Spring In Virginia!

We worked on getting the house unpacked, trying to get settled in as quickly as we could since Damion started work just a couple of days after we arrived at our new home. Having my Mother-In-Law, plus friends around to help was great! After working into our new routine... we started to think about things we'd be missing out on. Like Gumbo! So, we made our own. :o) I'll confess... it was my first time doing it! Living in Louisiana spoils you on having to always make things like that because everyone else just does it for you! :o) We ordered some roux, and I picked up some Andouille from a little market. We worked on it together, but He did most of the hard work over the stove. Haha! I did make the potato salad, though! Everything was SO good! Damion and I both felt like it was one of the best gumbos we had ever had! I'm sure we are biased, but just thinking back on that experience and seeing the photos makes me want to make another one!

 

Next up, I wanted to start taking Damion to places that I missed doing the year that he lived in Raleigh before we got married. One of those was Las Margaritas in Wake Forest! This little underground (literally, you have to walk down stairs by the street to get in) Mexican restaurant is right by Southeastern where I went to college/seminary. For those of you who know what I'm talking about (man, it had been a LONG time since I went there!), it looks the same! And the food was just as delicious. I waited a long time to go on a date with a boy here. ;o)

Next up, Easter! We spent the afternoon with our friends, Dawn and Jarrod - they were gracious hosts to include us in their family afternoon gathering. Lots of yummy food, sweet kiddos playing outside, and a little target practice in the yard. Country livin' up here!

I spent the last week in April away from home for the week because my Mom invited me to go to the beach with her. It was a little chilly all week long, but plenty of pretty afternoons, lots of relaxing, and we even got to have dinner with her sister, my Aunt Lora, who was visiting the area with a few of her friends, too!

Take me back to the breezy beach naptimes anytime!

While we were at the beach, this cutie nephew turned 7!
I can't believe how much he's grown! <3

I drove back home on Saturday, stopping off in Knightdale to spend some time with some friends, playing and creating goodies with our oils!

And then it was May! More oil goodness! My friends Kate, Nina and I set up a booth at Meet In The Street in Wake Forest. It was fun to hang out with those ladies for the day and meet/see some friends who stopped by!

Damion drove down to see us, too.. he got to explore a bit more of the event (man, its really grown over the years!!). Cousin's Maine Lobster food truck was there! He and I have wanted to try their food ever since we saw them on Shark Tank a few years ago! Delicious!

Also exciting for my family, in May, is that my sister graduated from nursing school! This has been a long-time dream of hers, one she started over 20 years ago! She finished up at Lenoir-Rhyne University in Hickory, NC.. so proud and so excited for her!

Unfortunately, because of the rain, we weren't all able to attend the ceremony indoors, but thankfully, the live stream went off without a hitch! Go Stephanie!!

Proud Hubby Eric! And happy Damion and Nicole who found out about this little sushi spot that's right by my parents' house! YUM! That's something else we had been missing since we moved.

My niece and I, early in the morning.. lol, there to celebrate her Mama's graduation!
And yes.. she's that much taller than me at age 13. :o(

More time spent with the funny big 7-year-old nephew!
Love that silly Reece's antics!

On our way back to Virginia, we headed to a quick family lunch for Mother's Day.

May ended with a Memorial Day weekend event here in our town. It was the 35th Annual Summerfest! There's a parade, vendors (Nina and I were set up again with our oils and her jewelry), and more yummy food - including Stew and BBQ from the Fire Department. YUM!

The Tuck Family leading things off in the parade!

My cutie fella helping me deal with the heat of the day.

Our little setup!
Thanks to my Mama for the tent and chairs for the day!

And then it was JUNE! And in this family, that means BIRTHDAY MONTH!! Not only do both Damion (2nd) and I (13th) have June Birthdays, but so does his Aunt Michelle (4th) and his Mawmaw (14th). We missed being able to see them for their special days!

So thankful for the ways that this man pours out for me every day. 

He even had to work on his birthday! <3
His big 29!

Thank you to The Tuck's for popping over for a quick ice cream cake/cheesecake birthday party!
Damion's mom also got to hang out with us for a day or two, too! YAY!

