Big Sis Responsibilities

This past weekend, Mr. Hunt and I went home to Bluffton to visit. It is so nice now that we both have the weekends off together so that we can do small weekend trips like this. Usually we decide to hit the road only a few days before we go, nothing is really ever planned that far in advance.
So in the middle of last week, Mr. Hunt and I were discussing what we wanted to do for the weekend. I suggested since we didn't have much to do here in Charlotte, that we go home for the weekend and see my family. It was Davis' 13th birthday too. Last year, we surprised Davis by showing up for his birthday, so I wanted to start a tradition of surprising him. Of course last year someone spilled the beans that we were coming, and again this year Dylan couldn't keep his mouth shut. Oh well, we tried.
When I called my mom to tell her we were coming, she informed me that her and my dad were going to a concert in Myrtle Beach for the weekend and wouldn't be there. I was sad to think I wouldn't see them, but we planned to go anyway.
Dylan, my 19 year old brother has been having a few friends over every weekend to have a fire in the backyard and spend the night. My mom warned me that they get a little crazy sometimes, but everything should be fine.
Saturday night came around and he and his friends were such angels. They stayed outside most of the night, while Mr. Hunt and I and some of my friends stayed inside. I really didn't want to know what they were doing out there anyway. He had about 15 people over at once, but only 5 or so spent the night and even came in the house. I have to admit, I was worried that something was going to happen, after all he is my little brother. I think I mentioned in a previous blog that I am just always worried that my brothers are safe and happy.
Everything went well. Dylan and his friend even sang happy birthday to Davis at midnight and even a few more times in the night.
The weekend was a lot of fun. Mr. Hunt and Davis got to play a round of golf.
I took Davis to Best Buy to buy a video game for his bday
We ate at Five Guys for dinner
My parents came home early Sunday to see us
My grandparents came over Sunday for Davis' bday celebration
We ate KFC (which I forgot how good it really was)
(the only bad thing was the girl hitting my car)

I love when I get to go see my family. This weekend we will relax, take the dogs to the dog park, go see our house, and go to Trevor Hall's concert. Updates on all of that next week. I hope everyone has a good weekend.

Love- J

I'm a Magnet

This past weekend, Mr. Hunt and I drove down to Bluffton to be with my family for the weekend. It was also Davis' 13th birthday. He is finally a teen.
On Sunday, Mr. Hunt dropped Davis off at his play rehearsal while I took a shower and waiting for my parents and grandparents to come over. After they arrived, Mr. Hunt and I left to go back and pick Davis up. Before we picked him up, Mr. Hunt wanted a Gatorade so we stopped at the gas station.
While he was inside getting his drink, I pulled around in the parking lot of the gas station so that someone could still pump their gas, and I wouldn't be in the way. All of the sudden, I look over and this white SUV is backing up very slowly my way. She was getting awfully close, but I thought for sure there was no way she didn't see me. Once I realized that she definitely didn't see me, I went to go honk the horn to warn her, but it was too late. CRUNCH! She backed into the driver's side door, right where I was sitting.
Right when she pulled forward, Mr. Hunt came strolling out to see what was going on. The girl got out of the car and apologized for denting my car. To top it off, there were no dents what so ever on her car.
The car I had before my Ford was a Nissan Altima. That was my first car. I had all kinds of dents in it by the time I traded it in. Only one dent was from me. 1 out of 7 or 8. I swear I am a magnet for other cars to hit me. Thankfully (and knock on wood), I haven't got into a severe wreck, but all of the hits were hard enough to make dents.
When I got the Ford Explorer, I told myself I wasn't going to get ANY dents. Obviously I couldn't help that this girl hit me, but GEEZ, I just got this car a few months ago.
Hopefully I can get it fixed without too much of a hassle and then my car will be good as new again....not including the doggie smell that wont go away.

Summer Time

It is way too cold outside for me. I don't like cold at all. I wish it were 75 and sunny, year round. Maybe I need to move somewhere like that. I guess it is good for winter to come around, so when summer is here, it is so much more exciting.
Of course summertime was so much better when I was in school too, because I didn't have any work to do. I could go to the pool or beach everyday if I felt like it.
Even though I will be working Monday through Friday, I'm am going to be outside every weekend. I even like summer thunderstorms.
My goal for this summer is to learn to water ski. Believe me or not but even growing up in Hilton Head, I never learned to water ski. I just liked the tubing, still do.
Last summer I tried to water ski when I was with Mr. Hunt's family in Beaufort. They all can water ski very well, and I personally thought it looked so easy. Ask them, but I think I tried at least 40 times to get up. I kept falling and it was so frustrating. By the end I was just tired I think and couldn't pull myself up.
In my head I think it would be fun to be gliding across the water. Maybe I can learn some jumps and cool maneuvers. I need to learn the basics though first.
On the coldest days of the winter, I just think about the sun, sand, salt water, smell of sunscreen, packed lunches in coolers, bathing suits, wet dogs, towels, and tans. Then my days instantly becomes better.

