First Day of Autumn

So today officially marks the First Day of Autumn. For me, this is something to be excited about - I love the fall season and everything about it: harvest scented yankee candles; watching the leaves start to change color; apple & pumpkin picking; the sight of pumpkins, scarecrows, and mums on front porches; opening up the house to feel the fresh cool breeze and much more. Regardless of the fact that I am almost six months pregnant (and have raging hormones), I am ready to say goodbye to icky-sticky, hot, muggy summer weather and put on a comfy sweater!

Allen and I had a pretty decent weekend - one of the first that we have had to ourselves in a while after several visits from friends and family (which by the way, we thoroughly enjoy). It was just nice to have the weekend to get a few things done around the house and enjoy a day out to run some errands and enjoy a lunch date - just the two of us. I have not yet gotten Allen to pull the interior fall decoration boxes out of the attic, but we did work on the getting the outside a little more festive.

9/11: We Will Never Forget...

7 Years Later...

Morganton Festival

Me (baby bump included) and Mom

Me and Allen

Our view of the stage

I am finally getting around to posting again - I was doing so well for a few days! Last weekend was a very busy weekend...

Friday, I worked a half day so that I could go to a concert in Charlotte that Allen had gotten tickets for. He was able to snag four VIP tickets through his company to attend the Brooks and Dunn and ZZ Top concert at the Verizon Wireless Ampitheatre in Charlotte. We went with a guy that Allen works with and his wife who are fantastic people to hang out with and we spent the rest of the afternoon to drive to the Charlotte area, get some dinner and head over to the concert. Allen and I had seen Brooks and Dunn before and they put on a great show, but it was even more fun to watch ZZ Top perform. We had great seats and it was nice because it had been a while since we had been to a concert. To add even more excitement to the evening, my phone started vibrating during B&D and I noticed Courtney's name flash up on the screen - I just figured I would call her later, but then she called a second time. Allen happened to notice this also and I was thinking to myself that she never calls me twice like that back-to-back. Then it occurred to both of us at the same time that it had to mean that Austin proposed! I was so upset because it was so loud that I could barely hear myself think let alone be able to call them and wish them a huge congrats - the only benefit I had was that I could scream out of excitement at the top of my lungs without feeling ridiculous. We are both so happy for them and are looking forward to making a visit to Athens very soon.

Saturday, was the second day of the Downtown Morganton Historic Fall Festival. Now even though we live in a small town, you certainly wouldn't know it by the way they put on this festival - there are people everywhere and all the streets of downtown are filled with arts and crafts, rides, food and drinks, and music. We went into town around 6pm for the concert, which happened to be Craig Morgan. Allen had set our chairs out earlier that day with our neighbors across the street and we enjoyed your typical "fair food" before the concert. You'll see my mom in a couple of the pictures - she is down visiting for the week. Allen is in Arkansas for business and she has been kind enough to keep me company for the week.

Sunday, we spent the day getting Allen ready to go on his trip - he likes to think that he can pack his suitcase on his own, but somehow I end up doing his laundry, folding his clothes, going over with him his outfits for the week, and reminding him of everything he needs to have (i.e. phone charger, laptop, sunglasses, etc.) - bless his heart! He did however, get off safely, with everything he needed and will be returning on Friday - yay!

LIVE UNITED: "Day of Caring" 2008

This was the sign they had posted in the library-the kids had attached it to a floaty as a symbol that we were their "lifesavers."

Every year, the city of Asheville pulls together and particiaptes in the community wide United Way Campaign. The campaign is designed to raise money for the 91 programs that the local non-profits provide to those in need. The goald this year is $6 million. The American Red Cross is a United Way Agency and as many misconceptions would have it, the Red Cross DOES NOT receive government funding to carry out the things we do for the community. Needless to say we are a HUGE supporter of the United Way and play a major role in their campaign annually. Today was the kick-off event and as a way to get people excited about the campaign, the United Way declares a "Day of Caring" throughout the entire city, which is where the supporters and contributors of this campaign come together and participate in volunteering for projects at different locations. These projects range from washing dishes in a school to getting down and dirty with landscaping and building work with Habitat for Humanity. Here at the Red Cross, 8 of us signed up to volunteer at a local elementary school library, which is located within a lower-income part of the city. In this library we helped sort, label, barcode, organize, shelve and enter into a database thousands of books for the kids that attend the school. We helped make it easier for them and their teachers to identify books (that were all donated to the school) according to reading and grade level and as tedious as it may sound, our group could not have felt better about making a difference with the resources that children use to learn and become stronger individuals. We were only there from about 9am-12pm, but I seriously could have stayed there all day. The theme of this year's campaign is: LIVE UNITED - donate, advocate and volunteer. Honestly, with the work that I do day in and day out here at the Red Cross I feel like I live united every day, but today somehow gave me a better appreciation for what we can do to help in our communities by giving back, especially to children - our future!

Casa de Rolland, Circa 2007

Buying our first home was the first major financial commitment we have made together as a married couple. Although we started out in an apartment in Asheville, when it came to purchasing a home, we found the town of Morganton (approx. 1 hour outside the city) to be a lot friendlier and the homes were much more affordable and to our liking. Our house sits in a beautiful neighborhood and roughly on an acre of land, which was perfect for housing Allen's many toys (i.e. dirt bikes, motorcycle, 1 ton diesel truck, race trailer and boat). The house is a brand new construction built by a North Carolinian couple who couldn't be more pleasant and were easy to work with - the house was not completed when we fell absolutely in love with it so we were able to put some of our personal touches in the house during the final stages. We finally moved in at the end of July 2007 and since then, although brand new, has been a lot of work trying to make it our own. We are very satisfied with the results so far, but continue to find something new to do as time goes on. Everything seems to be a work in progress!

Our house!

Closer view of the front

Mailbox and side of property where we have a second driveway for Allen's toys!

Front Porch (we love our porch!)

Our Adventure to the Linville Caverns over Labor Day Weekend...

Even though the caverns weren't the most exciting site to see in Western North Carolina - it was still a good time to be outside, get some exercise, and take some good pictures. Blair did so well; she slept through most of the tour, but managed to keep her eyes open for most of the pictures!

Thanks for a great weekend guys!

This was a tight squeeze!

Austin was looking for Batman!

Mother and Daughter

Grandbig, Big, