Good Morning. Ritchie and Powell.

Meet my desk :)

There is where I sit all day long ...

This is what I look at.

Hi front door.

I really like my job. It was hard to adjust to being in an office vs working with children ... but now that I have I enjoy it. I like working downtown. A lot! It is fun to be so close to my parents. I meet them for lunch atleast once a week. I like dressing up ... it makes me feel important and put together. I like organizing. I take that back. I LOVE organizing. I organize basically all day everyday. It is great. I like being the first one people see when they walk in our office. I like answering the phone (now that I know how it works). I like my job and my job likes me. All is well in the world.

Noise

"Don't let the noise of the world keep you from hearing the voice of the Lord."

I read this quote today as I was reading this daily devotional.

Andy and I were just talking about how much we having going on ... we have both felt like our last few weeks have gone by so fast! I find that when I am too busy I push out the things that matter most in life (like listening for my creators voice). This was a great reminder to be aware of getting caught up in the world, and all the noise that comes with it. Do you ever feel funny in the silence? Sometimes I do ... I wish I didn't. I am so used to having the TV or radio on that when it is silent I am oddly aware of it. So ... I challenge you to take time today and turn off all that noise. Who knows what you might hear :)

Weekends are so refreshing aren't they? This weekend was just wonderful!

Friday I celebrated the life of my dear friend Chelcie ... A couple friends went to Bravo to celebrate. Here is the beautiful birthday girl with the You are special plate.

Saturday Andy had to work. He wore his orange and white tie to show his support for the vols ...

Colbie wanted to be just like daddy. So she supported the vols too :)

I went downtown before the game started to participate in all the pregame festivities. I just love the energy that comes with football season. Orange and White everywhere!

Andy came right at gametime. We sat with my parents and enjoyed the game even though we couldn't pull out a win.

We spent Sunday relaxing and rejuvenating. We went to church and then Jason's Deli with friends. After lunch we went to the pool (even though it wasn't sunny). It was very relaxing to just sit and talk! Later in the afternoon I walked with my sister, and then Andy and I grilled out Salmon for dinner. After dinner we took Colbie to the dog park. She loved it, we loved it. It was a success. We were both pooped and decided it would be fun to rent a movie before bed. We got The Safe House from redbox. It was a great movie ... very action packed. If you haven't seen it you should!

Colbie

Hi. My name is Colbie. If you haven't met me yet you are really missing out! I am a Yorkie-poo. I am 2 1/2 pounds, and 3 years old.

Here I am with my Dad's foot so you can get a feel for how little I am ...

My parents adopted me just a few months ago. My dad surprised my mom for their anniversary with ME! I like my new mom and dad. Here is me with my mommy (Don't tell dad but I like her most) ....

Here is me with my daddy ....

Let me just tell you a little about myself.

I like to sleep. I sleep a lot. It is what I do most of the day. Here is me sleeping ...

One thing you should know about me is that I DON'T like to be left. At all. My mom and dad think this might be due to the fact that I am adopted. I am scared I am going to be left again. My mom said this picture reminds her of me ...

This is how I beg for food ... I really like almonds. They are my favorite. I will sit and shake for just about any kind of people food. I love human food. ...

Here is me with my Memaw. Sometimes I call her Granny too. She really doesn't like being called memaw or granny. So that is why I call her that ...

I like to be near my humans. I crawl into their lap no matter what they are doing. I love to be near them ...

Sometimes Mommy and Daddy make me get my hair done. I reallllllllllllllllllllllllly don't like getting my hair done. As soon as we walk into the beauty parlor I start shaking. It just makes me nervous. Here I am with a bow in my hair. It didn't stay very long because it was itchy ...  

I like to play. I have a couple toys that I really like. I like my blue ball, and I like my Zebra (or Zebee as we like to call it). BUT my all time favorite toy is ice. ICE ICE ICE. I love ice. I chase it all over the floor and I love to lick it. I will play with it until it melts. Here I am with Ice. It somehow got stuck to me. Ouch ... 

Soemtimes I can be a baby. I get scared of silly things sometimes ... Here I am getting really scared of Oatmeal ...

I LOVE TO GO "BYE BYE" ... I get so excited every time I hear the words "bye bye!" I get excited just thinking about going "bye bye!" Here I am in my bye bye bag ...

This one time my mom and dad made me sit in this thing ...

I don't know how I feel about it. My great-grandmother got it for me. I feel like a baby Kangaroo ...

The last thing you need to know about me is that I love the vols. Here I am showing off my UT bandana. I can't wait for the Florida game on Saturday. ...

Well. I hope you had fun getting to know me. I would love to play with you sometime!
-Colbie

How does she do it?

