New Beginnings....

A new year, a new outlook on life, a new beginning... I have 3 days left at my job. I put in my 2 weeks notice a little over 2 weeks ago, but because of some unforeseen events I agreed to stay on just a little longer. However, it is time for me to move on. No, I do not have a solid plan, no job yet but this is something I needed to do, not only for my sanity but my health and family. I started to become a different person, someone I did not like... it is time to change all that.

Wednesday will be my last day, it will be a bitter/sweet day. I have grown to care about my co-workers, they're my second family but it is time to move on... Time to spread my wings, discover new talents, find new opportunities. There is so much out there, I know I can find something I enjoy doing, I know I can make a difference somewhere! My goal is to focus on me(take care of myself), take care of my family, my home and do something I love!

Maybe it's crazy to leave a job without a back up plan, but Josh and I have put much thought into this and it's the right time! I'm blessed to have family and friends to support me. I look forward to the next couple weeks where I will be able to gather myself, relax, rejuvenate and then begin 2013 with a new goal in life!

My 25 - "Quarter life crisis"?

I think I've accomplished a lot in just 25 years, however, I know there's so much more out there for me to do and see. One of my main goals in the next year is that I would like to be more involved in the community. I will look into volunteering at different places, I'd like to make a difference some place and just be a part of something good! My "quarter life crisis" will be coming soon... I need to make sure all my ducks are in a row before anything is official said. But it will be soon  =)

To celebrate my 25th, a group of friends, Josh and I went out to eat at Kabuto's a Japanese Steakhouse. We had a great time with great food and friends, couldn't have asked for a better evening. Didn't have a big party just a group of us, low key having fun.

Then, this weekend a few friends piled in our RV to go camping at Arrowhead Campground near Badin Lake. Alex, my brother, met us there as well. The weather was great, no rain just chilly at night. But with a great fire going, it was perfect! Thanks to Lara, Miles and Jacob for coming out with us to make it a great birthday weekend!

Overwhelmed but still getting by

Well, I haven't posted much lately... Work has consumed my entire life the past few weeks. We are at the peak of our busy season, two weeks ago our inventory manager (IM) called out for 2 days because she threw out her back. Not the best timing, but you do what you have to... but our IM not being there translated to, "Natalie will take care of all her responsibilities..." Let me tell you, it is not an easy job especially when you are trying to figure our what has been done and what hasn't been done and unfortunately, several major things had not been done.

Well, she was back for about 2 weeks, then last weekend our IM slipped and fell and broke her elbow and had to have surgery on it Tuesday... Let's just say, I have been EXTREMELY overwhelmed the past few days/week. Not only do we have 4 major events going on this week, but I have to make sure we have all the equipment in for all the events and in on time. If we don't have the equipment here in Charlotte, I have to contact our other stores in Raleigh or Atlanta or DC or wherever to get the equipment ordered and shipped in on time and that's IF the other stores are not already using it for something else. So, I've been doing our IMs job and neglecting my other duties, it's physically impossible to do her job and mine at the same time... Well, if I decided to sleep at our store I'd have time to get it all done, but that's not going to happen. I understand the importance of getting work done, but I can't let work take over my entire life. I have to have me time, I have to have Josh and Natalie time. I would like to have more time with my friends. I would go insane if I keep going like this... things have to change. Things will change!

It's in my nature to care, that is just who I am... our store has been struggling, we lost two outside sales, finally they hired a new one and then we lost another inside sales person when we were already down a person, the work load has been heavy on all of us. But it's too much, too much pressure to get things done and not enough people... I come home everyday worn out from the day, exhausted from the 50-65 minute drive home (awful traffic), I am not liking the person I have become. I'm stressed and just plain exhausted.... But at the same time, I've been working at this place for over 4 years now, I've grown and learned a lot, gained a lot of experience and knowledge of the industry. I've come to care for my co-workers. I want them to succeed and hate to see them struggle, I hate to leave them in a bind and that is the main reason why I have not left, I feel if I leave (especially now in the peak of our busy season) they would not succeed, we would get a bad reputation and many people would be upset because our job affects how others look. Not trying to "toot my own horn" but I was told several times over the past week that if I was not here, they would have been (for lack of better words) screwed.

