just another day at work

I have an office job. Just your regular run-of-the-mill office job. Its really no big deal, what I do, but at the same time, its sometimes hard to explain what I do. I work at Amaya Glaze Company, INC. We work repairing bathtubs, showers, marble, vinyl, porcelain and stainless steel products that are installed in new homes in Charlotte, NC. The company is named after my boss Dicky Amaya. But instead of trying to explain what I do at work....each week I'll tell you a story about some of the things that happen while I'm at work. Here's this week's episode:

On Tuesday around 2pm I got a knock on the door. This is what I found waiting for me on the other side:

That's my boss Dicky, he's the one on the left. My boss's dog killed this hedgehog and he wanted to show it to me. I'm not sure why he wanted to show me a dead animal. But, whatever. This is so so so so so typical of the random things that happen to me at my "office" (which is really just a renovated detached garage in my boss's backyard).

I hope you have a fabulous Halloween. Tera and Casey are coming over to my house to help me pass out candy because Josh is going fishing in Tennesee for the weekend. Besides having two of my favorite girls over, the only other thing that I'm really looking forward to is the rural church youth group that dresses up as biblical characters, won't take candy, passes out salvation tracks and doesn't really believe me when I say I have a personal relationship with Jesus. Its one of the best laughs that I get all season.

Have a wonderful weekend!!!

BOO!

that's right....its my sister Taylor, aka Boo, turned 22 today!!!
In the words of Kate Bridges "Hapy Barsday Boo!"

(this is what Taylor ran the Jeff Gordon 5k in. Yes, that's a kilt)

and the winner is....

ME!!!!

I am the proud new owner of $7! That's right....I have two $1 bills and one $5 that are perfectly crumpled and reeking of smoke. Ahhh, the smell of gambling in the morning.

Last night I stayed up until 11:15pm trying to figure out what channel the powerball numbers were being shown on. (the late bedtime would explain why I was 30 minutes late to work this morning. oh wait, no...i'm pretty much late every morning.) While we were waiting for the clock to strike 10:59pm, there some last minute negotiations on splitting the winnings. Josh decided he wanted $100 if I won more than $500. I told him that I would give him $250 if I won $500...but that was mostly because I was trying to put some good karma out to the world in the last 30 seconds before drawing happened. I actually had an internal monologue going on the whole time...."if I win $100 I'll keep it to myself, but man if I were entrusted with like $1000 or $5000 I'd give some away...and I'd give a ton away to poor people and orphans and puppies if I got like $100,000 or so...." The crazy part is that I thought this kind of internal moral argument/pleading with God would actually help me win the lottery.

We finally figured out what channel we needed to watch and we tried to read the cards. I started getting confused after about, oh 3.4 seconds or so and let Josh figure out how many millions of dollars I won. I had a bunch of numbers that were matching up, but there weren't enough of them to make a win. We were thinking that I'd won either $3 or $7 (seriously, the lottery is kind of difficult to figure out) but we were both secretly hoping that we'd win big when they scanned our cards in.

This morning the lady at the cash station scanned my cards and I waited, holding my breath, to see how much money I won. When the screen said "$7" and I took my money from the cashier, Josh said loudly, "Its ok Blair. Its like you won double. You won all those lottery tickets and now you won $7!" When we got outside I asked Josh why he had acted so awkward in front of the lottery lady. He said, "I just didn't want people to think we wasted $50 on lottery tickets and got excited about wining $7." That's right. My husband was worried we were being judged by the folks in the gas station....that were buying several cartons of cigarettes and beer.

So there it is folks. The story of my big big lottery win. And seriously, I guess $7 is a lot....to maybe people in Africa or my 3 year-old cousin. I think I'm going to go get a coffee drink later and tip big. After all, isn't that what the rich people do?

gamblers annonymous

I never win anything. Ever. I have entered every stupid contest you could possibly imagine. I have even entered contests where the prizes weren't stuff I even wanted, just in some vain attempt to see if I had any luck whatsoever.

But today is my day! That's right. I actually won something! It turns out that being 26 might actually be my year.

Remember how last weekend I went to that music festival? Well, they had a "drawing" for to prizes: an ipod and 50 powerball tickets. The entry table was a little off to the side and I don't think really anyone knew it was there. There were only about 10 entries in the box when I slipped my entries in. That's right. Entries...as in plural. I think I filled out 15. Don't judge me. It said you could enter as many times as you wanted.

And it worked out of me....because I WON!!!!!!!!!! I am the proud owner of 50 powerball tickets!

I have no idea how to "play" the lottery. I looked it up on the internet and it looks kind of hard. There were like pages and pages of rules. So I called my friend Elizabeth and told her that I was coming over to her house tonight so she could help me figure out if I win or not. She went to Wake Forest so she's totally qualified to figure this out. (And just in case, her husband is a lawyer and he should know how to do this stuff too.)

I can hear people judging me now...."gambler" and maybe even "dumb". But guys what? I'm about to be a pretty stinking rich dumb gambler. That's right...the one thing I did understand on the website was my odds of wining. I have a 1 in 146,107,962 chance of wining the big jackpot, BUT a 1 in 36.6 chance of wining SOMETHING. And I have 50 tickets. Do that math. I'm about to be the proud winner of "something".

I'll post my winnings tomorrow :)

on the training front:
I met my trainer, Rick, yesterday. This was my first sentence I said to him, "Hi, I'm Blair and I'm really looking forward to working with you, but don't think I'm going to do crazy stuff like weigh myself on that 'Biggest Loser' style scale in the middle of the gym 'cause that ain't happening." Then Rick said, "I hope you are as good at working out as you are at talking." Clearly he doesn't know me AT ALL, because there's really nothing I do better than talking. (which is why I was $80 over my minutes on my cellphone plan this month.) We did a full body workout so that he could analyze my fitness level, pain threshold and embarrassment level. One thing I was NOT expecting to do at this first meet-and-greet session was to measure my body fat percentage. That was more embarrassing than if he'd just asked me to run around the gym naked. Apparently personal trainers like to shame people into working out. But whatever, as long as I loose weight and get toned I don't care. I did however make him pinky swear that he wouldn't tell anyone my weight, measurements or body fat. And yes, the pinky swear is a legally binding agreement and does in fact hold up in NC courts.

adventures in turning 26

Birthdays have always been a little chaotic around our house...mostly because I'm a "hold-nothing-back-make-me-queen-for-a-day-buy-me-lots-of-stuff" kind of girl and Josh is more of a "man-I-hope-I-totally-blend-into-the-background-today" kind of a guy. Herein lies our problem.

This year I tried to take a more middle of the road approach. That's more of a "I'm-not-going to talk-about-how-awesome-my-birthday-is-but-you-still-better-make-a-big-deal-out-of-it" mindset for me. Here's how that worked out for me:

The day started out with a run...this was mostly because I knew more people than normal would ask me what I had done that day and I knew if would sound impressive to just be all cavalier like, "oh today? not much, I just went a quick couple mile run before going to work..."

Then I went into work and my boss gave me half the day off on friday, this is otherwise known as the BEST birthday gift ever. I went home to "pack"...this is also known as running around the house yelling, "its 1 o'clock and I'm not working!!!!!!!" After several laps around the house, I actually packed my suitcase (for real this time) and Josh and I jumped in the car and headed up the road to Black Mountain, NC.

This is where I spent most of this past weekend. This is my friend Laura's house in Montreat, NC. Does it pay to have rich (and generous) friends or what?!

After we unpacked, we headed down the road to Pisgah Brewing Company. Don't bother looking for it on a map or phonebook because its basically unmarked. This marked the beginning of about 293847238 calls to our friend Sunday for directions. I can't believe we drove by like 9 times without noticing this place....