So my mom is amazing! Let me explain ... I just started working in a law firm (as you should know if you read my blog) and wear "business casual" attire everyday. Closed toe shoes are a part of that attire. Before starting work I didn't have very many dress shoes, but I did have my handy dandy pair of black Tory Burch shoes. I got them my senior year of HighSchool. So they were old and worn out ... but still great shoes. Much to my surprise they squeaked. This may not sound like a problem but trust me it was. With every step I would take everyone in the office would hear me. I called Tory Burch and they basically said sorry too bad.
soooooo... I told my mom this and she said Oh just give them to me and ill send them back and get you a new pair. I laughed at her and said there is NO WAY they will send you a brand new pair of shoes in place of this 5 year old ratty pair! I already tried! She said, "You just wait and see. I'll get you a new pair free of charge."
So I waited ...
and waited....
and yesterday she hand delivered a BRAND SPANKIN NEW PAIR OF SHOES! I can't believe it! How does she do it? She is amazing.

I have decided I need to be more assertive. She ALWAYS has this kind of thing happen. She always gets exactly what she wants, and can basically make people do what she wants. She is amazing.

1312 Bradford Lane

Well ... we went by the house yesterday to get an estimate on how much it would be to fix some of the things the inspector found. I made a mental note before we got there to take a picture, and somehow I remembered :). It isn't a great picture ... but it was the best I could do on my phone. You can't really see the left side of the house or the garage form this picture, but you can get a feel for what it is like.

Andy and I love the house! Why do we love it:

- It is old and charming. I LOVE old things. Andy says, "You love old things that are nice. That doesn't count as liking old things." But I think it does! I grew up in an old house, and I think it is how I developed a love for old houses. I don't like the new cookie-cutter phenomenon that has taken over with houses. Nothing wrong with them ... it just isn't me.
-It has hardwood and brick flooring. It is beautiful. I'm obsessed.
- It has a porch and a fenced in back yard :). A neat and secluded back yard. Colbie will like running around and playing in the grass.
-It has a fireplace! 2 actually. I love building fires.
-The master bath has 2 sinks. Thank goodness! I feel like Andy and I are always wanting to use the sink at the same time. This will be a really nice feature.

It is really fun to think about owning a home! This house is potentially where we will bring our first baby home ... weird. I am looking forward to decorating it and having people over. Yippee. I'll keep you updated on how everything turns out. That's all for now ...

September already?!?

Life is funny. Especially post-college life. Things are so different and a lot of change is happening, and time really does fly. But change is good! It has been hard for Andy and I to adjust to working ... and the time and demands that a job places on you. Working has made us appreciate time off, and time together a whole lot more. We have been keeping ourselves busy in our free time:)

Last Thursday Andy played on a church basketball team with his brother and some of his friends. It was fun watching him play. I miss watching him play baseball ... so it was fun to watch him in his "sport element" again.

Here they are praying before the game starts. Tender.

Friday night Andy worked and I went to a dollar (which is really $2.50... DUMB) movie with friends. We saw Spider Man. After the movie I felt like I had spidie powers ... it may have been because it was late and I haven't seen that hour in a long time ... but I came home and shot out my arm at Andy and pretended like I was spider mad. He laughed. I'm silly.

Saturday Colbie and I spent the morning together! She came with me on a bunch of errands and then visited with Uncle Brett while I walked with Aunt Calli. She loves going "bye bye." Everytime you ask her if she wants to go "bye bye" she gets SOOO excited. She wags her tail and runs all around the room. Then when I get her bag down from the closet she runs over to it and hops right into it and lays down on her own.



Andy and I supported the Vols in our orange shirts and sunglasses all day. GBO! I'm so glad it is football season ... and I can't wait for the Florida game on Saturday.

We had good intentions to go to the game Saturday ... but when it started pouring rain we opted out. We ended up going to the Condo with my fam and watching football on TV, and then we all went to dinner. We went to Chophouse (YUM) so I would say it was a good trade off.

Sunday after church Andy and I picked up Pizza and took it to our friend Chris's house. We watched golf and baseball ...and then played in the pool. It was very relaxing!

Sunday night we grilled out. It was the perfect way to end the weekend. Oh and we got our very first Tomato! So naturally we picked it and ate it with dinner.

In other news ... we might have purchased a house :):):):)! We started looking (kinda just for the heck of it) and ended up finding one we love. It is the cutest little house ... I just want to give the house a hug. We made an offer and had it inspected so as long as everything clears we will be homeowners ... yes HOMEOWNERS. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. 1312 Bradford Lane 37919. If you live in Knoxville drive by and see it ... you will want to give it a hug too!