I am now a resident of Sanford

So I am a terrible blogger. I forget to blog. Forget to share what's going on in my life. I figure if people really want to know, they would ask or already have known since I am a wide open book.

My last post, I was about to get married. Well, that is old news. Josh and I are about to celebrate our 4 month anniversary! At what point in marriage do you stop counting months?

The last 4 months have been full of lots of changes.

Josh and I got married on March 5, 2011.
Josh finished his MBA at State and graduated on May 7, 2011.
In between March 5 and May 7, he had various interviews that ranged from downtown Raleigh to Dallas, Texas... AH!

We had no clue where we were going to live or he was going to work.

We decided he was going to work in Goldsboro and would start on June 1. It seemed like a good idea but we still were not certain. After all, he needed a job... but Goldsboro?!

Josh went to a conference here in Raleigh where he met a guy that worked for Coty in Sanford, NC. The guy took Josh's information and said he would email him about a job opening that he was hiring for. A couple weeks went by and Josh didn't hear anything. Finally, he got an email asking him to come in for an interview.

On May 27... yes, 6 days before he was going to start working in Goldsboro, he went for an interview at Coty, Inc. in Sanford, NC. On the following Tuesday (May 31), he received a job offer! It was a better offer than Goldsboro and Sanford seemed like a nice place to live and still not too far away from our friends.

On June 10th, we set off on an adventure to find our first place to live together. On June 18th and 19th, we moved to Sanford. We love it so far. It is a cozy little place that is calm and has a slower pace of living. It reminds me a lot of Boone, minus all the college kids and add a lot of grown-ups.

I love our new place as well. When I picked out my small, 1 bedroom apartment 2 years ago, I had no clue I would be getting married and my husband would be living there with me. It was very small for 2 people. Our new place is a lot bigger and Josh has even claimed our spare bedroom as his man room.

That is where we are, come visit anytime! I will post pictures of our new place soon, well... maybe!

Wedding Stats

So I am going to a wedding in 16 days. Something is different about this wedding. I get to play a part at a wedding that I have NEVER played before. I get to be the bride. I get to marry my best friend. Many of you, I am sure, have seen the movie 27 Dresses. Well, to be honest, Katherine Heigl does not have that much on me. My wedding debuted began about 22ish years ago when I was the flower girl. For entertainment purposes, here are the parts I have played at various weddings:

~ Peanut Girl- 1
(yes, this is the most random of my wedding appearances. Abbey was the flower girl at my grandma's wedding, which happened to be on my 3rd birthday. Me, well I got to wear a flower girl dress and carry peanuts in my basket... not flowers)
~ Flower Girl- 1
~ Random bridesmaid or groomsman I am note sure- 1
(yes, that is correct. I wore a bridesmaids dress and stood next to my dad at his wedding)
~Attendee or Attendant- 2
(I am not sure of the correct wording of this)
~Honorary Bridesmaid- 2
~Bridesmaid - 4
~Maid Of Honor- 3
~BRIDE- coming soon!

I am pretty sure I am leaving 2 weddings out but I cannot remember. If I think harder about this today and remember, I will be sure to update this!

I also counted and I think I have been to like 30 something weddings. I love weddings, what can I say?!

Happy Thursday!

Ode to Dallas

Dallas has been living with me for the last 11 weeks.









He is a very sweet dog and has learned a lot during his stay. Just last night, he learned how to use the TV remote:

Before that, he learned how to dance with Josh:
He wanted to wear this but Josh would not let him.

Sometimes, he even works on the computer and sits in straight back chairs like a proper gentleman:

Dallas also loves to ride in the car and go to the lake.

Sometimes Dallas has a hard time waking up in the mornings. He is so lazy.

Josh has taught him some tricks also, like:
how to be a big baby, how to be a bunny and how to pee on a fire hydrant











Sometimes he misbehaves and does things like:
Eat food off of the coffee table

Or shred his bed to pieces and make it look like it has snowed in my apartment:

You can't help but fall in love with the little guy, he's just too cute!