At this point, its pouring down rain and I'm thinking to myself that this cannot possibly be a brewery...it looks more like a rundown motel or office building...well of course I went in...how very Nancy Drew-like of me. This is what I found inside:

It look more like the inside of a warehouse, Staples or some kind of testing facility. But then I say door #103. I opened it and to my delight I found:

my first ever speakeasy.

I thought for sure that this kind of establishment went out in the 1930s, along with flappers and saddle shoes, but to my delight it has not. Be sure to visit next time you're at the mountains.

The rest of the evening went as follows: dinner at Salsa's and dessert at Old Europe. I would have taken pictures but Josh said, "Seriously, Blair? People are going to think we've never been to a restaurant before." I gave Josh the benefit of the doubt, since he's 31, and put my photo-snapping bug to rest. Until now....now I'm thinking that I don't have a single cool picture of me from my 26th birthday because my husband was too cool to pose for one withe me. So you'll have to imagine the amazing cuban food from Salsa's and the cute coffee carafe that they brought out for us at Old Europe. Help me with a collective "booooooooo". Serious party foul Josh. Its a good think I'm 26 and have decided to be more forgiving this year. Or else you'd be in trouble.

On a more healthy note: I'm getting a personal trainer today! I'll be sure to post tomorrow about it :)

is there a doctor black in the house?!

No. There isn't. We've given her the day off for her birthday. No seriously, Lauren....that's what the hospital told me when I called. Congrats on working the system!

Let me introduce you to my OLDer sister Lauren (and her husband Jon.)

Lauren turned 28 on Sunday. Can I say that on the internet? So, in her honor I'm going to post my top 28 Things That I Love About Lauren list:

1. She too goes by her middle name. All those days when I'd sit one the first day of class not paying attention as the new teacher asked if Jennifer was present at least I knew that Katherine was dealing with the same issues.

2. She wanted to wear matching pajamas and sleep in the same bed on Christmas Eve until we graduated from college (and I got married.)

3. She argued my mom for the privilege to use a crimper when we were in elementary school.

4. She always had the coolest closet to steal clothes from in high school and college (and now!)

5. She had a splatter-paint t-shirt birthday party in elementary school (yes, I just went there, haha)

6. She only made one B in College. Me too, although the rest of my grades were C's, her's were A's.

7. She teaches me how to love and support my husband better.

8. She actually saves people for a living. Its like she's a cross between Wonder Woman and Shera.

9. She taught me how to perfectly cook Belgian waffle at the Schilletter Cafeteria at Clemson.

10. She told me that Santa wasn't real so that I wouldn't look stupid arguing with my friends that he was.

11. She's pretty. She's that kind of annoying pretty...you know what I mean, when someone has just finished working out or has just woken up and still manages to look better than you when you just spent 20 minutes on your makeup?

12. She visited me in Australia when I was away in high school.

13. She did my first ever Beth Moore Bible study with me.

14. She gave me the most awesome apartment at Clemson to live in. Sorry that girl burned it down.

15. She got me into Tri Delta. I don't know if I would have met Val or Cat if you hadn't gotten me in!

16. She's good to her friends. One even named her daughter after Lauren!

17. She's committed to the Lord. I can't believe that I waited until number 17 to say that!!!!

18. She has GREAT decorating taste. Seriously. Let her stage your house.

19. She's one of the best things that Birmingham has to offer.

20. She drives a stick-shift car. Isn't that so cool?

21. She asks me for advice. Not that she needs it or that she necessarily believes what I say, but isn't it nice to be asked what you think?

22. She helped me get through my parent's separation and divorce and crazy life now.

23. She supports my mariage.

24. She somehow talked our parents into getting us a guinnea pig (Squeaky) when we were little.

25. She taught me about good skin care.

26. She lives a life worthy of emulating.

27. She manages being a doctor, wife, friend, neighbor, sister, Christian, style-icon and makes is look easy (to be honest, this is also one of the things that I hate about her, hahaha!)

28. She's my big sister.

So cheers to you big sis. May you celebrate big this day and may this year bring you all the joy and success that you deserve. You are loved this day!!