Brothers

Aren't brothers great? I love my brothers so much. I miss them all the time. I don't think a day goes by where I don't think about them.
Older or younger, it doesn't matter, brothers are awesome. I don't have a sister so I'm not sure how those are. I think if I had a sister that would be fun and all, but I think I like being the only girl besides mommy. I wouldn't have wanted to "share" stuff with a sister.
If you don't know already, I have two younger brothers. Dylan is 19 and Davis is going to be 13 this weekend. WOW...they have grown up fast. Yes, Davis and I are 10 years apart and I love it. When he was born I was old enough to remember all of his life and I had fun as a 10 year old girl who loved to play "house". I would pretend Davis was mine! When Dylan was born I was only 4 years old and I don't remember anything. I think the earliest thing I remember about him is when I taught him to sit all by myself. Also the time when we were in our parents bed and we couldn't find the remote for the TV so I made him pull out the drawers of the cabinet that the TV was on and use them as stairs to change the channel. That ended very bad, the cabinet crashed down on him with me under too because I tried to save him. Anyway...which ever one of those came first.
When I left for college, Dylan was 13 and Davis was 7. That's why it seems that time flew by, because I only get to see them a few times a year. I felt like I had to take care of them back then, but now when I see them I feel like they should be taking care of me. They are so big now. Dylan is so much taller than me and Davis is just as tall as me. Most of the time people that don't know us think that Dylan is the oldest.
I am so proud of the things they have done. They have both accomplished so much. I hope they know how much they are loved by me and our Mom and Dad. Sometimes I worry about them and I'm not sure why. I think I just want them to be happy all the time no matter what, and be safe (you know how boys are). That's why every time I talk to them I say that I love them.

Dylan and Davis: if you are reading this, please know how much I love and miss you all the time. I wish you lived here with me so that we could be together everyday. If you ever need anything, please call me. I want to know all about your lives and want to know that you are happy with what you are doing. Keep doing what you are doing and know that you can accomplish anything you want to. Its a surprise, but Mr. Hunt and I are coming to see you tomorrow for the weekend and I can write that on here because I don't think you read this often if at all.
LOVE YOU!

My Favorite Cuisines

I have alot of favorite foods, steak, pizza, and anything cheese related just to name a few; but if I had to pick a type of food to eat for the rest of my life it would be either Italian food or Mexican food. I love them both.
I used to work at Carrabbas as a waitress, that didn't last long. I didn't like being a waitress, not to mention I could hardly deliver any food to the table without drooling all over it. I always ended up getting something to eat and taking it home since I got a 50% discount. That discount was great too because not only did I get 50% off at Carrabbas, I also got it at Outback and Bonefish. I think the reason I love Italian food so much is because they use alot of cheese. I also love pasta and sauce and they use alot of that too.
Mexican food might be my favorite out of the two. I especially love chips and salsa. I always get the queso dip to go along with the chips, but talking to a girl I work with that knows authentic Mexican food, she said that there is no such thing as queso in authentic Mexican food. I was a little disappointed. Now when I say Mexican food, I don't mean Taco Bell. I try to go to the most authentic restaurants (that have queso). I usually always get the same thing, but always nibble off of Mr. Hunt's plate. I always get a chicken and cheese quesadilla. Again, I think it is the fact that everything that is Mexican food is basically covered in cheese. I also love their red rice (not really sure of the name) but not a fan of beans.
Tonight Mr. Hunt and I are meeting his brother and wife, Michael and Rachel at Monterrey Mexican Restaurant. We usually meet them there once a week. Rachel and I both get margaritas with salt on the rim. Rachel doesn't like cheese so everything she orders, she gets no cheese. Maybe I should tell her to get the cheese and put it on my plate.

