A Great Weekend

So I know it has been a while, but now is the best time to update y'all on the happenings of the Dudleys. When the "off weekend" rolls around, many of you may think Clay and I sit back and relax and hang out at home in Birmingham. Nope, we're on the road again. I was back on the plains and Clay was somewhere south of Atlanta going hunting.

I had a fantastic time going to Kristi Dumas and Mac Phillips wedding. Kristi is an old friend whose friendship extended into college and beyond. She has a precious family and the wedding was a wonderful and holy celebration. It was so fun to see lots of old high school and college friends. The weather held up for the event and it was beautiful. I can't even count how many people said "I read your blog" and "you need to update your blog" so this is all for you, sweet friends!! I must say, though, that as much as I rail on facebook and twitter and the like, the great thing about social networking is being "in the know" with friends you don't get to see that often. The catching up this weekend didn't take as long, thanks to blogs and facebook. Thank you, 21st century!

Mom and I had a fun time hanging out at the wedding, and I enjoyed spending time with dad and the girls the rest of the weekend. I haven't mentioned that my parents got two havanese puppies, Molly and Max, and they are so much fun to play with. I'll have to post pictures of them soon! Clay had a great time hunting with some family friends at a place I can't remember the name of. He told me he shot some 120 birds (quail) in the 1 and a half days he hunted. I guess that's pretty good! Here are some pictures of his weekend:


Um, I love Clay in those pants in the first picture because they resemble Chaps, and if any of you read Pioneer Woman, you know exactly what I am talking about :)

So yeah, that was our weekend. I helped mom plan out the next week's menu for Thanksgiving. I won't even say what the grocery bill was, but Dad, if you're reading, we saved a lot more than you think!! I'm going to get mom going on couponing when Publix opens in Auburn.

On another note, I haven't updated y'all on the third bedroom. If you remember, I have my grandmother's old bed repainted in that room. Well, a few weekends ago I helped Mom sand and paint the old chest of drawers that went with the bed. I so wish that I had taken a picture of the furniture before we painted it, because it was awful, no offense grandmama, God rest her soul! It had an "Indian motiff" painted on the wood. The furniture itself was in good condition, but the outward appearance just wasn't cutting it. So, here's a picture of the new chest of drawers in the bedroom. We rearranged and put the bookshelf on the other wall. We also got a new lamp for the bedside table. I think this room has the bedrooms balanced out. It is much more feminine than the other guest bedroom, which is full of navy blue and Clay's old chest and stuff.



Everyone is always asking us how we like our new house and we LOVE it. It is so nice to have space, as you can imagine! I love the privacy compared to living in a townhome and hearing everything your neighbor does and says. Clay and I have also enjoyed working in the yard. I use "enjoyed" loosely here, because while it isn't always fun, it is definitely nice to work on your own property! Such a blessing!!!

Okay, I'm off to fix dinner. I can't wait for the yummy Thanksgiving food and family time coming up. I'm making a tiramisu bundt cake from Taste and See. I'll let you know how it goes!

A Peek Inside...

Well, it may be against the rules of blogging to post pictures of your house on the internet, but whatev. We have an alarm system:)

Clay and I have been in our new house for almost one month. It is AWESOME. I love having space. No more tiny {I mean tee-iny} one bathroom house with no closet space and kitchen countertops the size of the top of the dishwasher. We loved our old place because is was *quaint* but we love our new place even more. A lot of y'all have asked to see some pics, so they will follow. DISCLAIMER: I am no decorator. I was a biomedical sciences major. I am, in fact, a rookie when it comes to house-decorating. I put stuff together and cross my fingers, hoping it will look good. SECOND DISCLAIMER: Actually, this is an apology. The pictures are dark. I have taken them at night. I only have time to blog when I get home from work and it is late and dark. So sorry. Colors may be brighter or darker than they appear in the photos. AND I have to point out that my mom made the living room curtains. She is the bomb. So, without further adieu, {some} rooms in our house:

Entryway:

Living Room:



Dining Room {I am taking credit for the plate display-I've been collecting those for a while and finally get to display them}:


Bedroom with My Grandmother's old bed that my mom painted {btw: I'm keeping it real...you'll note that there is junk on the bedside table and the bed for that matter. We're still organizing and getting things hung up and put up}!

Another Bedroom:


Our Bedroom:

Sunroom/Clay's Office/Boyroom {I have big plans for the window seat area...stay tuned!!}


You'll note that I have not included pictures of the kitchen. I haven't cleaned it up from dinner tonight and I didn't feel like cleaning it up before doing this post. Another day maybe. Guest bath: no pic. It's nothing special. Our bath: it's awesome because it is huge, but then again, it's a bathroom. Didn't think a pic was appropriate. Hopefully this blog can chronicle the progression of our landscaping attempts. They have yet to commence, but I'll post when we get on that.

Thanks for letting me share. We have actually only been here one weekend {thanks Auburn football} so we're looking forward to some yardwork and other home projects this weekend. Y'all have any plans for the weekend? Hit us up if you're in the 'ham!!

On My Heart

"Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?

If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,

even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.

If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,"

even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be."

Psalm 139:7-16

Check List

Buy new house...CHECK
Celebrate by eating cheap food at home...CHECK
Get to work...IN PROGRESS
Refinish Hardwood Floors (and they look awesome)...CHECK
Paint entire interior of house...IN PROGRESS
Change locks...CHECK (so don't try to break in)
Have sewer guy clean the lines and drains...CHECK
Have air vents and chimney cleaned...UNCHECK
Pack away everything I've ever owned, including all the stuff at my mom and dad's house that couldn't fit into our apartment, including stuff at Clay's parents' house (too much stuff!!!)...IN PROGRESS (and the worst part of moving, might I add)
Yardwork...UNCHECK, but will be IN PROGRESS once we get settled in
Book moving company for Friday...CHECK
Get nervous about moving...CHECK
Get excited about moving...CHECK
Have husband wonder why wife is blogging and not packing...CHECK

Praising God for His wonderful blessings! CHECK CHECK! :) {I know that was cheese, but it's the best part}

Decisions, Decisions

Closing is set for 3 pm tomorrow afternoon. Once again, I'm so excited I can hardly contain myself. I've literally been squealing these past few days. I can't wait to get my hands on the keys and get to work!

Almost immediately we're having someone come in and refinish the hardwood floors. That will be nice. Right after that, we're having every room in the house repainted. The walls aren't terrible, but I want different colors and there seem to be "bad spots" in every room- it's like the previous owners had on drunk goggles when they painted- there are obvious splotches of missing color. Oh well. Here's where the fun part begins: deciding on paint colors.

It seems to me that a lot of you readers are homeowners. I am looking for general information on paint colors. Is there some kind of guide I should read before deciding? Are there "old wives tales" that I should know about. Is there paint etiquette? Clay and I have looked online and picked stuff out, but we haven't bought anything. The other wonderful issue is that Clay is just as opinionated about this stuff as I am, so that makes for some interesting *decisions* that have yet to be made {love you, honey, and I wouldn't change you for the world}. Regardless, here are a few things to know about our style to consider when you offer advice:
- We like classic looks, nothing contemporary or modern BUT this should not be mistaken with out-dated looks
- We have area rugs in our living room and dining room that are oriental. Very busy and colorful (mostly golds and reds) but very beautiful. Keep this in mind.

Actually, that's about it. I value your advice and look forward to reading. I can't wait to update as we get moving as well!! Thanks!!!!

Do you remember the 21st night of September?

I love that song and I can't believe it's already September (Also, I couldn't think of a good blog title :)

Well, it's been a while. I don't care. I know you don't either. Blogging is good for one thing, though, and that is making me go through my digital camera and upload pictures. But I have to be honest. I am horrible about getting pictures printed. I have probably printed about 4 pictures in the past 2.5 years. I love having a digital camera and the ease it allows for taking and editing pictures, but I just let them sit on my computer. Do some of you make a habit of always printing your pictures? Do you go to a drug store and do this or do you print them from apple.com or do you print them from home? Just wondering...

On another note, Clay pointed out that a week from today we close on our house. I'm so excited I can hardly wait. He said we have one week left before we are swimming in debt:) But it's good debt, right? It's an investment! Clay can testify that I have been a big bum with our apartment. I have no motivation to keep it clean. My excuse right now is that there are boxes in the way of my vacuum maneuvering. I must point out that my selfless mom came up here a few weeks ago and boxed up my entire china hutch. What a time saver! My parents also go me a new Kirby vacuum cleaner. I was so happy I cried. It doesn't take much :)

