At Last

14 weeks away ,13 hours to Philly, 12 round trip flights, traveling thru 9 states, but a great internship and summer...

So thankful he is finally HOME!

The Ham

Last week I headed to Birmingham for a few days. I had not been since May and I am trying to do little trips like this while a). John is gone and b). I can still travel. It was a great trip! Actually, made me miss Birmingham in several ways. Not that Birmingham is a small town by any means, but there are so many great things about it that make it seem smaller and more personal than living in the city here. Or maybe you just always feel that way about your home?

My sweet grandmother

Always love seeing Barb and Anna - we missed Lindsey!

A B'ham favorite - I actually went twice for lunch in 3 days. Terrible, I know, but it was glorious!

Dinner with some college and high school friends

My mom has been working hard to clean all me, Matt, and Christian's baby clothes from when we were little. I am really excited about using them soon! She sent me back with both the boy's stuff and mine.

Thanks for letting me come stay for a few days, Mom!

A tribute to American Express

Okay, I am not promoting getting credit cards and spending money you don't have on them. However, I do like the American Express card and the company as a whole. Amex is the only credit card John and I own. We do follow Dave Ramsey finanacial advice almost 100%, but sorry Dave these cards have gotten us 4 free plane tickets this summer! So, we try to be as strategic as possible if we use the Amex.

Well, this card was also stolen this weekend - mine and John's! We do not use the card much, so if American Express had not called to ask about some recent skeptical purchases, I am not sure when we would have noticed. Who knew they track your spending patterns and when some crook tried to by $1300 worth of electronics at Best Buy, it was a major red flag on our cards!

How did they both get stolen, you ask? Well, you might call it a little foolish on our part (which is why we are very thankful Amex noticed). We were in Philly and it was beautiful Saturday. We decided to take a picnic lunch outside. We didn't go to a park, but just went out in the grass in the townhome commnuity where John is living this summer. We were outside eating for only about 25 mins and maybe 20 feet from the front door, so we did not lock it. Well, some creeper must have been watching and came right inside to snatch the cards. Thankfully, the creeper was not very smart because they choose to not take the cash in my wallet (only $30, but still!), our phones, my camera, my work laptop, debit cards, licences, etc.

I always thought I was immune to this stuff, but innocent I was!

The Simple Things

• yard work
• a date night
• baby registering
• cook out with friends
• sitting by the pool
• paying bills
• sign up for fall classes
• grocery shopping together
• being back at church

This is what our weekend consisted of in Atlanta. I cannot describe how refreshing it truly was to just be home together. We didn't realize it until we starting looking back, but this was our first weekend home in 3 months and much needed! I leave today to go back to Philadelphia for my last weekend up there. While John's busiest weeks at work are just starting, I am ready for the countdown to end this long distance craziness!

Only...

• 4 more weekends
• 3 cities
• 1 fun wedding weekend
• 3 plane trips
• finishing an internship
• and 13 hour drive HOME!

The Last Month

I am not sure where the month of June went, but I have been terrible about blogging and updates. We have loved being able to drive through the northeast and explore this part of the country as well meet some great people along the way. As hard as it is for John and I to be away from each other during the weeks, I am so grateful for 1. a great internship for John during a tough economy and 2. the timing and opportunity to do something very unique this summer before the baby comes.

Here is an update by pictures of what we have been up to lately.

Liberty Bell in Philly

June 13

John's 29th birthday in New York

June 19
21 Club with Mama Jo and Josephine
June 20
Beyonce Concert at Madison Square Garden
June 22

I am almost embarrassed to say how much we loved this show and love Beyonce!

Driskill/Gailey weekend at Lake Hartwell

June 26
John and Hayden love each other!

4th of July Weekend
Red Sox Game

Boston Pops

St. Charles River getting ready for fireworks

Our little tailgate waiting on the Boston Pops and fireworks

Finally, the show began!

..........................................

Exciting News to share now!

Back in June Mark and I looking at rings for Kristen :)

And now these two cuties are getting married sometime early 2010!
We are thrilled for them and I am thrilled to have Cuz live in the same city as me again!

