Wednesday, April 15, 2009

3 things!

I got tagged, so here we go!
THREE NAMES I GO BY
Lauren
LJ
LPJ
THREE JOBS I HAVE HAD IN MY LIFE
Ferraris Law Firm
HQ
NCF
THREE PLACES I HAVE LIVED
Charlotte, NC
Knoxville, TN
Atlanta, GA
THREE TV SHOWS THAT I WATCH
Dancing with the Stars
One Tree Hill
90210
THREE PLACES I HAVE BEEN
Hawaii
Aruba
Napa
PEOPLE THAT E-MAIL ME REGULARLY
Sara
Tracy
Steve/Tim – email trains J
THREE OF MY FAVORITE FOODS
Guacamole Live
Willys Salad
Fresh fish
THREE FRIENDS I THINK WILL RESPOND
Sara
Stephanie
????
THREE THINGS I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO
Vacation – whenever that may be
Warmer weather
My Knoxville visit soon

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Happy Easter!


We had a great Easter weekend. It was quick but we managed to see most all of our family. Tim and I are lucky to both get Good Friday off so we both had a 3 day weekend. Thursday night we headed to Hickory for 2 nights to visit with my Grandmother and parents. We had a great time except that my dad got food poisoning luckily it was short lived but still not fun for him. We took it easy while we were there. Memaw always makes Tim and I ham and eggs when we are there, its one of my favorite breakfasts and she makes it the best. I always enjoying visiting Hickory because it reminds me of the simple life, especially after living in the fast paced life of Atlanta. Saturday morning we got up and headed to Charlotte to visit my other grandparents. They live in a senior living facility that is beautiful its just not very condusive for us to spend the night, so we spent all day Saturday with them. We rolled my Papas around the complex looking at all the beautiful flowers they had planted. We also got to eat in the dining hall twice while we were there. I see why people there age would love to live at a place like this. The activities and social aspect of it are great! We met all there friends and enjoyed some great food and service, we also watched a good bit of the Masters. After a great day in Charlotte we headed back to Atlanta and didn't get home till late. Luckily our church has a 12:45 service so we got to sleep in. It was a wonderful service, Andy Stanley is our pastor and he never ceases to amaze me with his sermons, well today did not disappoint me. Tim's parents had an early Easter dinner at their house around 4 so we went over there and spent the rest of the day with them. Several of Tim's family members where there. We had a nice meal and enjoyed the Masters. All in all it was a nice weekend.

Home and Landscape Improvements

During the last couple of weekends Tim and I have enjoyed the warmer weather and have begun several small projects around our house. First up, Tim installed a storm door on our front door.



Second, Tim rented a tiller and reshaped the bed in front of the house. Last year I planted begonias in this bed and the monkey grass grew so tall that you could not even see them. This year we decided to go with something taller and planted 4 double knockout rose bushes in the bed. We have had good success on the other side of the walkway with another rose bush so we hope these follow that trend.



Our next project took us around the back of the house. When we moved into the house, this bed had become a big weed pile. Last summer I started removing the weeds and it ended up becoming a big mud pit. While Tim had the tiller, we decided to till up this area as well and planted 4 encore azaleas (the kind that bloom twice a year).





These plants on the deck are one of my small contributions to the enhancement of our house. It's amazing how such a small thing can add so much.


We obviously didn't plant this tree recently but it is one of the my favorite things about spring and our yard. I just think this tree is gorgeous in full bloom. Enjoy!

Friday, March 20, 2009

Spring is in the air!

Nothing too exciting has taken place at the Porterfield house in awhile. We have some traveling weekends coming up. This weekend we are headed to Charlotte and Hickory to spend some time with my grandparents. Next weekend we are headed to Nashville for my mom’s birthday. We are also contemplating going to St. Simons Island for Easter for some R and R. Tim was in Waycross last weekend for his family reunion as well.

A few things we have really been enjoying the last few weeks, the new small group we joined and our Thursday Trio night. We joined a new small group at the end of January and have been meeting regularly since mid February at our house. This group I truly feel was hand picked to meet together. Each week we have all been sharing our stories with each other. I’m usually not a big fan of this but each week I get more and more excited about who’s story I’m going to hear. Well we finished them up this past week and one of the guys in our group put it well, he said this group is so real. I couldn’t agree more. Everyone seems so genuine, ready to meet and interact with other Christian couples and to also grow in their walk. I’d say we are off to a great start. Each week when everyone leaves Tim and I both agree how lucky we are to have landed in such a great group.

Thursday night Trio is something we started last summer. The group consists of 3 couples and we meet every other Thursday night for dinner. We rotate houses and the person’s who’s house dinner is at is completely in charge of the dinner. It can be as fancy or casual as you’d like it, but the other couples can’t bring anything. We thought this would be fun because you can get tired of the same ole meals you make and rotate each week and this way we learn new recipes’ and also have a night where we don’t have to cook.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Warm Sunny Skies in Orlando


