What does your fridge say about you?

So everytime I go to the fridge to get something, I get a kick out of the momentos we (my roomates and I) have chosen to display.  If your fridge was a representation of you, what would it say?

Our fridge has an assortment of artwork, calendars, pictures, good grades, sudoku solutions, and appliance directions.  If our fridge represented us it would say that we are close-knit.



We are family. HAHA - We got mail, its legit, remember?  Not only that, but our guys are close-knit too.



That picture of Parker & Cory cracks me up every time!!  The assortment of kid's artwork also indicates our love for children that 3 out of 4 of us babysit and the 4th volunteers at an elementary school every week.



We have funny magnets that represent our light heartedness and sense of humor, like this one:

Of course, they do represent us in more literal ways also.  :)  These magnets have the important job of holding up our good grades!  Here in the Chambers' family household, 70s are good grades!  If its passing, its good!  We're so proud! :)  No, really.  Especially since its on a test about nucleophilic acyl substitutions and such - I mean what does that even mean??!!??  And Carolina claims that grades are inflated - puh-lease!

Finally, directions to our most important appliances are clearly posted.

And let me tell you, the Mr. Coffee Tea Maker is VERY important.

What does your fridge say about you?

Our First Home - The Before Pics

Welcome to our first home!  I'm so excited that it makes me wish that Parker & I were getting married this June so I wouldn't have to wait another year before I could move in!  Hopefully it won't turn into too much of a bachelor pad before then.  :)  Anyways...  Saturday morning I woke up bright and early for two final exams.  Then I hopped into my car and drove to Greenville to start cleaning and moving furniture.  Please excuse our mess and the terrible quality of the following pictures :)

The entrance to our sweet little condo in all it's brown glory - Ha!

The living room with a chair, a couch, and a lot of other junk   :)  Don't worry, we're not leaving it like this!

The kitchen table area, minus the kitchen table.

The master bedroom (from a weird angle - sorry about that)

The master bath, also from a weird angle...

The guest bedroom/office space/where all our junk is right now.

Another bathroom with wonderful wallpaper.

I would show you the kitchen, but the fridge is in the middle of the floor because, well, we had a leak.

The valve for the fridge had a leak that we noticed Saturday night - as we we're cleaning the guest bedroom and noticed that the carpet was wet.  Oh yeah, we also met our downstairs neighbor when she came up to tell us she had noticed water marks on her ceiling.  Great, right?  We had the plumber come (yay for home warranties) and the inspector/realtor is paying for the service charge and we'll see what happens with the home insurance/repairs.

Yesterday when I left, most of the furniture was moved in, everything was clean, kitchen cabinets were lined with shelf paper, and the kitchen was partially stocked.  On The To Do List: paint the trim, paint the walls, take down wall paper, paint the cabinets, make some curtains... and about 100 other things!  Important thing is that we now have a home!!

A special thanks to Candice & Jacob who helped us clean Saturday night, brought their awesome Kirby vacuum (which they got used for $200 -  what a deal!), and dined with us on the floor in our dining area.  Haha!  Love you guys! 

Assigned Seating?

Hello sweet blog readers!  I bet that you thought that I had forgotten Wedding Wednesday, but don't worry - here it is!  Better late than never, eh?  This week's topic is Reception Seating.  Even though Parker & I are having a sit down meal, we're not having assigned seating - I mean, let's be honest here - we're having fried chicken, and fried chicken doesn't exactly warrant escort cards if you know what I mean... :)  Ha! 

But, that doesn't mean that I don't love the look of creative escort cards and table numbers.  It's just something about the lines, uniformity, repetition, and organization.  It definitely appeals to my Type A personality.  I mean just look at this:

Doesn't it make you want to decide whether Aunt Susie should sit near your crazy friend from high school or your co-worker's husband??  No?  Ok, me neither.  Seating arrangements = not for me...  but, I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't love every minute of creating an escort card presentation/display thing-ama-jiggy.  Maybe I'll do the table numbers just for looks :)  What do you think??

