Ms. Maddie

For those of you who don't know this, Drew and I took the Manning family dog, Maddie, with us to North Carolina after we got married. I LOVE Maddie, my mom loves Maddie, but that's about the extent of the love for Maddie in the Manning house. She is not what you would call the best behaved dog, but I love her and she loves me. When Drew asked my dad for permission to marry me, he had a few key questions, "Will you love my daughter and be faithful to her? Will you bring her back to MN when it works best for the two of you? Will you take Maddie away from me....PLEASE?!"

Drew loves dogs, his family has had two very well behaved dogs and they are dog people. He tolerated Maddie at first because he viewed her and I as a package deal. If he got me, he got Maddie.

Well I can officially say now that Drew also loves Maddie. If I leave a grocery list on the counter, I'll come home and Drew will have added to it, "Toy for Maddie." I knew it wouldn't take long for him to love her like I do, but one of the things that comes with owning a dog that you just don't figure in is the cost of the Vet. OH MAN! I understood the cost off dog food, but did not understand the cost of Frontline, Heartworm, shots, and exams. After spending $270 today, it was a reality check. So I'm dedicating this blog to Maddie. She is pretty tuckered out from her stressful hour at the vet with 3 shots and the anxiety attack that she had in the lobby (self induced).

Here are some of my favorite pictures of Maddie (captions are from Maddie's perception):

This is the only piece of furniture we have for the first month we live in NC....well, then, we shall share it!

So sleepy!

NEW TOY!!!!

What? Did I do something wrong?

I love to cuddle

Yeah, that's right. He loves me. 

Halloween costume. Bad Dog. 

If you lay on the floor, that must mean you want to cuddle with me, right?

This guest bed isn't for me? Too bad. 

Scratch my tummy, PLEASE!!

My hiding spot when I get anxious. 

HELLO!

You didn't leave any room for me on the couch, you left me no option. 

So cold...

OK, now I can officially admit I have a problem. I take too many pictures of my dog. I only shared about half of what I have on my phone.

Life After Tax Season!!

WooHoo!!! It's finally over and I feel like I can enjoy my life, friends and family. At the end of tax day, I left the office and got to go see:

ISAAC!!!

This is a very bad picture of my boyfriend. He is the cutest thing ever, but this is all I had on my phone!

We celebrated the end of tax day and my birthday with Bobby, Kim, and Isaac (pictured above). It was a lot of fun and I'm so thankful to have such good friends!

On Friday, we left for Myrtle Beach, SC with my co-workers. It's a tradition for them to head down there over the long weekend that we earn after the deadline and we had a great time!!!

We stayed at Broadway at the Beach where there are many shops and bars and other amusement things that surround a body of water. Here is a view from our room:



Margaritaville is to the right!



This was at the piano bar on Saturday night (pardon my fat arm, I've gained weight, but not as much as it looks like in this picture!)



Being from a land locked state, when you're this close to the ocean, you have to stop by!



And here is the dinner Drew and I made tonight. I pulled it out of a magazine and it was great! Spinach, Basil and Shrimp salad....SOOO good!

Thanks to Rachel, I have finally got all my phone pictures onto the computer so I'll be able to visually update everyone more often on this blog! 

Friends, Friends, Friends

Thank you God for friends!

The start to this blog is very fitting for the past few days for Drew and I. This is part of a prayer that was said many times when Drew was growing up and also said at our rehearsal dinner by our dear friend and mentor, Pastor Jack. This weekend Pastor Jack past away after a long, hard fought battle with a brain tumor. For those of you who don't know him, he read at our wedding:

He was a great man and a great mentor for how to love as a Christian, own your faults, always strive to be a better person, serve those around you, love and accept those who are different from you, and live for the Lord. He will be greatly missed and we are so blessed that he got to play such a big role in our lives and be a part of our wedding.

And the other reason the title of this blog is so fitting is because I got to catch up with some really great friends this weekend. It's funny to me to think that I have more friends from my past who live in NC than MN. One is Kristina, who I met in Australia, and Emily, who is a friend from high school. They now both live within 90 minutes of me now that I live in NC. My husband is my best friend, but nothing replaces "girl time" and "girl talk." It was so great to catch up with my girlfriends, enjoy dinner and drinks with both (plus some shopping (Kristina) and exercising (Emily) is good for me)!

This is an exciting week for me because Tuesday officially marks the end of tax season, Wednesday is my birthday, and Friday we are heading to Myrtle beach for a long weekend!!!

New Blog and Honeymoon Pictures!

In the past few days of trying to be a better blogger, I realized that I needed to change everything to my new email/new name. So I'm making a completely new blog.

I realized in my old blog that I said I was going to post honeymoon pictures and I never did, so this blog will have those pictures.

We honeymooned in Steamboat Springs, CO courtesy of my Uncle Bill and we had a GREAT time. The weather was perfect!! 75 and sunny with a cool breeze. We mostly relaxed by the pool, but we also hiked a mountain and went to a hot springs...basically a nature made hottub.

Our honeymoon started by going to a Twin's game the day after our wedding

A picture in our room...Drew is too tall

More to come this weekend! I'm almost done with tax season WOOHOO!!! I get to see two good friends this weekend, Kristina and Emily, so it should be a good weekend!