Anyway, Clay and I have had some glorious vacations these past few weeks. We spent a long weekend at the beach in Watercolor with some friends from Sunday School, Edward and Elizabeth Whatley and Ryan and Kate Thompson. The Whatleys are very active so we spent a lot of time riding bikes around Watercolor, kyaking in the ocean, playing sports on the beach, walking to Seaside, etc. It was an awesome time and the weather was perfect.
Us Eating Watermelon

Clay and Ed playing baseball

Our group before going to dinner

Kate and Ryan

Clay and Me

Ed and Elizabeth

On the beach

Boys finding huge crabs


Clay and I spent the next long weekend in Jacksonville visiting Clay's sister, husband and kiddos. I took my first vacation day from work and it was well worth it! We had a fantastic time!!! I wish we lived closer to them. This was my first time visiting the Alfords in Jax and they showed us a good time. Clay drove down with Bill and Jakie (my in-laws) and I flew in the next day. We spent quality time at the Alfords house (they renovated a turn-of-the-century estate right on the St. John river and it is beautiful!!!). We went antiquing and outlet mall shopping. We ate out at some great restaurants and Elizabeth also cooked for us. All in all, we had a great weekend and we wish we could go back tomorrow. I love my nephew and nieces, and Elizabeth, if you're reading, tell Reece I would be a free anytime-babysitter if y'all moved back closer to us:)

Here are some pictures of the weekend:
Bill brought a croquet set and we (really the kids) had fun playing in the back yard.



Us after Church

Reece, Elizabeth, Clay and Me (I do realize that in most of my summer pictures, I'm wearing the same clothes. You don't have to tell me. I know and I'm totally okay with it)


Finally, this past weekend began the start of our Mecca to Auburn that commenses every fall. People always ask me if we ever make it back to Auburn for football games. I tell them, yes, we have season tickets. Translation: we never miss a single game because my dear sweet Clay is hardcore. I love him for that. It's just that seasons like this one, when we have four home games in a row, I get a little, shall I say, disgruntled with the lack of weekends at home. Oh well, I'll get over it:) Here are two pictures from Auburn.


We enjoyed sitting with Jenna and Shug and the Tigers played a great game!! We stayed in Auburn on Monday and got to spend some quality time with my grandparents. My grandmother has Alzheimer's disease and is in a nursing home, so we took my grandfather (who is in assisted living) to visit her. It was very special to visit with both of them, something I don't get to do that often.

Well, that's a long update if you've read this far. Hopefully I won't wait another 4 weeks to post again. I have a feeling all this moving ain't gonna be pretty, but I will be very excited to post pictures once I "set up house." Hope y'all have a great week!

Old Meets New

I have spent the last two days at the new ADPi dorm on Auburn's campus. Clay was in the Dominican Republic the past fews days leading a wonderful mission trip, and I headed down to the plains to visit my family. It just so happened that my mom signed up to help with all the rush food for the weekend, so I got to help out :) I'll be honest, my first thought was "oh no, I'm going to be that girl that comes back year after year." I quickly got over my pride and thoroughly enjoyed helping out preparing and serving the sweet adpi girls. I even got to go to Tea & Pie and watch the skit! My old memories of rush quickly flooded back and made me miss all of my sweet friends and the saturated time spent in the chapter room. Oh wait, that was the old chapter room--I saw the new chapter room, and it is a beaut. I'll just say that those girls do not even know how good they have it now compared to what we had!

On another note, I feel like since I've started working that I don't really have anything fun to blog about. I mean, I'm really enjoying work and I could talk all day long about what I'm doing but 1. I might violate HIPAA and 2. Y'all would be pretty bored reading about the revenue cycle, quality initiatives, HCAHPS, etc. So I got to thinking that a good thing for me to share on my blog is the things I'm grateful for. It is always a wonderful reminder of God's blessings and mercies to list out your blessings, so hopefully I can do this periodically and be reminded of answered prayer. Here's my list of blessings for today:

-Clay's good and safe travel
-location of parents and the opportunity to see them often
-health
-ease of house hunting and negotiating
- education and having a job
- the Lord fulfilling needs
- friends in Birmingham
- being fed spiritually through various efforts

Wow, listing out these blessings is such a great reminder of God's promise to give us hope and a future. While some of these things will not always be present, we will praise God through the good and bad times, always.

Thanks for reading! I hope all of you have a wonderful beginning of the week. My sisters start school tomorrow, so say a prayer for them (and my mom and dad). Lydia will be in kindergarten and she is SOO excited. Lexi will be in 7th grade and she's not as excited, but loves her new Jonas Brothers notebooks!! :)