"A chord of three strands is not quickly broken." Ecclesiastes 4:12

on this day in history

On this day in history I WAS BORN! woooohoooo! (insert party hats, confetti and Cindi Lauper.)

I will be leaving work early today for a long weekend in the mountains with Josh :)

As if the fact that its my birthday AND its a friday isn't reason enough to celebrate, here are other things that happened on this day in history:

1593: alleged teleporation of Gil Perez. "Alleged"?

1861: first transcontinental telegraph line across USA completed...see ya later pony express!

1901: Annie Taylor is the first to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel....why exactly a barrel? Maybe a raft or parachute...but a barrel? Really?

1926: Harry Houdini's last performance.

1945: United Nations is formed...this day is later celebrated mostly as an international attempt to raise awareness of my birth.

1952: Mike Brown is born. (This is Amy's dad, she made me put this in here.)

1973: Levi Leipheimer, American cyclist, is born.
1982: Blair (the blessed second child) is born to Jerry and Connie Rollins. The world actually stopped for a minute.

1991: Gene Roddenberry, Star Trek creator, dies at age 70. He boldly went where every man will at some point go.

1999: I finally knew what it meant to party like it was 1999.

2008: I turned 26 and (while kicking and screaming) slipped into the second half of my 20s.

itty bitty baby bosten

This is my friend Sharon and her new baby boy Bosten. His full name is Bosten Manning Clark. And.I.Love.Him.

Sharon is actually too cool to be my friend. She loves the Lord like crazy, has the cutest family, owns the most amazing photography company, has awesome fashion sense and her house looks just like Anthrolpologie. She kind of has to be my friend since our husbands are good friends. But I'm soooo ok with that...because I'm automatically cooler by association.

I got a text from Sharon around 1am on Wednesday that she had gone to the hospital and everything was going smoothly. Then I had all sorts of crazy baby dreams. In one of them, the baby accidently popped out of Sharon's bellybutton and did a tapdance routine on her belly. In another one, the baby came out (from the normal location) and started waving and shaking hands with everyone like he was a politician or something. So all I can conclude from these dreams is that: A) I obviously didn't pay any attention to biology in high school and B) There have been way too many political ads on tv.

Here are some more pictures of my sweet friend and her beautiful little boy:

I have several thoughts about these pictures:

1. I think Bosten looks just like a burrito from Moe's. Why does the swaddling pattern look so much like that?

2. Ryan cut my head off in the picture. Not cool. I know you're like all about your baby and stuff right now, but seriously...we all know you're a photographer too.

3. The Chandler smile strikes again! Remember on 'Friends' when Monica and Chandler get engaged and they go to get their picture taken and Chandler keeps making the most awkward smiles? Yep, that's what we have a case of here in photo #2.

you're so vain

Let me introduce you to my newest find. I like to call her Little-Lolita-You-Stole-My-Heart(-ita). When you talk about her to your friends you can call her Blair's-Desk-That-I Secretly-Covet-And-Plan-To-Steal.

Here she is in all her $15 Salvation Army glory.

She may look like your run-of-the-mill school desk, but I see a very bright future ahead...for sure some new hardware and a fresh coat of new paint and perhaps a serenade or two. I can't wait to see what she ends up looking like! Don't worry, I'll be sure to post pictures of the whole process, just like any other proud mama would do.

To check out my frist refinshing job, click here. My friend Chelsea recorded the adventure on her blog. Be sure to check out the rest of her blog while you are there...she's so inspiring!

Today my friend Sunday is 30 years young. Go check her out---she's one of the hottest mamas around! Happy Birthday Girl!!!!! May the Rocktober festivities begin!!!!!!

shout-outs and dedications

I'm feeling the love this week...and I've got to talk about it.

I've been blessed with a lot of dear friends over the years, but there's one in particular that I'd like to hollar at right about now: Heather My-Pint-Sized-Bundle-O-Crazy Turner.