The Magic Kingdom

Tim and I getting ready to head into the park


As most of you know Tim and I flew to Orlando on Saturday to visit with his grandparents and family in the area. I was all about it not only to see family but we all know I can’t pass up warm weather. Tim knew that I was struggling with the winter blues so what a perfect gift for me to be able to go to warm sunny Florida for Valentines Day and my Birthday. What a great husband he is! Ok so we left Atlanta at 12:50, it was cold and rainy and when we landed in Orlando an hour and 15 minutes later it was beautiful and 82 degrees. I was in heaven. Tim’s uncle came and picked us up and we headed to his grandparents. They were on the deck when we got there enjoying the beautiful weather, so we joined them for awhile. After awhile several of Tim’s family members that live in the area came over for a special Valentines dinner that one of his aunts had made, we had a really nice time with all of them. Sunday we slept in and Tim’s grandfather continued to tease me about this the entire time we were there about how much I enjoyed sleeping in. I can’t help it it’s the way I’m wired. Sunday was a little over cast so we stayed in and took it easy. Later the afternoon the weather cleared and I went for a run, Tim came too and then we tour the downtown Winter Park area and went to a few places that Tim had gone when it was little. He also took me to Ann Taylor Loft my favorite clothing store. He told me to get whatever I wanted for Vday! They had such different clothing in there store from what we have hear because it’s warmer so it was fun to get some different articles’. We then went back to his grandparents and Tim’s parents had arrived. We made dinner and then just enjoyed chatting and hanging out with them. Monday I slept in again and Tim’s parents went to Disney that day. It was Tim’s mom’s birthday so Rose got in for free since Disney is running a special. Tim and I took books/magazines outside because it was so nice and got some sun, it was a gorgeous. I got a major farmers tan which was funny but sun none the less. Monday night Tim and I made dinner for everyone our new specialty parmesan crusted pork chops and everyone seemed to like them. Tuesday was my birthday and it was mine and Tim’s day to go to Disney. We started off getting Starbucks coffee and egg McMuffins for breakfast it was nice. It was a beautiful day but the park was a nightmare you could hardly walk anywhere and the lines were super long for the rides that weren’t even that fun. Tim and I kept asking each other if we were having fun and we were like yeah, later we both admitted we didn’t at all. Haha. The park was really beautiful and the weather was great but that was about it. We have decided that when our kids want to go we will let our mothers take them. Later that night another one of Tim’s aunts had made a special birthday dinner for Rose and I it was really nice and a few other family members came over to visit. I got lots of text, facebook messages, and calls that day which made me feel special. Wednesday morning we came home, all in all a great trip! It’s just been hard to make the transition back to the cold weather.

The Parade


Me happy to be leaving the park!



Rose and I getting ready to blow out our candles

Friday, February 13, 2009

A wonderful boss that will be missed!

Connie and I at PF Changs

I have only worked at 2 places since I graduated college, my first job was a bust we won’t go there but I had rough experience, however it led me to my 2nd job and for that I am thankful.

Connie as seen in the picture above has been my boss for almost 4 years. She is wonderful. This wasn’t a situation where now that she is gone I didn’t know how good I had it, because I knew how good I had it. She was amazing, she knew everything about me, my family and friends, Tim. She was like my Atlanta mom and since her daughter lived in San Diego I was like her Atlanta daughter. It was a great team. She helped me move up in the company, helped me to become more professional. She also brought me clothes and would let me know about sales, etc. She went above and beyond what they call a boss. She was there for me when I got married and planned my office shower. She was there for me and cried with me when I lost my friend Katie. She was wonderful!

A few of the ladies I work with

I am sad she is gone, but so happy for her because since this lay off occurred she has realized that she belongs in San Diego with her family. She has wanted to be back there for so long because both her children and there families are there along with her mother and brother and other friends and family and lets face it San Diego its just a cool place to live. I wish her the best but she will be terribly missed and I will never forget what a wonderful boss she was.

Above our a few pictures from a dinner we had at PF Changs before she left. – I will post pics soon. I’m blogging from work and forgot to upload them.

Monday, February 9, 2009

Running or at least trying!

I wrote this a week or so back, just for got to post it....opps new blogger mistake!

Well folks, I have started back to my running. I never start this early in the year because I HATE running in the cold but I keep catching glimpses in the mirror of my upper thighs and am not happy at all with what I see. Maybe it’s just the paleness, whatever it maybe it’s not pretty.

I am a person who I hope if I say I’m going to do something by golly I do it. Well this week I started running. It stays lighter longer which has allowed me to do this. I started Monday, I have a friend who I walk with everyday that we can and we have the best time. We talk about everything and I mean everything, but I love it and I love her. It makes exercising more fun. We’ve been walking 4 miles each time we get together, which in my eyes is pretty good, and its good just not enough for the upper thighs so I talked her into running not all 4 miles we’re going to start slow and then build up of course. We walked 3 miles and ran one on Monday. It was rough but we did it. My legs felt weak, my lungs felt like they were caving in and I felt awful after we were done, but I knew it was good for me and that hopefully I’d get easier. I use to run with my college roommates every day we were idiots the 3 of us would run no matter what time it was. If it was 1 am and we hadn’t run that day we’d go for it all together 4 miles. We’d always give each other high fives after we were done which I started. I loved it I needed the praise when we were done. Well I high fived Rachel after we were done on Monday, not sure if she got the same since of accomplishment out of the run that I did. If I have someone running next to me and they are still going strong I am going to keep going strong, I won’t stop until they do, it’s just my thing, it’s my motivation. Unfortunately my friend Rachael hates to run so I may have to figure something else out to keep us both running. On Tuesday Rachael was running late, she had a good excuse, so I met at our regular time and ran it by myself. It was awful, I was freezing, my lungs hurt from the cold air, and it was just downright painful because who knows when the last time I had run a mile besides on Monday of course, but I did it and that is what matters. Wednesday it rained so we took a day off and then back to it Thursday, I had high hopes since we had run twice that we could step it up a notch and run 1.5 or 2 miles. Boy was I wrong, we barely made it around once, I think because it was colder yesterday but yet again we did it. I hope I am able continue this and it gets easier, I’ll keep you posted.

Rachael has a blog of her own and she describes “our” jogging in a much funnier way. Take a look if you have a chance. http://www.rachaelstep.blogspot.com/