A Big Catch-Up!

Oh my, where has the time gone?! I didn't know so much had happened that I actually FORGOT about blogging.  Not even joking.  The past month has gone by so fast, but so much has happened!  (And, I've had several people tell me that I need a new blog post up, so hopefully this will get you through! :)

For those that haven't heard, I actually started a new job a little over a month ago.  I'm still at Varina, just in a new position.  I'm now over in the School Counseling Office and it has been great! Everyone has made the transition very easy!  However, the first couple weeks were nuts because I was out some days for training, out for snow..I think by the third week I was finally there all five days! haha.

Matt was out of town for a few days for work, and Maple was NOT happy about it.  She sure did miss him.  This is when she found her new favorite sleeping spot.  We don't use our comforter, so it's usually folded up in the floor.  Well, Maple has found that to be quite comfortable and would prefer to sleep there. One night when Matt was gone, she wouldn't even stay in the den with me...she would just stay in there!  Then, there was the day I came home and found one of Matt's socks on the floor by his side of the bed, that Maple pulled out of the hamper...it was both sad and cute.

A couple weekends ago, we headed down to Eden, NC, where we usually go for the family reunion on my dad's side, known as just "The Reunion" with no explanation needed.  This time, although we did get to see a lot of family, it was for a funeral.  My Memaw was one of thirteen and one of her brothers, Uncle Troy, passed away earlier this month.  There was no question as to whether or not we'd go, so we headed on down.  Also, Uncle Troy and I have the same birthday, so I always thought that was cool!

Matt and I stopped at Longwood first to pick up Abby...when we stopped for snacks, Abby introduced me to these tall cans of Coke and I couldn't pass it up, haha.  Then Abby and I found it funny (almost too funny) that all of the snacks and drinks she, Matt and I got were all round or cylindrical.  Clearly, we had a lot to think about. haha.

We kept on driving and after lots of confustion, we met up with Mom, Dad and Vickie.

After going to the visitation, we headed out to dinner at the Mexican restaurant right by our hotel.  This Hampton Inn really is our home away from home every August!

I was so amused with the new coffee cups they have!

These were pretty appropriate for Matt and me!

On the way back home, we stopped back at Longwood to drop Abby off.  Matt suggested that we go walk around campus, and we're both glad he did!

As soon as we got out of the car, Matt noticed that something was going on in the Student Union rooms, so we joked that we should post on Facebook and ask if any RAs were having programs and we'd stop by.  As we walked down Brock Commons and got closer to the Student Union, the front doors were open so we could see.  Matt pointed out the huge gaming screens and I said, "Isn't that usually Phi Mu Delta's event...?!" and we slowed down.  Matt kept looking and said, "yep, I see our letters."  We didn't say anything, just walked in, and one of Matt's brothers jumped up to see him immediately!  It was GREAT seeing everyone's reactions to seeing Matt (not many of them know me anymore; it's sad we've been gone so long!)!  

We did run into a few Longwood grads and RAs, too! Jesse (left) and I worked on the same RA staff in The Hams my senior year, and he was also one of Matt's groomsmen. Danny (right) also worked on The Hams staff with Jesse and me.

P.S. Like my Pi Day shirt? It was, indeed, Pi Day :)

Last week, we tried a new recipe, found on Pinterest: Jerk Chicken Tacos!  When we were in Jamaica, the jerk chicken and jerk steak were AMAZING!!  This jerk chicken was quite the same, but it'll definitely do!  Also, if you go to the original link, you'll see that we did ours slightly differently.

Ingredients:

chicken

Jamaican Jerk Seasoning

mayonnaise

tortillas

taco toppings (we only had lettuce, cheese and cilantro, but Matt did add salsa on his, too!)

The recipe was super simple:

1. Cover your chicken in jerk seasoning and grill it.

2. While this is cooking, make the jerk mayo: mix 1/3 cup of mayonnaise and 2 teaspoons of Jerk seasoning.  Top your tacos with this!

3. When your chicken is done, cut into strips or bite sized pieces.

4. Assemble your tacos and ENJOY!!

Saturday, in the windy cold morning, we saw all the fun sights along Monument Ave in the Ukrop's Monument Ave 10K! We do this every year, but this year wasn't like all the others.  We weren't trying to beat a time.....we didn't even RUN.  It was weird and I really did miss running it, but I know we would've been disappointed with our time if we ran anyway.  Matt hasn't been feeling well, and my feet have been hurting a lot lately, so we walked with Mom and some family friends!  Walking definitely made the 6.2 miles feel TWICE as long, and the cold didn't make it that much better, either!  Either way, that's another 10K in the books for us!  And, there's always next year!

Waiting to start:

We passed Ronald McDonald..

and this was one of the most creative costumes we saw! (I was bummed I couldn't get the whole DreamWorks sign...)

Now that I've done a pretty much month-long catch-up, I will TRY to be better about blogging! This month clearly got away from me!