However, I must realize, the company is not my responsibility, new people can be hired and trained. It's my job to take care of ME and my family and I must do what is best for us. I believe my time is almost up... No, I don't have a solid back up plan. But I feel like this needs to be done.

Wish me luck - who knows where life will take me next!

Two Years

Two Years.

In two years of Josh and I being married we've experienced good times and not so good times. Thankfully, the past 2 years have been pretty blissful, we've had a couple bumps but together we over came them.

The last year has been full of surprises to say the least...

We traveled to SeaWorld and visited Harry Potter world with his dad
Visited the Renaissance Festival with our friends
Camped out in our RV with our friends to watch the UNC and Clemson game
Hosted a rockin birthday/halloween party at our neighborhood club house
Watched Cam Newton play for the Panthers for the first time
Went to a "john williams spectacular" symphony
Survived a tornado
Was a wedding coordinator for my first wedding for a friend
Decided to start my own business (still a work in progress)
Enjoyed a day at the track watching the Steeplechase horse race
Vacationed at the beach with some great friends

Despite the the bad, there was so much more good and I'm so glad Josh and I were together through it all. And look forward to many more years together.

Creating a new backyard, brick by brick

After watching tons and tons of DIY Network and HGTV the past few weeks, Josh and I have decided to re-do our backyard. Of course having a tornado go through our yard has also motivated us as well. We'll be doing the backyard in sections, but I think after we're through it's going to look great!

The first phase will be a large paved area on the right when you come down the steps with a fire pit area and seating for guests.

Once it starts to getting cooler here, we'll start working away! I can't wait, our yard desperately needs a make-over. I'd LOVE if we could get crashed by one of DIY's Yard Crashers, but that's just wishful thinking. For now, it'll just be us - it's always fun to learn a new skill, right?!

Here are some of the different ideas we have for fire pits and paved ares for our backyard, hopefully we can make some magic happen!

Underground fire pit

Paved area with fire pit

My FAVORITES with the seating around

One of the best people I know... my husband

I do not talk much about my husband, he's a private man. But I would like to brag about him without divulging too muching about him that he wouldn't like...

He really is one of the best people that I know and I am happy to be his wife. He takes care of me and our home and does what he can to make our lives easier everyday.

He's a smart man, hardworking,  handy around the hosue, funny, self-less, athletic, kind, a sports fan, a good friend and most importantly a loving husband.

We love to travel and do things together, he supports my hobbies and loves me on my best and worse days. When I'm sick he takes care of me and when I'm having a bad day he listens. Just the other day when I was having a not so good day, I came home to a vase full of red roses.

I love my husband and cannot wait until the day we start growing our family even more, I know he'll make a wondeful father to our future children!

Creating a path to my happines!

Hello World,
My goal is to keep up this blog going and up-to-date! I'm seriously lacking on that. However, the last two months at work have been mentally draining.... I kind of "check out" during our busy season, but I'm back and better than ever! My driver to find something better and start my own business is still strong inside me and I am constantly looking for new opportunities. I'm praying and hoping one will come my way soon.  I have not been happy at work for a long time, I pretty much dread going everyday and this is not the kind of life I would like to lead day to day. I need some type of belonging, purpose, I need happiness... Now don't get me wrong, I love my life with my husband, family and friends! We have a great time together and I am happy with them and my life in that aspect. But when it comes to my work life... THAT needs to change!