As most of you know, I'm pretty cheap and will go to extraordinary efforts for a deal....but I've never actually roped in any of my unassuming friends for extra discounts...until now. (OK so maybe I have, but they've almost all forgiven me by now.) We had a music festival in town this weekend that featured some awesome folk and bluegrass bands, including my new favorite IIIrd Thyme Out. Well, I found out that if I worked a 3-hour shift selling tickets on Saturday, that I would get in free to the rest of the shows that day. So when I heard about the deal I signed up...and then roped in Hef for the deal. Hef worked with me for 3 freezing-cold hours with wet hair (her own fault) just so I could be cheap and get free tickets for myself and Josh.

Does life GET any better? I deduct it cannot!

the trout slayer

The Trout Slayer! Yep, that's what we're calling josh from now on.

Josh went camping with his dad on Friday and Saturday. He had a really good time with his dad. He even walked out from their campsite so he could find cell-service to call and tell me about it. This is pretty much how the conversation went, "fish...fishing...camping...big fish...lots of fish..." I think he could tell that I wasn't catching on to how cool this whole 6+ hours of fishing was. He tried to compare it to things I would like to do or 6+ hours....but all he could come up with was sleep. That's me, a real hobby-oriented kind of girl.

So, on that note, I leave you with this....a photo of Josh's trophy catch. If you look real close, you can actually see a fish amongst those leaves.

dance fever!

Last night was out fourth annual Young Life Prom. We met at 6pm at the wonderful fast Japanese establishment known as 'Yamato Express.' After dinning on some of the best food in Shelby, we headed over to the club.....house in our neighborhood. The theme of this year's prom was "A Day in Paris."

(We called it "A Day in Paris" because after Amy, Laura and I finished painting the Eiffel Tower, we didn't know what else to paint. Since Laura, the artist extraordinaire, was out of the building during this crisis, I accidentally drew two clouds and Amy drew a sun. I say "accidentally" because there is no way that I'm claiming that I drew those clouds on purpose.)

(amy and laura and the masterpiece)

(please look at how ridiculous amy's dress is. also, laura's dress is from middle school!)

dinner at Yamato's Express. yes, Hef at three plates of food....that why we call her Hef.

The attire was: "formal wear as you see fit from the decade of your choice." As you can see, some people took a LOT of creative license with their interpretation of the words FORMAL wear.

hef dressed as 1800s, bryanna as western and amber as a hippie...not sure if these are decades or not.

ahhh, the 80s. they no longer haunt me. they are now a decade to be celebrated!

check here to see my album on facebook with more pictures from the evening.

happy weekend y'all!

the new additions to our family

Here are the two new additions to our family....I like to call them "Cherry Tree on the Left" and "Cherry Tree on the Right", but Josh likes to call them "The Sarah Stokes Memorial Cherry Trees."

Sarah is a Young Life leader with Josh at Shelby High School. She's a Sophomore at GWU and is studying Biology. She's been thinking about going to medical school (and hey boys---she's single!).

Last summer she stayed with us for about a week while she shadowed some of the local physicians (and my dad!) We LOVE Sarah (her picture is to the left....she's the one in the hot pink dress.)


Back to the Cherry Trees.....Sarah's sweet sweet parents sent us a gift card to Lowe's as a 'thank you' to letting her stay with us over the summer. Sarah is officially welcome to stay with us anytime. We went to Lowes over the weekend and debated and debated over what to purchase with the gift card. I wanted either something cute, something cute for the back porch, something cute for the front porch or maybe something cute for the garage area. Josh wanted either a tree, a tree, a tree or maybe a tree. Well, you can see who won that argument. And being the super savvy (or so-cheap-I-embarrass-my-husband) shopper that I am, we were able to get 2 trees, 4 containers of pansies and 1 mum all for the price of 1 tree.