This week's poll question is - How do you feel about seating arrangements?

Last week's poll showed that "When I Say I Do" is the clear favorite for the unity candle song, but "Be Thou My Vision" also got a couple votes.  Hmm... we might just use both! ;-)

That's all I have for this week!  You'll have to forgive me - I've been in the middle of exams and getting our condo cleaned and move-in ready!  Pictures to come, but don't hold your breath 'cause it might be a couple days and I wouldn't want you to pass out.  :)

College Reflections

In the past, I have posted semester wrap-ups with reflections on my coursework, big events, special memories, etc.  Since this is my last semester as an undergraduate, I find it fitting to reflect on my college experience as a whole.  In many ways I find it hard to believe that I'm graduating in a week.  I've dreamed of going to Carolina my whole life.  It doesn't seem like it was that long ago that I was worrying about my application essay and recommendation letters.  I remember how excited and proud I felt as I opened my acceptance package the day it came in the mail.  I remember my mom calling to tell me that I had gotten the Teaching Fellows to UNC and thinking, "This is too good to be true."  And here I am now, donning my Carolina blue cap and gown, getting ready for graduation.

I remember arriving at suite in Parker Dorm, excited about starting college, yet so sad about leaving home.  My suitemates have become my closest friends... and I still go home every weekend. :)

I have loved almost every minute of my education (face it... some classes are not so great).  I've had wonderful professors and classes - Dr. Talbert in History of Rome, Dr. Williams in African American History to 1865, and Dr. Leloudis, my senior history thesis mentor.  I've read wonderful books and learned so much.

I've learned about history & education, geology & geography, politics & economics, art & literature, religion & country music.  I voted in my first presidential election.  I wrecked my first car.  I got engaged.  I rushed Franklin St. after a National Championship.  I saw two of my closest friends get married.  I learned how to cook.  I started a blog.  I got way too little sleep.  But most of all, I grew as a person and continued on my walk with God.

It feels so good to accomplish your dreams, but it kind of leaves you with an empty feeling - like, what's next?  You see, going to Carolina has always been one of my life goals, its something that has played a huge role in defining who I am and what makes me "me."  Now that it's time to graduate, its time to move on to other dreams - getting married, starting a family, establishing a career... but, that doesn't mean I'm willing to give up my title as a "Carolina Girl." 

Next week I will walk into Kenan Stadium for my commencement ceremony.  I will have officially earned a Bachelor of Arts in History.  I will be a month away from starting my masters and a little more than a year away from getting married.  I can hardly believe any of it.  I'm not nervous or scared about the future, but I can't decide if I'm sad or excited about the present.  It's kind of like how I felt when my parents dropped me off at college - excited about the future, but sad about leaving the past behind.

Wedding Wednesday - Ceremony Music!

This week's topic is Ceremony Music!  Parker & I blessed to have close friends, Carrie & Beaty, not only mentor us, but also sing at our wedding!  These two are awesome people and their hearts are on fire for the Lord. 

This photograph, taken by Ginny Corbett, is of Carrie & Beaty with their son Davis when she was pregnant with their daughter, Hallie Grace.  They are such a gorgeous family!

Anyways, I'm convinced that they could sing "Old McDonald had a Farm" at the wedding and it would sound good.  They've recorded two Contemporary Christian albums & if you're interested in buying them - which you should be - message me and I'll hook you up!

Parker & I are planning to have them sing while we light the unity candle, but we're having a hard time finding the perfect song.  We want something Christian rather than secular, something short (or that can be shortened), and something that Carrie & Beaty can sing together.  There is the potential for having them sing two songs if we can't decide on one - one during the seating of the mothers/lighting of the family candles and one while Parker & I light the unity candle.  Finally, we will have a pianist and Beaty can also play the guitar.