SO, I am actively looking and will continue to look for new opportunities in my work life! Who knows, maybe i'll write a book or start a blog about traveling, the options are endless... but I will keep my options open, I'm only 24 and I have so much to look forward to and love that I have my family and friends with me every step of the way!

mother's day

My mom has spent over half her life dedicated to raising her children. For over 30 years she's been there for us, teaching us every day lessons like how to take care of ourselves, how to sing, how to be kind to others, how to be ambitious and never give up on a dream, how to enjoy life and what it has to offer us, how to love, how to help and be kind to others and so much more!

I've learned that size doesn't matter, just because you're only 5' tall doesn't mean you can't have big dreams and you can't achieve them.

I'm proud of my mom everyday and I look foward to the day when I can teach my children the same lessons.

Thank you for all that you do mom!

The importance of writing down your goals!

About 5 years ago I sat down with my older sister, Elena, in a local coffee shop in Raleigh. She wanted to help me figure out where my life was going, I had just recently dropped out of BYU and moved back home to be closer to my family. We talked about my future and where I saw myself in 5 years, 10 years, 20 years... I really didn't know, I had not put too much thought into it. Together she and I compiled a list of goals for myself, a list to complete within 5 years and a list to accomplish within my lifetime.

Fastforward to now... Last week I was cleaning up from the tornado aftermath and gathering some important papers and I stumbled across the goals list my sister and I wrote 5 years earlier. I had kept it with some other important documents, but had not looked at it in over a year. When I read over my list I was very pleased at what I had accomplished and I would like to share with you what we came up with in that little coffee shop, where my sister helped me find direction in my life...

In 5 years:
  * I see myself happy, married and living comfortably - (not necessarily with kids)  - Check
  * I want to be working in a job that allows me to travel, perhaps as an even planner - Check (pretty much)
  * I want to be on the east coast, near my family, in a warm place - Check
  * I want to have an associates & technical training  - Check

Before I die, I want to:
  * Go to Denmark
  * Learn another language
  * Go skydiving or hang gliding
  * Help build a house
  * Get married
  * Have kids
  * See California
  * Have a flower & vegetable garden
  * Write a book
  * Travel Europe with a friend, tell our story through photos
  * Visit South Africa
  * Learn about different religions and cultures
  * Spend $1000 in one shopping spree

Over the years some goals of mine have changed and that is ok it happens, but the point is to write them down! Until they are written down, they are only dreams!

New 5-Year Goals (by 2017):
  * Establish and run my own business
  * Travel to Europe with my husband
  * Purchase a new car
  * Start to expand our small family (kids)
  * Get back in shape, maintain a healthy weight of 135
  * Finish decorating and organizing our house
  * Starting writing a book

The tornado - a night we'll never forget!

I figured we should tell our story before it's forgoten; however, I do not think we'll forget last weekend, ever!

Last Friday night, March 2nd, Josh had been out with some friends and I stayed home because I had been sick the last couple days. Becuase I was homesick Josh decided not to stay out late and come home to be with me. By 12AM Friday night, we were fast asleep.

Around 2:30am I am awaken by a really loud noise outside... I shake Josh awake, "baby there's something going on outside, I think it's a tornado". It took us a minute to process what was happening. We got our bearings and then jumped into our half bath across the hallway with our puppy Stryder. The power was out, I had grabbed my phone and started to call a few people just to make sure they were ok and to warn them of a potential bad storm coming their way. I called my mom from the bathroom at 2:45 in the morning and let her know we were ok... I'm sure the phone call wasn't what she expected to get that morning, but I wanted to make sure my family knew we were ok - We had no idea how bad the storm was or how far it went. My phone call started like this, "Hey Mom, I just wanted to let you know Josh and I are ok... However, I think we just had a tornado at our house."

 The noise was as loud as a freight train, but only lasted 90 seconds, tops!

Maybe 10 minutes later the worse of the storm seemed to be over, it was still raining but we decided to go outside to see what happened and what we saw, we'll remember forever...