On Sunday after church, we went for a birthday steak lunch. :o)

The following weekend, I got to fill up my friend-cup again! Not only did I have a quick hug from my girl, Carmine at DCDEE, but I got to meet this handsome fella! Sweet Dominic! His funny brother warmed up to me after about 2.5 seconds, after waking up from a nap. Hilarious!

Love that Luca boy!

That same evening, I got to spend time with these ladies!
Patty, Amy, and Lisa have been friends of mine for 18 years!
Amy was in town on her way to the beach with her family, so we snagged her for the evening to play games and get some dinner. They were sweet to surprise me with cupcakes for my birthday!

And the next day, my sweet hubby got me a whole collection of goodies!
Some favorite snacks and chocolate, my copy of Beauty and the Beast (<3 <3 <3), a super pretty hummingbird feeder (which he promptly put outside for me before I could include it in the photo), a new can cooler, and my very first firearm! That's right folks, I'm packing heat these days..

my very own Red Ryder BB Gun!
He took me outside to show me how to shoot it. LOL!

(and I haven't used it since, but you never know when you might need one. :o))

And for myself:

I picked out these things for myself. :o)
A new wall rack for my oils, a chainmail scrubber for my cast iron (thank you, Veronique!), and a new planner to start my summer with! It goes from July '17-December '18, and it is

THE CUTEST PLANNER EVERRRR! I'm having a lot of fun with it already!

It was also an exciting week in my business because it was CONVENTION WEEK!
I am going to try my best to go in-person next year.. it starts on my 39th birthday! Eeeek!

They released a ton of new products!
(Above - Seedlings! (the new baby product line), a new oil blend, a new diffuser (which runs up to 10 hours... I WANT!), three new supplements, a Mineral Sunscreen, After Sun Spray, and EPA Approved Bug Repellant. PLUSSSSS... (below): A MAKEUP LINE!
Gimme all the things!

I spent Father's Day weekend back in Hickory taking care of my sister's dog while they started their Florida vacation. I got to hang out with my niece and nephew one afternoon, too!

And then I got to see one of my dearest and long-time friends, Marie! Her sweet boy is SUCH a cutie, and we had a fun time playing together. <3

While I was in Hickory, Damion got to hang out with his brother, Dustin, and their cousin, Dylan, who drove up from Louisiana for a quick boys weekend.

(look what Damion found while cutting our grass.. we have berries! (accidentally).. lol)

Their weekend started with a little bit of sleeping in. Those boys drove a long way!
Too bad neither of them used the guest bed. lol... they were too tired to realize we had one.

They spent the day on Saturday around Raleigh, visiting an expo at the fairgrounds, walking around downtown, and enjoying food at Chuck's, including burgers and Super Spicy Ginger beer. Damion made his famous Mahi Tacos for the guys, too! I'm sad I missed out on them this time! Sunday, they explored World of Sports in the next town over, playing around at the arcade and bowling! I'm sorry I missed seeing the guys, but I'm glad they got to hang out together for a couple of days!

Have I mentioned the views from our bedroom window at our house? Man, I love looking out there! <3 The left is an evening shot, and the right is just about a week ago one morning when Damion was leaving for work at 5:45 a.m. WOW! <3
(just a couple of days ago, Damion and I were looking through our phones at the same time.. and we realized that we both took photos of that morning sunrise that day. we're the cutest. ;o))

(his version from outside.. love it!)

See? The cutest! Haha

This was our date-night shot of hanging out with friends last weekend.
Be sure and check out The Nostalgics, y'all! Brian and Justin have been playing together since high school.. they're so good! The food at Real McCoy's was delicious, and seeing friends is always fun!

Yay Friends! Love being close enough to see these ladies more often again!

2017 ... And The Changes It Brings!

After our whirlwind trip to North Carolina/Virginia/Florida to see friends and families for Christmas, we were happy to finally arrive back at our home in Louisiana the evening of Dec. 31st. To be honest, I'm not sure if we made it until midnight before we went to sleep. Ha! We spent over 50 hours in the car and over 2,700 miles!

