elbow grease...

It has been right at two months now in our new home and we finally decided to start making some improvements. What better time than a week of vacation to do some painting. For your enjoyment I will post some before and after photos. It took about 24 hours of prepping and painting to finish the downstairs and now the rest. Other improvements coming are kitchen cabinets and countertops as well as the downstairs bathroom will get a new pedestal sink. The downstairs will also be getting hardwood floor. The rest of our list will be high cost items in the upstairs bathrooms so it may be a few paychecks before those get updated.

In other news, for those that don't know I (Jason) am no longer employed by UPS. I have accepted a position with the Boys and Girls Club in Wake Forest, NC. My first day will be August 27th, so I will let everyone know how that goes.

We are doing great especially on the new schedule, we continue to realize how blessed we truly are. We are enjoying each others company and the company of all our friends and family.

so yeah we got married!

We we're waiting on our pictures to come back before we made a post but who cares..we'll make one now and another one then. It will be a month this coming weekend and we're ready to write a book, ok not really but we are adjusting just fine. We have settled into our new home and are beginning to settle into the happy fact that we will have each other for the rest of our lives. Raleigh, NC is nothing like Negril, Jamaica but our honeymoon continues and we look forward to the day when we get to return. I guess that will be enough for now until we have some pictures to show off.

oh my...two more weeks

So here's the latest in the life of the almost newlyweds...I have officially finished with school and picked up my diploma this past week (wow i have my masters). We are closing on our new place on this coming Thursday which is very exciting. And then it seems like there may be something else...oh yes the wedding. We are getting married, didn't you know it...just kidding...we're both excited and are awaiting that great day.

just for taunting

So here it is May 4, 2007. Less than two weeks til graduation for me, less than two months to the wedding and subsequent honeymoon, and less than two months til closing on our 'new' condo. Obviously it is an exciting time for both Kathleen and I but also a bit stressful of a time as we experience new things and new challenges that lie ahead. We are constantly looking as to what path we are to take and look forward to the things ahead.

On a softer note sports fans...I think last night may have been the first time I have ever seen a team drop 18 runs in one inning. It was a close game until we came to bat and then it was all over. I was a single away from the cycle but whatever. Other sports updates, Billy Packer is still a moron.

Billy Packer is a moron...

So on the day after one of the worst collapses I have ever seen in my short life, I reflect on a tournament in which UNC proved that even though they are a young team, they are a dominant team to look out for. I think about my favorite memories of the tournament, and the first would be in the game where UNC played USC. Billy Packer at a point in the second half during a UNC rebound, said..."He almost dunked the ball in the opponents basket." Now in working in the secular workplace and traveling all over the world, I have met some stupid people and heard those same stupid people say some stupid things, but this may have been the dumbest thing I have ever heard. I have never heard anyone continuously make stupid comments like Packer does and yet every year he is back covering the tournament...why? Billy Packer aside, it is a sad day on tobacco road. no banner to hang at the dean dome, no celebration to be had.

Kathleen and I are still dealing with the whole buying a house issue, and have been pre-approved for a loan, which is good. We're getting closer to the wedding day and both of us are so glad.

4 months til a new chapter

So here it is the end of February. We're four months away from being married and there are so many things still to figure out. But it has been exciting and we look forward to all that is ahead.

For those of you that don't know the story, We met about 3 years ago. We attended the same church and were in a couple classes together at school, which is nothing special I guess. However there were 4 of us that began to hang out nearly every weekend. This continued and friendships deepened. We went to a concert together back in September in the rain (just as friends) and this is where the feelings began to be more evident. It took us about a month to really say anything but we decided to pursue each other as potential husband and wife. We continued to spend more time together and over the next two months we realized we were a really good match. So in December the parents were approached and asked if they would approve of our getting married and they agreed that we both seemed extremely happy and well matched. December 22, we went to Asheville and had dinner at a nice restaurant and then on to the Biltmore Estate for their Candlelight Christmas, where we were engaged after the tour. It really was a beautiful Christmas.

Obviously things have progressed rather rapidly as we plan a summer wedding. We have book our honeymoon and are considering all the other things that will change from being single to getting married.

Something else you may not know is that the other two friends of the 4, are now engaged and are planning their wedding two weeks after ours. Funny how things work out, but we are so glad that things have worked out this way.