Tree limbs down everywhere, 50' trees uprooted laying on the side, a limb pierced the roof of our front porch, and my car had a smashed in windsheild ... the worse of the storm occured in front of our house; we had large trees, maybe 3' around down in the road and in our driveway. And that is what we saw at 3:00 am, what we saw the next morning was 20 times worse than what we saw in the dark just a couple hours earlier. Our neighbor directly across from us had a tree that landed in the front of their house and just a quarter of a mile down the damage was worse than at our house...

Most of the 6' privacy fence was knocked over by limbs or just really strong winds, a branch came through our upstairs guest bedroom knocking over a TV and the table it was on, another branch came through our pantry and somehow smashed our washing machine, the whole back and front yards were covered in debris and someone else's roof landed on ours and put a couple holes through it - the sight was overwhelming! Though the wreckage was pretty extreme, Josh and I both know it could have been a lot worse and we are thankful everyday that we only had the damage we did to our home and cars.

The next day we had a couple friends came out to help us start with the clean up. No one really knew what to expect, when we told them about what happened. One friend thought he was coming over just to do some yard work from some strong winds that came though the area... boy was he wrong! Apparently they had to go through a couple check points and around so many different emergency vehichles just to get to us.

More friends came out the next day, on Sunday, to start the clean up. Josh and I will forever be greatful to the friends who have helped us with the disaster relief. It's not every day we face a natural disaster but we're certinaly thankful for those who came out, no questions asked. It was a lot to tackle and we could not have done it without our friends hard work and kindness and Josh and I will never forget it. Though it will take a little while to get back to normal, thanks to them the recovery process is going a lot faster!

A crew came out the first day to help us tarp our roof, and a lady had asked me, "are you devestated?" I really didn't have to think about my answer... because I knew I wasn't. Yes, it sucks it happened to us, however both Josh and I knew we were very blessed that we only had minor damages and we were all safe. Thankfully, it is all just stuff and it can be replaced. And I believe this experience has made Josh and I stronger, as people and as a family.

What is in a word...

Words can be great gifts to someone or they can be great destroyers...

Just think for a moment, when you were younger your parents use to tell you, "if you can't say anything nice don't say anything at all"

As adults, we often don't think that rule still applies. Some people don't understand the power in the words they speak or write. You have a powerful tool and you shouldn't abuse or misuse it!

What can words do?
  * uplift
  * surprise
  * please
  * love
  * unite
  * divide
  * hurt
  * abuse
  * destroy
  * break

I mentioned briefly on my facebook of my younger sister being bullied on her facebook. When I was younger we never had bullying quite like that. Of course it's always been out there but I could not believe what this kid was saying to my sister, with no regard to her feelings or the fact that he was blasting this for all of the facebook world to see. What made him say such hurtful things? Does he understand what affect his words have on other people? Why did he choose to target my sister?

I'm not going to be able to understand this kid or why he chose those words, they were mean and hateful. I was proud of my sister for sticking up for herself the way she did... some of us are not so lucky to take that stance. Some think the only way to get rid of this kind of torment is to end their life...

So please... next time you think you might lash out at someone whether it's by e-mail, facebook, telephone or in person just think for a minute before you speak. Because who knows what your next set of words could lead to whether you talking to an employee, friend, someone you don't like or even a family member. Family, friends and loved ones can only take so much.

If you feel like putting someone down or have hateful words toward them, just stop and think first of what your actions may do to that person.

Instead, try something new... put your efforts into making someone happy. It may not be the person your words are intended to, but doing something nice for someone may help your attitude later on and think of what you may say to someone later.

Labels don't define me...

As I read my mom's blog, I realized I am a lot like her in more ways than I thought. I used to shrug it off when people said I look just like her... at family reunions I always get "ahhh, you're Carol's daughter, I'd know you anywhere". It used to embarrass me, but your know, she's not all that bad and if I was going to be compared to someone, I'm glad it's her.

Back to my point though... as I read one of her latest posts about hand-me-down clothes, I realized "labels don't define me" either. I've never been one to run to the closest mall and get the "must-have" designer shirt or shoes or purse. In fact, I really do not like malls at all (I get that from my dad). Now, I am NOT like her when it comes to hand me downs, they don't make a whole new wardrobe for me... but give me Target or Kohls any day of the week and I'll be happy as can be.