On the 1st, we headed out to Ragley to visit with Damion's mom and brother. Bonus was that another friend, Ms. Bonnie, was there! She's been a really wonderful friend to the Conley family for a long, long time! She's a true gem! We all hung out laughing and playing around with Dustin's new VR Mask thingy (I'm very technical) for his phone. I was nervous to try because I was afraid I'd fall on the floor. LOL! But, I made sure to hold onto the arm of the couch.. and all was well. :o)

We also decided we were going to make some better choices in our lives with the foods we're eating and lack of physical activity we were doing! I joined up with a challenge with Young Living so I could learn more about some of their Slique product line and get into some better habits for life. We enjoyed playing tennis several times together! I played tennis all four years in high school, and played around some with friends off and on through the years, but it had been quite a while since I was on the court. I am happy to have that bug bag.. it's really a fun activity!

Neither of us are pros, but we have a lot of fun playing. Ha!
And the picture on the right are my favorite work-out oil products!

We also tried out a few boxes of fresh food from Hello Fresh. It was fun to pick out what meals we were going to try, then cook those together! I tried a few things I've never had or cooked before. We had a couple of discount codes, so that made it really great to try, but after a couple of weeks, we decided to wait on making that a permanent part of our meal planning. Maybe one day, though! It's a great option if you need some kitchen-motivation! I definitely recommend it, especially if you get a coupon code from a friend!

Two of our delicious dishes!
Teriyaki Beef with Asparagus and Shrimp Lemon Risotto with Zucchini

February started for me the same way it's started for the past two years prior... with a weekend of alone time watching the live stream of if:gathering. I'm sure I've blogged about it before, but ladies... please, please! PLEASE! Mark your calendar for the first Friday night and Saturday (9a-5p, I believe) of February. Its probably the best "women's conference" type events I've ever participated in. So many women with strong desires to see Jesus glorified - in our hearts, in our families, our communities, and the nations! Great worship music, wonderful stories and speakers, and it's all free when you stream! Of course, I would absolutely love to attend live in Austin sometime, but for now, I'll enjoy this. Next year, I'd love to spend that time with friends and all watch together! Who's coming over to my house?? :o)

For more info, go to ifgathering.com -- and sign up for daily email devotionals at ifequip.com

For Valentine's Day, we enjoyed some sweet treats together along with dinner at home. I'm not a huge fan of Chocolate-Covered Strawberries (they're okay, but usually the chocolate breaks and falls off when you bite them, and sometimes the berries are too big and not very juicy or sweet that time of year! :o)), but these were really good. There's a small bakery in Lake Charles that we are fans off - Jo's - and we paired our treats with some Sparkletini! Yum!

Our Valentine's treats after dinner.

A few days later, we celebrated with my co-workers at the wedding of Leann and Brannon! Leann is one of my supervisors at the childcare center where I work. So happy for her! Thank you so much for letting us be part of your day! It was a really beautiful wedding, and the reception was super fun!

Leann's dress was really beautiful!

A few of the sweet, silly girls from work. :o)

Dani, Brooke and Maddie

Awww ;o)

My incredible co-worker, Edna!

A big majority of the Infant Teachers!
Nena, Debra, Cindy, myself, and Edna

The next day, to close out the weekend, we enjoyed a yummy crawfish boil with Damion's family! I didn't take a lot of photos, but it sure was delicious! So glad we got to have some!

Near the end of the month, Damion and I would both end up traveling... for very different reasons!
Here's the story you've all been waiting on. :o)
I had been planning to go with Damion's mom to Houston for some appointments she had scheduled. We ended up needing to go a day earlier because of the timing of those, but it worked out perfectly to coincide with Damion's travel plans, which required use of the airport in Houston.

When we were visiting friends over the holidays, we briefly discussed our desires with them to be on the lookout for some new opportunities for us. Damion and I had both been thinking and talking and praying about the possibility of changing jobs/homes/cities for a little while. We weren't unhappy or anything, but we wanted to have some fresh changes for ourselves as we continued to seek schooling and work opportunities for Damion and work toward growing our family, if that's what God has for us. They mentioned having us move to where they live and work with them. It really was a pretty brief conversation! :o) But, after a few weeks had gone by, and more discussions between Damion and me, we decided to talk with our friends again about checking into the possibility. They agreed to help us look into it, so we looked into some dates to have him fly to North Carolina/Virginia and see about making some decisions for us. The day that I would be traveling to Houston turned out to be the cheapest day to fly for him as well.. and the return flight worked out just as perfectly. So, we grabbed him a seat! We all drove to Houston together and he flew up to spend a few days with our friends. This gave him the opportunity to go out onto the job site where he would be working, meet with the boss, and look around into the communities nearby for a possible place for us to live. We had looked at some possibilities online, but seeing something in person feels a little better. :o)