LOVE Day

I had a wonderful Valentines Day this year. I spent it with Mr. Hunt of course (this was our 5th year being each others Valentines). Anything that has to do with spending time with him is great, but something about it being Valentines Day always makes it that much more special.
On Friday when I got home from work, Mr. Hunt was sitting in the car on the phone. I started to wait on him to get off the phone to walk inside with him, but he kept talking and it was cold outside. I went inside and let the dogs out. He was still on the phone. When he finally came in 15 minutes later he told me he was on the phone with our friend Billy trying to make plans for the night.
Later on that evening, Mr. Hunt told me that he tried to schedule a couples massage for us for Valentines Day, but they were booked up. He said he called all of them in the Charlotte area. They weren't just booked for Sunday (Valentines Day), they were booked for Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and even Monday (since it was presidents Day). I thought it was sweet for him to think of me and even try to make reservations. Not event 10 minutes later, one of the places called and told him that people were cancelling because of the snow. He booked it for 11am the next morning.
That night we watched a movie and went to bed early, knowing that we were going to get a massage in the morning. The next morning, there was snow everywhere (even more than last time). It was fun to drive in it and see it as we were headed to the massage. The place we went to get a massage was in Huntersville which is about 20 minutes away.
The massages were great (at least mine was). Mr. Hunt said he loved his too. We were so relaxed. After the massage they gave us a glass of champagne and brownies and cookies. It was great! We went out to eat for lunch and could hardly make it home we were so tired. I guess the massage made is so relaxed that we got tired because we went to bed at a decent hour so we shouldnt have been so tired.
On Valentines Day we took the dogs on a long walk, went to McAllisters for lunch, and went to look at our house. The house looks great (I have pictures, but something is wrong with our new laptop already and I cant put pics up)! All of the framing is done, the doors are in, the fireplace is in, and the shower and bathtubs are in. I'm getting even more excited about moving. Valentines evening was spent relaxing with each other.
I'm so glad that someone made up Valentines Day. Even for the people that don't have a significant other, the day can be spent with family too. Like I said before, our day was just like all the other weekend days (besides the massage on Saturday), but it meant so much more knowing that it was Valentines Day.

I LOVE YOU MR. HUNT!

Southern Snow

It is supposed to snow again here tonight. This time it will be coming from the south. I think I will like the Southern snow more than the Northern snow...if there is a difference. I just like everything that has to do with the south.
Columbia, Charleston, and even Myrtle Beach are supposed to get snow too.
Living in Hilton Head all my life, we never got snow (except for once when I was three) that stayed on the ground. Every time that snow would fall out of the sky during school, classes would stop and everyone would run outside and play in the snow. It was great. We all wished that it would stick, but it never did. We had plenty of snow days where they cancelled school, but it never snowed. We would always just go to the beach all day.
When it snowed here a few weeks ago, Mr. Hunt and I closed the blinds and stayed home that Friday night. I didn't want to see the snow accumulating. I wanted to wake up and see it all. (Ill admit that I did sneak a peek or two throughout the night) When we woke up on Saturday, the first thing I did was look outside and when I saw that I couldn't even see the street I yelled to Mr. Hunt, "WE'RE SNOWED IN!!!!" He quickly told me that we weren't, but I was for sure since I couldn't see the ground that we were. A few hours later I looked outside again to see tire tracks all through the snow. I was so sad!
I hope this southern snow brings more than last time. It was fun to play in it with the dogs.

Mr. Hunt

From now on I will refer to Chris as Mr. Hunt in my blogs. It was a request from him last night.
My favorite blog that I read everyday and that inspires me to write blogs of my own is the nienie dialogues. I think I already wrote a blog about her but she has been through alot. She has a husband and four children (she wants more too). She was in a plane crash two years ago and she and her husband got burned badly. She got burned the most though, she is still getting treatments for it. She has been doing her blog since before the crash about he life with her family, now she writes about recovering and how her life has changed.
Anyway, for some reason she refers to her husband as Mr. Neilson. I tell Mr. Hunt all about Nienie everyday after I read her blog. He thought it was funny that she calls him Mr. Neilson.
Yesterday I told Mr. Hunt that I wrote about how he loved tomatoes and that he should really read my blog sometime. (He says he doesn't want to read any of them right. He wants to read them all in ten years). When I told him about this, he asked if I referred to him as Mr. Hunt. I said "No, but ill start to if you want me to. Ill write a blog about it tomorrow explaining why I will call you that, and call you that from now on." He smiled (which is my favorite thing he does).
So here I am, just like I said I would, telling you about Mr. Hunt (my best friend).

