Merry merry Christmas!

Warning- lots of pictures ahead!

This week was so much fun and I can't believe it's already over! Meg and McKenzie got here Saturday, mom and dad arrived Tuesday evening, grandma and grandpa Waters came Wednesday, Steven and Caylee Thursday, and Christopher, Jimi, Riley, and Cal on Friday! We had a super full, fun house all week. It's eerily quiet around here now...

 

See ya in 2015!!

Meet Scout

This week was a long one at work. Glad I'm only working Monday and Tuesday this coming week, though I'm sure they'll both be a doozie!

Friday evening Matt and I ate some leftovers and hung out with Macie. We turned in super early since Saturday was gonna be a longggg day. Matt went duck hunting and I headed to the island for the jingle jingle 5k. The run was pretty miserable- cold and rainy! I paced my coworker Jen, took some pics, then hightailed it outta there to get home and changed.

We left around 11am for Greenwood, a town 3 1/2 hours from us, to pick up the newest addition to our family- Scout. Matt had decided earlier in the week to go ahead and get a pup so it could be trained for next years duck season. Welcome to the fam, Scout!!

Yesterday was such a long day after being in the car all day. We grilled some hamburgers and hung out with my sis and niece before heading to bed, anticipating it would be a long night. Which it was. Scout cried and whined way more than Macie ever did, until Matt laid on the couch next to the kennel. Hopefully tonight will be better!!

Chicago!

Back when I was living in Atlanta and working at CHOA, I had the best coworkers that turned into some pretty incredible lifelong friendships. My friend Lauren texted me back in September about a possible trip to Chicago since her husband needed to attend a conference in the city. I immediately texted Marly, who lives in Chicago, to make sure her house would be available for a house guest since I wouldn't be able to afford a hotel by myself. When she said yes I asked Matt for my Christmas present a little early- a plane ticket to Chicago!! I was so excited for this trip and am so sad it's already over. 

I was up at 4am Friday morning to make the drive to Charleston for my flight. I've never flown alone before so I was super anxious and terrified to do so! But I made it (well halfway...I'm still at the airport waiting to fly back to SC). Marlys and Lauren picked me up at the airport and we kicked our girly weekend off!! We went back to Marly's house to drop off my things then we caught the next train into the city to meet up with our friend Rachel for brunch...which ended up turning into a super long and fun lunch at Yolk. We then walked the whole city (it felt like)!

 It was so fun to see the city lit up for Christmas! I'm a sucker for lights and decorations. We headed back home and ate dinner at a place near Marlys's house and turned in early.

Saturday morning Marlys had a dentist appointment, so Lauren and I walked to get coffee and explore downtown Western Springs, which is such a cute little town! I love that you can walk anywhere. After she got back we took the train back into the city to meet back up with Rachel for lunch at a delicious pizza place. We then walked the entire city again (joke!)!! We walked down near the lake, then through Lincoln Park, then caught a cab up to Michigan Ave where we did a little more shopping, ate dinner, then walked back to the train station.

We also made it to the Bean and to watch skaters at the ice ring! The train ended up being super delayed do we took a cab back home and were back in a jiffy. I had to turn in around 10 since I was pooped!

This morning we got up, ate some donuts, then took Lauren back to her hotel. We had quite the misty goodbye, but thankfully her family is vacationing on HHI in May so we will see each other in a few months! Since my flight was later I drove with Marlys to the vet because her 20 year old jack russell had a tough night last night. We picked up lunch on the way home, ate, then she dropped me off at the  airport with another tearful goodbye!

A wedding and a surgery

One week ago my little brother got married and I won't lie, it made me feel sad! I mean, I'm happy he's married and is growing up, but it reminded me just how much fun we used to have when we were kids and carefree. 

Anyway, the wedding was super cute. I was afraid Matt and I were going to be late, but we ended up arriving about 45 minutes early. It was perfect since we got to visit with my family for awhile. The wedding was at a small community building in Appling, but they did a really good job at organizing and decorating to make the small area look great!

The reception was also really cute and we enjoyed chili, a baked potato bar, and hot chocolate for dinner. We were back in the car and heading home right at 6:30, which was nice since we both had to work the next day!