You're beautiful

The days will come when you don't have the strength
When all you hear is you're not worth anything
Wondering if you ever could be loved
And if they truly saw your heart they'd see too much

You're beautiful
You're beautiful
You are made so much more than all of this
You're beautiful
You're beautiful
You are treasured, You are sacred, You are His
You're beautiful

And praying that you have the heart to find
Cause you are more than what is hurting you tonight
For all the lies you've held inside so long
And they are nothing in the shadow of the cross

Before you ever took a breath
Long before the world began
Of all the wonders He possessed
There was one more precious
Of all the earth and skys above
You're the one He madly loves
Enough to death

You're beautiful
You're beautiful
In His eyes

109 Days To Go!

In 109 days from today I will be married to the man of my dreams. It seems so far away but I know it will be here before I even realize it. It's exciting to me to think about being married.

I will always have somebody to talk to when I am going to sleep at night. There will always be somebody to talk to in the morning while I am making coffee or packing my lunch. I will always have somebody to make sure I am okay. I have somebody to make life decisions with. I have somebody to push me closer to God. I have somebody I want to be the father of my kids. I have somebody that I do not feel the need to run away from. I have somebody that I want to share everything with (and probably share too much). I have somebody that will let me be sad and comfort me and then at the same time I have somebody that always makes me smile or laugh when I am sad. I will ALWAYS have a +1 to any event in the future. I realize all of those things are about me but I consider this my selfish blog post!

Life seems to always work out differently from what I plan. This time last year I was planning to go to nursing school and was not worried about getting married or being a wife. In fact, I wanted to have a baby more than I wanted to get married. Now I have realized I would be the worst nurse EVER and I do not want a baby at all right now. I really just want to be married to Josh.

So in 109 days, that is exactly what will happen. I will become Mrs. Emily Alden Fox!

Words can't explain

Words cannot explain my thoughts and feelings about the happenings in my life last week. I read my sisters blog this morning and her words perfectly describe how I feel.

Since 2010 is drawing to a close, I took a look at my 101 Things list that I created back in March 2008. I still have a lot left on that list. A lot of these are things I know I will someday get done but for now, here are the things outstanding from my list. I have 49 days to see what else I can cross off! Of the 104 things (I thought of 3 more that I added) I was able to accomplish 55 of them. Of the 49 left, I have A LOT of traveling to do!

5. Write a letter to every family member letting them know how thankful I am for them.
6. Go to a vineyard and see all the grapes and taste the wine.
8. Learn how to change the oil in my car.
10. Learn how to wakeboard.
17. Learn to drive a stick shift.
18. Lose 15 pounds or at least get into shape.
25. Update my happy book for the last 2 years.
26. Make a list of all the people in my life I am thankful for and tell them.
28. Learn how to sew buttons back on clothes and fix torn seams.
29. Go camping for at least 2 consecutive nights.
30. Learn how to whistle.
35. Go to Red Wood Forest and hug a tree
36. Crash a wedding.
40. Drive across the country.
41. Learn how to ski.
42. Live within walking distance of my best friend.
43. Go to Italy, Germany and Spain.
44. Go on a hot air balloon ride.
45. Make curtains for my bedroom windows.
47. Buy bedroom furniture.
48. Take a road trip across the California Vineyards.
50. Have a garden and actually eat the vegetables from it.
52. Walk on the Great Wall of China.
53. Go to the Holy Land
54. Go to 6 states I have never been to and see the touristy things in each state.
58. See the Grand Canyon.
61. Buy my boss something for boss appreciation day.
62. Celebrate Chinese New Year.
63. Go to the beach at night and sit in a lawn chair and drink Blue Moon.
69. Have a 'oompa' party.
70. Go to the drive-in movies.
74. Eat at El Rodeo every night for dinner for 1 week and order something different every night.
76. Give up TV for a week.
77. Dread my hair.
80. Learn how to play poker.
81. Go to a Panthers game.
82. Create and use a prayer journal.
85. Keep a Christmas tree alive until July and have a Christmas in July party.
88. Paint a room bright pink!
89. Go visit the Alden's in Massachusetts.
90. Make a family tree for both sides of my family.
93. Read a book about a different religion.
94. Attend a church of a different religion.
96. Read through the entire Bible.
97. Write a letter to my mom telling her all the things I would like her to know.
98. Buy an outfit from a thrift shop.
100. Make a video documentary of all the houses I have lived in, schools I have gone to, churches I attended, or other important places in Charlotte, Boone and Raleigh that have impacted my life.
103. Plan a last minute trip using Travelocity last minute trip planner.
104. Wash my car in the rain.

Ponderings for today

Today I have been pondering why it is not acceptable to not wear shoes. I hate shoes. I take them off when I am sitting at my desk, when I am driving, when I am at home, pretty much any chance I get. Why do we always have to wear shoes?

I mean I understand wearing shoes if you are at a construction site and there are nails or somewhere where your feet could get hurt but seriously...

Wedding Bells!

So we have been engaged 3 weeks and 2 days now! So much has happened in that time.

We have a date: March 5, 2011We have a church: Visio Dei
We have a reception place: Durant Village
We have a bridal party
We have colors picked out
We have flowers picked out


Can't wait for it all to come together into the best day of our lives!
Isn't he cute?!

Engagement Story

So this is the story of how Josh and I got engaged.

Josh was playing in a tennis tournament in Asheville. Depending on how the tournament went, we were planning to go to the Biltmore House on Sunday. Well on Saturday morning, we got up and drove about 20 minutes to the tennis tournament. We then drove about 20 minutes to go eat lunch with Mark in downtown Asheville. The plan was to then go see Josh's Dad about 30 minutes away. After being at his Dad's house for about 45 minutes, Josh decided we should go to the Biltmore House. I was a little reluctant because it was about another 20-30 minutes away and it would be 3:30 or so by the time we got there. Nonetheless, I got online and bought our tickets and we rush to leave his dad's house.

We get to the Biltmore House and I have a small inclination that something might happen (AKA Josh would propose). We tour through the house and look at all the nice things. We decide to go look at the gardens (a perfect proposal place, right?!). Well after walking for about 3 hours, I decide I need a little break so we sit down on a bench in the greenhouse. We are just sitting there and Josh says something along the lines of 'this is our special place' and me, being the nice girlfriend that I was at the time, said 'we'll see about that.' Just then a group of people walked into the greenhouse and Josh says 'let's keep walking.' At that point, I didn't think anything of it... not looking back, HELLO HE WAS ABOUT TO PROPOSE!

Well we decide to walk down to the pond that's there. We stopped and watched this cute little bunny for a while and then kept walking. I saw this cute little gazebo that overlooked the water that I wanted to go look at. We get closer to it and there is a HUGE BLACK SNAKE. So it slithers away and we carefully go into the gazebo. Still no proposal.

We keep walking and by this point I really just want to sit down and I really don't think Josh is going to propose. I was okay with it and just thought I was being 'that dumb girl' that makes stuff up in her head. While we are walking, I see a cute little bench and we go sit down.

Well we are sitting there talking and Josh says 'I really do want to spend the rest of my life with you' and I said 'well I really want to spend the rest of my life with you too.' Then he sticks his hand in his pocket and I think 'okay, this is it, he's proposing!!!' and then he pulls out a map of the Biltmore house and says 'wow, we've walked a long way.'

I try not to give it away that I was disappointed or anything like that, so I say 'yes, we have' and then look back out at the water. As I am looking at the water, I notice out of the corner of my eye that Josh stuck his hand back in his pocket. I turned my head back toward him and he had gotten down on his knee and pulled out a little black box. I yelled in his face, 'are you serious?' then he said 'Emily Alden will you marry me?' and I started crying and said 'YES!'

So there we were sitting on a bench, ENGAGED! and Josh tells me how 6 of the little diamonds on my ring were from my mom's wedding ring. I started crying even more as it was the most thoughtful thing I could have ever imagined.

We then walked back up to the house and there was a bridal party taking pictures in front of the house. I felt like I was on cloud 9 and thought I was living in a different world from everybody else. We walked back to the car (let it be known this was about our 4th hour of walking) and then went to the winery at the Biltmore. We then ate dinner at Antler Hill. It was very nice and I cannot wait to go back. Turns out, it is our special place after all!

We are planning to get married on March 5, 2011!