I want to time travel

I just finished reading a book called The Time Travelers Wife. It was a great book. I normally never read, not because I don't want to, but because I simply don't have time. I started reading this book in September and just got finished. I have the same problem with reading as I do watching movies, I cant stay awake. Even if its a great book. So even when I do find time to read, I end up only reading a chapter or two before my eyes get tired and I have to take a nap. I also cant read when there is noise. I find that I just read a whole page and don't even know what I read. It has to be completely silent for me to read.
Since I loved the book so much, I would make time to take a bath every night and read while doing it. This way I could shut the door and it would be quiet, but I also would be able to stay awake because you cant fall asleep in the bathtub.
Anyway, the book was like the title. A man time travels and he goes back and forth in time and sees his wife often as a young child. He cant control the time traveling though, and he doesn't like it. I wont spoil the book though, you need to read it if you haven't yet.
The movie came out on DVD yesterday so I told Chris I wanted to watch it tonight. I'm curious to see if the movie and book are alike or not.
I wish I could time travel, except not like him. I want to be able to go in time where i want. Mainly to tell my own self things. But maybe not because that's living life, not knowing what is going to happen and learning from mistakes. Time traveling will be too confusing I think, but maybe to just do it once or twice would be fun.
I want to go back to one of my dance competitions in high school. Those were the best trips. I would be with all of my best girlfriends and we would compete doing what we love, DANCE! And we always got top 10, most of the time top 5!
The other time I would want to time travel to would be when I was 10 years old, 1997. This was the year that Davis was born. I remember loving being a biog sister (I still do) and playing with Davis as a baby. Of course I loved Dylan too (he was 6 at the time), but Davis was so fascinating. We lived on a court, each house was full of at least two kids. We would all play outside everyday. Rollerblade, ride bikes, play hockey, make potions out of sand and leaves, and play lots of other games. I loved being barefoot running around outside in the warm weather and having to be home before dark. Anyways, I'm getting carried away. I just think it would be fun to go back just for a few hours.
We will watch the movie tonight, I hope I can stay awake.

Tomato Tomato

Chris LOVES tomatoes. He will eat them with anything. I'm pretty sure he likes all tomatoes. His favorite thing is the tomato sandwich. I think I finally can make it exactly how he likes it.

One red juicy tomato on top of white bread which has mayo on both pieces with alot of salt and pepper to taste. He could eat them all day long if he could.

Knowing that Chris loves tomatoes so much, my mom gave us a tomato plant when we moved into the house we are in now. It died. I don't know what happened but it was getting to high and would fall over, then eventually it died. We only got 2 little tomatoes off of it and Chris didn't eat them. I think he was grossed out that we grew them or something. He said they weren't big enough and there was no way that they were ready to eat, but they looked plump and red to me, just not as big as the ones in the grocery. We had them on the window sill until they were rotten.

For Chris' birthday this year my mom gave him a packet of tomato seeds. She promised him in the letter that she sent with it that she would plant it somewhere when we moved into our new home. I'm nervous that it will die again, but I'm going to really try to keep it alive this time. I hated to see how sad Chris was when the first one died. I think the seeds she gave us are for yellow tomatoes that are shaped like pears. MMMMM They sound yummy already.

I hope that one day I will be able to plant and have three or four different tomato plants growing and keep them all alive just for Chris.

I wonder if tomato plants are the kind of plants that will come back to life after the winter?

Super-Day Birth-Bowl

Yesterday was the Super Bowl...and Chris' 24th birthday! (it was also Michael's 24th birthday). Their birthdays always land close to Super Bowl and I'm sure it has landed on Super Bowl before, but this year was the first since we've been together.
I got Chris two sweaters from Ralph Lauren that he loves. Of course I gave them to him a week early because I cant keep secrets. So yesterday I didn't have much for him. He isn't the type that makes a big deal out of his birthday anyway.
We went over to his parents house yesterday afternoon to hang out with them and his sister Katie who came into town from Atlanta. Katie got Chris the Balderdash game which I had never played before. Its a fun game. Chris kept saying things needed to be done because "its my birthday."
Later, before the game started, we went over to Chris' neighbor's house to watch the game. Between the Hunts and the Butlers, there was so much food. We ate snacks, chili, and two kinds of cake. The rest of the game I felt like I was in a food coma.
I'm very glad the Saints won. One because they have never gone to or won the Super Bowl, and two because that is who Chris wanted to win and it was his birthday.
I think Chris had a great birthday yesterday. He got to spend it with his family and me, he got to eat good food, and drink some beer, and watch football.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICHAEL!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRIS!!! I Love You! :)