Remember how I mentioned Macie limping around Sunday after duck hunting? Well, we took her to the vet Monday since she was still hobbling around on 3 legs...and found out she tore her ACL and needed surgery. So, Thursday morning we dropped her off for her surgery then Matt picked her up at around 4:15 afterwards. Talk about a pitiful pup. We were up at 2:30 that morning trying to get her calmed back down and comfortable, then I was up at 4am getting ready to fly to Chicago. I think I've been running on fumes all weekend!!

Run time and Christmas party

The week sure flew by! I only worked Monday- Thursday, which seems ideal. I think I'll change my schedule for life. I wish ;)

I took Friday off so I could run a billion errands before a busy weekend, and because we had an extra nurse and someone needed to be off. Didn't take me long to volunteer! So Friday morning went like this- get up, DMV (finally changed my address on my license, only 4 months late!), Savannah to pick up our bridge run stuff, Gap (had a coupon!), got a parking ticket for being 3 minutes late to the meter (grrr), Seaside to drop Dr S's stuff to her, Palmetto moon for Christmas gifts, Ulta for some nail polish, BB&B for another gift, Chick-fil-a for lunch, Target for grocery shopping, the vet for Macie's treats, the dry cleaners, Publix for more grocery shopping, then finally home by 3:30! Whew. 

Then a lot of cleaning occurred. Boring.

Saturday morning I was up by 5:30 and heading to Savannah for the Enmark Bridge run! I had never done this race before and I liked it! Dr as talked me into the double pump, which is a 5k and 10k back to back. That's 3 times over the bridge- eek!! I ran the 5k alone in 29:04, which wasn't too bad since I wasn't planning on busting butt or setting PRs over the bridge! I opted to run the 10k with the rest of our group and we decided right away to do interval running to get us through. We made it to the bridge where Dr S and I split from the two other ladies. We forged ahead and finished the race together in 1:14ish. Fine by me! One more race in December but I'm pretty much laying low and doing short runs the rest of the month. I'll start vamping it up in January for all the fun Spring races!

I booked it home to shower and start setting up for the CS Thomas Christmas party. Molly and Megan got here about 2 to help, and I'm so thankful they did! The party went well- good drinks, great food thanks to a wonderful caterer, and lots of wonderful people. Success!

Matt got up early to duck hunt with Macie this morning so I was home, cleaning up! Macie came home limping so she and Matt are resting for a bit and then we are leaving in about 45 minutes to head for Augusta for Steven and Caylee's wedding. Busy day!

Happy December!

Happy December!! And happy late Thanksgiving ;)

Last week went by entirely too fast, as it always does when you don't have to go to work! Thursday morning (thanksgiving day) we were up super early at 6:45, so Matt started a big breakfast for us while I went for a run. I only ran once the entire break thanks to a whole lot of foot pain (funny enough I took aleve twice yesterday and woke up with brand new feet!), so I was sitting or laying as much as possible. We had lunch around 1, sat around and talked for awhile, checked out Black Friday sales, then the girls set out to shop after the boys got back from hunting! I've never gone shopping on thanksgiving, but it was nothing like I thought it would be. It wasn't as crazy as I anticipated for sure! I remember Uncle Steve and all his Toys r Us horror stories so this was so tame compared to that!! All my purchases were pretty boring- socks, boxers for Matt, some candles (that smell amazing), and some super comfy lounge jeans. 

Friday morning I slept in for awhile while Matt went to the shooting range with Eugene. I headed back to the in-laws house for lunch, more on-line shopping, girls time, then Christmas dinner and presents! We had another large dinner, took Christmas pictures of all the cousins, then watched them open and play with their gifts. So fun! I stayed a little later than Matt to hang out with the ladies and watch hallmark movies.

Saturday morning Matt went duck hunting while I did next-to-nothing at home. I convinced him to go pick out a Christmas tree with me before the rivalry games started at noon and we found the perfect, although short, tree! I went grocery shopping afterwards while Matt went home to set up the tree. The rest of the afternoon was spent watching football and decorating for Christmas; perfect afternoon! We were supposed to have dinner with Daniel and Cassady, but they ended up bailing at the last minute due to illness, so Matt and I had date night at Zaxby's- classy ;)

Sunday morning we had church nursery, ran a few errands, did more decorating, and Matt busted butt working in the yard. Monday definitely came way too fast! I was at work by 7:45 doing vaccine inventory, then had a church Christmas party after work; made for a long day! The women's gathering at church was a blessing though and I'm glad I had the opportunity to join!