us around all weekend. I can't wait until next years reunion!