Labels are not important; some people get lost when it comes to the important things in life. Some may think they cannot function without the best of the best, but that's just not true! I function perfectly fine without a Louis Vuitton purse or a Jimmy Choo shoes or the next Vera Wang line or even the next hot car...

Maybe you can say I'm just not stylish enough or that I don't know what I'm talking about since I'm not in the fashion world. However, I'm happy where I am and I'd much rather spend my time, efforts and money on much better things, like:
   * traveling to visit family and friends
   * helping those less fortunate than myself
   * putting food on the table for my family
   * going to the movies
   * starting my own business ventures!

How do I define myself... well:
   * I am a wife, daughter and sister
   * I am an athlete
   * I am creative and crafty
   * I have a good heart
   * I am an entrepreneur
   * I am a home owner
   * I am a great friend
   * I AM ME!



I'll say it again for all to know ... Labels don't define ME!

Change ... just around the corner!

 For my New Years I stated this year is going to be one for some type of change....

Don't get me wrong, I am very grateful for my job and the fact that I was able to keep it during our recession, it was a great blessing. But I do believe it is time for me to move on. A lot of things have changed in house and I've never been a fan of "corporate world", too many people with too many agendas that have nothing to do with why we are there.

I also feel like it's turning me into a person and I do not want to be, I dislike the way I act and feel towards people there, I'm not that type of person and I know longer want to be in that environment. This needs to be done for me, before I go totally crazy and resent myself for staying at a place that makes me miserable

SO - with that being said, I've got one more thing - I AM SCARED AS NOTHING ELSE!

I can't just up and quit my job, that's just crazy talk! We need the money, we need to pay the mortgage each month, we need to make sure our bills are paid on time. How can I just up and leave without a back up plan... I'm crazy, right!? Right.......

HOWEVER, talk time is over ... It's time for A*C*T*I*O*N.

Wish me luck as I venture into something new this year, it's way past time.

Trapped in my own bed...

Well... Tonight is the first day of the year when it will reach down in the teens sometime in the night. Typically we let our puppy stay outside through the night, with his think fur and all he was made for this weather! However, we decided 14 degrees was just too cold for him... So tonight's the first night in months he will be sleeping inside with us, an adventure for sure!

We put a gate up in our bathroom (tho he can knock it down in one jump he doesn't even try, one of the few things embedded in him), and then turned off all the lights so he knew it was time for bed. Well, Josh and I didn't move for about 20 min straight... We knew if the puppy saw us move he'd want to come join in too, why should he be trapped!? We put up with the whining, ignoring it as best we could while not tossing and turning in the bed, hardly moving at all.... It is now almost 2 hours later and Josh is fast asleep and has been for awhile and amazingly enough, Stryder is too!! Mission accomplished (so far) but with all the worry of making sure I didn't move and listening to the puppy whine for so long, now I can't go to sleep! At least 2 out of 3 getting sleep isn't bad... Maybe tomorrow will be better!

Welcome 2012 ... what will you bring us this year?!

Well, a new year is here... And I've got a feeling it's going to be a great one and I'm excited what this year has to offer.

I've been trying to think of some good resolutions for this year... There's the always "work out more, get healthy, etc..." That's just a given, I know that's what I need to do, but I've got some other things in mind.

   * Focus on my business and get it started up
   * Create some type of major change in my life (possibly a new job!)
   * Save and travel somewhere, possibly (hopefully) out of the country
   * Start volunteering somewhere
   * Attend a few musicals and/or theater performances
   * Set up our family's 72 hour kits and emergency prepardness area for our hosue

I've got a feeling there's going to be some type of big change this year and I'm ready for it! I'm looking forward to another year of being married to my wonderful husband and what ever life has in stored for us.

I welcome you 2012 with open arms!