Life in Philly

Hello to all of you who follow our lives...

Since the summer is now half over it is about time to update you on life in Philly AND post my first entry to "our" blog. So, I am working at Centocor Ortho Biotech a division of Johnson and Johnson. I am sure you are first wondering - "I thought Johnson & Johnson only sold baby shampoo." I am glad you asked… JnJ is really made up of over 250+ distinct operating companies spread throughout the world. They make everything from insulin pumps, to chemo drugs, to baby shampoo. Some of the brands you’re probably more familiar with in our consumer group are Tylenol, Aveeno, Neutrogena, Acuvue, Clean and Clear, Visine, and Listerine…just to name a few. The op-co (short for operating company) I work for this summer makes both immunology and oncology biologic drugs. Our drugs treat patients with rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, breast cancer, and ovarian cancer to name a few.

So, day to day that is my life here in Horsham, PA. I love the team I work for and the folks at JnJ. Everyone I am surrounded with is at the top of their game. It is interesting to work in a different part of the country and a completely different sector then I am used to. I feel like I am learning so much every day my head hurts.

While the internship and company are great, marriage long distance style is not great! Although we have been able to see each other pretty much every weekend, at times I think we both feel like we are living out of a suitcase in a revolving door of new cities. So far this summer there has been Charlotte, Washington DC, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston...We love traveling and seeing parts of the country we have never experienced – BUT - I think we are both ready for the pace of travel to slow down at the end of the summer. Thankfully we practiced our long distance relationship building skills for a while during lele's college years :) So, we like to think we are pros at it! However, each weekend brings the usual rekindle and 48 hours later the tearful goodbye. This week however lele is staying for 10 whole days! We almost do not know what to do with this gift of added time and proximity.

Lele will catch you up on our many travels throughout this foreign land. As an FYI, people up here have been a lot nicer and more hospitable than they are made to seem in the movies. Before you know it the summer will be over and you'll have a second blog post from me!!!

I’m off to make a facebook page now!

Road Trip '09

Last week, we started our journey of driving to Philadelphia.  Instead of making it one really long day, we split it up and made it a little trip to visit friends and family on the way.  It was a lot of driving but it seemed to go by pretty fast and we had a great time hanging out together in the car.  We love road trips! 

1st stop- Charlotte, NC.  

We spent a night with Kristen and all the Cofield clan.  I love Charlotte.  It is one of those cities I think I would like to live in and John had never been before.  It was fun to visit with all the Cofields since we do not get to see them as much since they moved from Bham.  And Shannon (who has more connections than anyone I know) had a friend giving away her glider from her nursery.  So, we also got a precious white, FREE glider for the baby's room.  I will have to put a pic up of that later.  

2nd stop- D.C. 

We headed to DC Thursday for two nights.  We did not do tons of tourist adventures because we had both been to DC and it rained most of the time (as you can see below).  We were able to visit with several friends we had not seen in a long time.  We ate lunch with Anne in the Senate Cafeteria one day- which has great food by the way.  We stayed with another friend of mine from Auburn, Melissa.  And we went to dinner one night with Jared and Belen, who live in Arlington.  Jared and Belen had a baby in December and so we got to meet James too! We had so much fun seeing people here that we probably could have stayed many more days! 

    

Sorry, we were not great about taking pictures the whole trip.  

3rd Stop- Horsham, Pennsylvania 

Last but certainly not least, we arrived Saturday right outside Philly where John is working for the summer.  We got him unpacked and settled in about an hour!  It was such a breeze compared to all those times of moving me back to Auburn.  We spent the rest of Saturday and Sunday hanging out and exploring the area mainly.  John was able to show me where he works and his office.  Many of you have been asking about him and so I will let him tell more about his job and the area.  He has promised to make his first blogpost very soon...so stay tuned!      

Escape

I cannot wait to be sitting here in less than 48 hours.  Away from all distractions: work, email, phones, facebook, etc.  There are so many refreshing things about escaping from the busyness of life.  This is John's last week in Atlanta until late August so there is much to do before Friday.  It cannot come quick enough!