As we were deciding on where to plant the trees, I suggested that we name the tree. I think Josh was sensing the loss of our goldfish, so he agreed. He said we should name them "The Sarah Stokes Memorial Cherry Trees." I laughed hard, because I knew he had to be joking. Only he wasn't. When I tried to explain to him that since Sarah is still alive, we can't actually call them "memorial" anything. I suggested maybe we call them "honorarium" or something. No dice. So there they are. On the back property line. The Sarah Stokes Memorial Cherry Trees. May she rest in peace?

So, come on over and sit a while. We can look out on the back deck and enjoy our two new additions. Maybe one day they'll hide that trailer in the distance. A girl can dream, can't she?

purple mountains majesty

...also known as what the rest of the country is missing out on...

On Saturday, after my surprise overnight at Lake Lure and after the thrifty trip to the JCrew sale, Josh and I took a scenic drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway. With gas still hovering around $3.65 per gallon, we wanted to make the most out of our trip....so I took 195 pictures. No, I'm not planning on putting them all on this blog.

On the way to the parkway, Josh and I both reminisced about our childhood trips to see the leaves change colors. Josh said that he and his sister refered to those trips as "hell rides" often asking their dad if they were going "on that really long road." When he said that I laughed so hard I choked on a candy corn....which if I had to die by choking, choking on a candy corn would be my kind of way to go. Got to love that seasonal candy! (Speaking of which, someone told me that they didn't like candy corn or candy pumpkins. SERIOUSLY? Who doesn't love those things? I mean, I don't love it when I get so sick that I almost throw up from the sugar rush, but its not like its actually going to stop me from buying another bag. My sister Lauren and I could probably eat one bag per day.)

So pull up a seat, crack open a bag of candy corn, picture Josh singing America The Beautiful (as sung by Ray Charles) and take a look at some of these beautiful photos:

start of the parkway

on the way to graveyard field

check out those colors!

"God, Creator of the heavens—he is, remember, God. Maker of earth—he put it on its foundations, built it from scratch.He didn't go to all that trouble to just leave it empty, nothing in it. He made it to be lived in." Isaiah 45:18 The Message

See how excited we are about the leaves?

(Yes I made Josh pose for this picture)

be still my heart

I'd like to take this moment to introduce you to one of my old friends. Her name is J. Crew. We were very, very close before I was married. I was introduced to her by my older sister, Lauren. I'm not sure who introduced Lauren to J.Crew...all I know is that the Rollins Sisters were the better, and more fashionable, for knowing her. My mother and father financed many adventures with J. Crew during my high school and college days. There were the many pool parties, dances, formal events and church services we attended together. It seemed that a week didn't go by without me checking in on J.Crew, either in person or over the internet. But sadly, oh so sadly, we parted ways shortly after I married. It seemed that there wasn't enough room in our ministry budget for her. But who says a budget needs to come between good friends?!

Out of nowhere, into my life walks my fashion salvation, more widely known as the J.Crew Sidewalk Warehouse sale. Enter harp music, angels and that little feather from intro of Forest Gump.

I paid $106 for over $500 of merchandise. I'm not going to toot my own horn or anything, but....TOOT TOOT.

Here's a play-by-play of how the event went: Josh was pulling into a parking spot while I simultaneously unbuckled my seat belt, grabbed my purse and opened the car door. I proceeded to hit the ground running...literally, which was a good idea since the car was still moving at this point. While Josh parked the car, I ran full force to the sign-in counter where I got a price list and a very worried look from the cashier. Were they really expecting rational behavior at a sidewalk sale? I began rummaging through the boxes like....well.....uhm....like a woman shopping for a $98 jacket that now only costs $3. It was like a scene from the Running of the Brides at Filene's Basement....there were tears, lots of shoving, some pretty severe elbowing and a total adrenaline rush.