So here are four songs that we like:
"Be Thou My Vision," a traditional hymn
"When I Say I Do" by Matthew West
"To Have and To Hold" by Christian Bautista
"A Page is Turned" by Bebo Norman

You can listen to them here:

Once you listen, scroll to the top right sidebar and vote on which one you think we should use!  Thanks for helpin' a girl out! :)

Last week's poll results for "Did you follow the 'something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue' tradition?"  Drum roll please.......

The YESES have it - looks like y'all are some traditional brides!  "Yeah!" got 5 votes, and "Nope!" got 1.

Thanks for stopping by this week's Wedding Wednesday!  Love y'all!

Meet Jaws' Family

Disclaimer: The photos in this post were taken by a cell phone at night, and therefore do not have the best quality.  Why is it that the best things happen when I do not have my camera nearby??

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Did you get my hint from yesterday about waiting with "baited" breath?  Well, Saturday night at the beach, we went fishing on the pier.  But get this, we caught SHARKS!  Crazy, right?

There were hundreds of them swimming around!  I bet we caught 20 or more.

I mean, it was ridiculous.  I'm never getting in the ocean again.  Ever.  They were so close to shore! Candice & I had a particularly good time catching sharks and pulling them in ourselves (well, with the help of each other that is)... She was even brave enough to hold one of hers, see?

  

And when I say brave enough, I do not mean she did not scream bloody murder.  Because she definitely did.  I'm pretty sure we provided tons of entertainment to everyone around us.

I, however, was not crazy enough to hold one of mine up for pictures!  (Who do you think I am??)  I was very content giving the "thumbs up" while Parker held my shark and Mrs. Lydia snapped the picture!! Haha!

We threw most of the sharks back, but we gave a couple to some of the folks around us who asked for them.  Did you know people actually eat sharks??  Yeah, well, they do.  We asked one guy what he did with them and he told us how to cut 'em up, which led Parker & Jacob to test it out.  The following conversation will blow your mind:

Candice: What if there's a live fish inside it?

Me: There isn't going to be anything living inside it you goof.

Jacob: Whoa, there is something moving around in there.

Parker: They're baby sharks!

Candice: OMG let me see!

Me: No way!

(Everyone around us gathers)

Candice: It's like biology class!!

Mrs. Lydia: You should tell your kids about this in class on Monday!!

Me: OMG you just gave a shark a C-section!

Candice: Aww look at those babies!!

Me: Don't touch them!

Candice: What's that thing??

Parker: It's their sacks.

Candice: Oh my gosh I can't believe this.

Me: Put them close together so I can get a family picture.

...and taa-daa!

Is that cool or what??!!  What are the odds of us finding three ready-to-be-birthed babies in the one shark we cut up??

As we left, I snapped a picture of this sign...

Umm.. oops.

Eye Update & Relay among other things...

Hello and Happy Monday dear friends!  I hope today finds you well after a long and wonderful weekend!  This weekend we went to one of my favorite annual events, Relay for Life.  I love being able to walk around and catch up with friends and family!  I also love supporting my sweet mom in her survivor walk!

(Mom, just so you know, I definitely chose the picture that you looked best in, even though I looked way better in the other one.... don't say I never do anything for you :) haha)

There were no pictures with Weston because he was running around somewhere playing with his friends.  Speaking of Weston, his eye is still BLACK.

Geez Louise!  Doesn't that make your eye hurt??!! 

Weston also had a baseball game one night. His team added another win to their record...

...and he had two stellar hits!  (I'm thinking he might need a black eye every game?? Just kiddin')

Then we went to the beach with Parker's parents, brother, & sister-in-law.  I have a separate post about those adventures coming tomorrow... but here's a hint: You should be waiting with "baited" breath!

Other than that, I'm getting ready for a crazy week with Parker closing on our first home (tomorrow), my last day of undergraduate classes (Wednesday), two finals (Saturday), and cleaning and moving furniture into our condo (Saturday, Sunday, Monday).  

Deep breath.  Here goes nothing!