Watching movies my way

I have never been able to stay awake for a whole movie. I always fall asleep no matter what. It doesn't matter if the lights are on, if I'm sitting up straight, or if it is in the middle of the day. I just cant do it. Ive come to the conclusion that my eyes just get tired of being open so long watching one thing that they get tired. Most of the time I'm not even tired, my eyes just get so heavy and I have to close them.
This gets on Chris' nerves because he ends up watching movies by himself. He also ends up watching "girly" movies by himself. Sometimes he tells me that I cant pick the movie out because he doesn't want to end up watching it without me.
There are two exceptions to this. One is if I'm in a movie theater, and the other is if it is a scary movie. For some reason, if it is a scary movie I stay awake. I think it is because I'm afraid of falling asleep and waking up during a scary part or something scary waking me up.
So all in all, most of the movies I say Ive seen, I have only seen the beginning. Its pretty sad really because I do like movies.
Last week Chris wanted me to watch The Green Mile because I have never seen it. In order for me to see the whole movie, we started watching at 7pm. about 1/3 of the way through I felt my eyes starting to close. I know Chris would have been very disappointed if I fell asleep so I told him I needed a break. We paused the movie, I got up and washed my face, let the dogs out, and I was ready to watch another section. We ended up pausing two times, but I got to watch the whole movie, and it was good.
Right now we are about to watch Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and most likely I will only see a little bit of it because I'm already tired. Too bad to because I picked this one out.

Daily Routine

I was thinking today at work that I am ready for something different. My daily routine is not going to change anytime soon. I don't have a summer break or spring break, not even good holiday breaks. As soon as Chris and I get some vacation days together, we absolutely have to go somewhere.
My daily routine:
6:00am: Chris' alarm goes off
6:50am: Chris finally gets up after the alarm going off every 9 minutes
7:20am: I'm still in bed, but I don't go back to sleep.
7:40am: Kiss Chris goodbye for the day
7:45am: I roll out of bed (dogs are so excited), take a shower (optional, depending on if I took a shower the night before), and get ready
8:15am: eat breakfast and head to work
8:30am: Arrive at work
12:00pm: Go home for lunch
12:15pm: Feed the dogs lunch and let them outside
12:20pm: Make something to eat for lunch
1:00pm: Head back to work
1:15pm: arrive back at work
5:00pm: finishing things at work and head home
5:15pm: Meet Chris at the grocery (unless he goes before i get off or its Wednesday because we eat out on Wednesdays)
5:45pm: Get home and let the dogs out
6:00pm: Cook and eat dinner
7:00pm: Feed the dogs dinner
The rest of the evening depends on the day of the week because I have a few shows that I like to watch.
10:00pm: Head to bed and go to sleep

Any day that doesn't follow this schedule is interesting to me. I love my life and my routine, but sometimes different is fun too.

CANT WAIT FOR VACATION!!! and I don't even know when that will be :)

Chefs in the house

One of the many things Chris and I love to do together is cook. We actually were in cooking class together in college which was a blast. Not only do we love to cook, we love to eat and try all types of food. We love to eat out, but since it can get expensive we only gout on the weekends and on Wednesdays. All of the other days we cook.

One of Chris' fortes is making pizza. While Chris worked at Danos for three years, he learned all the ticks and trades of the pizza making. He is very particular about it. We decided to make our own pizza from scratch one night.

I was nervous about making my own pizza in front of the guy who made pizzas for three years straight, but I have to say that I did pretty good. If anything, it was very fun and different from the normal dinner making nights.

We're LOST

If you didn't know already, Chris and I's favorite show on TV is LOST. If you don't watch it, you should. It is the type of show that you have to watch each episode (no skipping) or you will be LOST. They even have an hour long "catch up" episode before each season for that reason.

Tonight is the season 6 premiere. This is also the last season and we are so sad. We have been watching this show together since we first started dating, so this is definitely OUR show. We aren't too upset because LOST is also the type of show that you can watch over and over and always find something that you didn't see before. It is so weird how they can tie in all the seasons.

There are still so many questions that need to be answered in this last season that I don't think all the questions will ever be answered but we will see.

Sometimes we wish we were LOST on a deserted beach somewhere, but we wouldn't want to have to survive from the polar bears, smoke monsters, and the "others." Plus we would miss our family and friends too much too.

Making Slow Progress

Despite all the snow and ice on the ground, Chris and I went to go see the what progress was made on the house so far. This is what was there.
Just a slab of concrete. They said that all the framing would be done by now, but we have had very bad weather from constant rain to snow this weekend. I'm thankful they got the slab down before the snow because if they didn't, we would be waiting for the snow to melt to put it down. Its supposed to snow again this weekend, so we would be very behind. Even though we are a little bit behind right now, the builders can catch up somewhere in between. I'm getting so excited about our house. It was weird to stand on the slab. They started on the framing today so hopefully when we go again on Saturday they will be almost finished. I will update soon!

Stressssssed

Why do people get stressed out? I hate being stressed. Im stressed right this very minute.
Im just keep reminding myself of all the other times in my life that I was stressed, and think about how it has always turned out ok.
I will post later about our trip to see out new house yesterday in the snow and ice.