I grabbed everything that was in my size and every size I could possibly diet myself into. I elbowed my way in for hats, socks, belts, jackets, shirts, jewelry, purses and a golf club cover. I plead the 5th on the last item....I'm pretty sure I thought it was a toboggan at first. I mean, I still bought it and everything....it was a steal at only $1! To the left you will see my shopping bag/trashbag. I felt like Santa...although I guess Santa has a big bag of presents for other people and I had every intention of keeping all these goods for myself...so I retract the Santa comment. I felt like someone who had stolen Santa's big red bag and planned to keep all the gifts for herself. Ahh, sweet love!

Clearly some people go a LITTLE overboard. Take example A, photo listed to the right. While the wide-brim hat is certainly fuctional (I actually bought one myself to use at the beach), the jury is still out on that tan jumpsuit. Actually...the jury just came back in...its official, there is no purpose whatsoever in where that jumpsuit is appropriate. It should be noted that while everyone else was stripping to try on their clothes, this girl tried everything on while still wearing her jeans and t-shirt on underneath.

So here are my spoils for the day. Unfortunately, I cannot go in to detail on the prices or descriptions of the items, since my sisters will be getting some of this stuff for their birthdays. So enjoy these pictures and I'll post the prices later.

****Attention all JCrew Shoppers**** I will announce the next date for the super-awesome, save your whole paycheck, eat beans and rice for a week JCrew sidewalk sale soon!

let the games begin!

Attention all girls who are reading this blog.....stop what you are doing and start your own blog. (Ok, maybe that was a bit rash...of course I didn't mean for you to actually stop reading my blog, duh.)

I guess what I meant to say was this: Girls,if you are in a relationship with a guy, be it dating or married, it is abosultely imparrative that you start your own blog. Here's why: it gives you an open forum to discuss how awesome your guy is (which they love to hear) or how maybe you wish they could step up like someone else's man (which they hate to hear.) It's the online version of the "the best boyfriend game" that my girlfriends and I used to play in college.

"The best boyfriend game" is pretty simple. In this case, it was me, Natalie, Valerie and Catherine...three of my roommates at Clemson. (Sidenote: we all called each other Nat, Val, Cat and Blair---there's actually no cool way to shorten Blair.) It all happened during our junior year at Clemson that we were all dating someone: I was dating Josh, Nat was dating Adam, Val was dating Daniel and Cat was dating Dave. (All future dating advice should come from either me or Cat because we actually married the guys we were dating at this point.) It all kind of happened randomly; one of us was discussing how awesome our boyfriend was. There we were just gabbing away about these boys....and then they heard us. The competition was born. From then on we would start most conversations (that were in front of one of the boyfriends) with "well, I have the best boyfriend because he ____(fill in the blank)___." If one of us got flowers, you could almost guarantee that the other three boyfriends would soon follow suit. I got some of the best dates and presents during that time....ahhh, sweet memories. The best part about the game was this: even when the guys figured out what's going on, they still couldn't stop themselves! Since a man's ego determines pretty much his entire course of action for the day, he would ultimately choose the path that would get him the most praise. Now, put that together with a blog for you to share all the wonderful things he does to a world-wide audience (or 12 of your family and friends) and voila: the best husband game is born! Girls, let the games begin!

So after I blogged on and on about Josh's awesomeness on Friday, is it now really any surprise how I was treated? Josh swept me away for a romantic overnight at Lake Lure. He came home from a meeting in Charlotte around 4pm and said, "Pack a bag, I'm taking you out!" Is that music to a girl's ears or what?! We jumped in the car and I had no idea where we were headed: how spontaneous and romantic! We pulled in to the Lake Lure area and Josh took me out to eat dinner on the lake and then we went to the house that he borrowed from some friends of ours (thanks Roberts family!) A note to the fellas: take a look at all those exclamation marks! This is the way to win a girl over!

At this point, I would like to give some props to Cat's husband Dave! He found a babysitter for Travis, his and Cat's son, and took Cat for an overnight at the Four Seasons! Way to go Dave!!

We had a great time up at the lake...but it gets even better...stay tuned to hear about how Josh took me to a JCrew warehouse sale and to look at the leaves changing colors on the parkway! Men, I'll give you time to take out your pen and paper to start taking notes...