Within two days, not only did he have an agreement set with the boss to begin work, but he met with a landlord for a rental property just a few miles from our friends. I made sure to ask him to take as many photos as possible! It was very nerve-wracking for me to think about moving to a home I've never actually seen before! Ha! Trusting my husband went into over-drive, and so, I did. He felt like this was a good location for us, and so we made an agreement to rent! He flew back home and we spent the weekend kind of in shock that this was all happening... and soon!

After the first set of appointments, we dug in with some Texas BBQ.

Also, we met up with one of Molinda's cousins for lunch one day.
She brought us to a DELICIOUS Mexican restaurant.
Oh man! So good!

Beautiful Westheimer in Houston

Treats for one of our evenings!
I took Molinda to Lush and Sprinkles!
Bath bombs and cupcakes and brownies, OH MY!

Choosing our goodies at Sprinkles!

Moving means new stuff! :o)
Yay for an IKEA trip in Houston!

Come Monday, we needed to let our employers know. We planned to be gone in our new home in three weeks! Two weeks to finish work and the last few days to devote to pack up and heading north!

The next two weeks went by so fast! :o( Not only were my days with my sweet babies and friends at work going by so quickly, but our evenings were slipping by with boxes, tape and cleaning! WHY SO MUCH STUFF?! LOL! We spent every minute we could preparing for this move.

We got tired of trying to find boxes all over town.
We ended up just buying some from Lowe's.

At first, it seems like such a waste to spend money on something like that, but friends! I highly recommend this! They're sturdy, have handles, and you can definitely re-use them! We have friends who are moving in the near future, so we were happy to be able to save these for them!

My last day at work was hard for me, saying my goodbyes. But, I was also excited about these new changes for us! That evening, several of my sweet co-workers went out to dinner with me! I had a lot of fun! They're the best, and I miss them all so much!! <3 <3 <3 A few days later, Damion's family got together with us to say goodbye as well. We're happy to be in a new place and close to my family, but I know that we'll be visiting Louisiana to see friends and family as much as we can!

Leaving work on my last day.

Samantha, Edna, me, Nena, and Debra!
So happy to have spent this evening with these ladies!
<3 Miss Y'all SO MUCH! <3

We made the drive over three days, which was way less stressful on us than trying to make it all at once. Damion drove the moving truck, hauling my car on a trailer. I drove his truck, and his mom drove her SUV. All of us were packed to the brim, but we had as smooth of a journey as we could ever ask! No traffic troubles, no bad weather, and no problems with any of the vehicles. We stayed in Montgomery, AL the first night. The next night, we ended up staying with my family in Hickory, NC. My mom had met up with us to eat an early dinner, and sitting in a restaurant for a while reminded us how tiring it is to drive and move! So, we decided to just take a break then and follow her home. :o) So, Friday morning, the 17th of March, we headed out to finish our journey.

You don't take a lot of photos when you're in the driver's seat of a long journey like this. Ha!
But, here's a quick snap I took of my MIL passing me up. ;o)
We are so thankful she was able to help us with this move!!

I was SO EXCITED to finally arrive! Isn't it the cutest house? He picked a good one for us!

My first look as we're driving up!

The rest of the weekend was a whirlwind, of course. We got everything unloaded, boxes unpacked, the kitchen ready, beds set up, groceries purchased, and tried to get Damion to rest before starting his new job the following Monday!

He jumped in with both feet earrrrrly Monday morning! He's working for a logging company here operating a skidder. Yeah, I didn't know what it was, either. Ha! We'd love for you to pray for his safety and continued learning on the job! It's different than anything he's ever done, and while I have every confidence in him, I know it's going to take him some time to feel comfortable. For now, I'm not working outside of the home, just getting to focus on my essential oil business.
We are super happy!

Here's a panoramic view from my new front porch!

It's so beautiful out here!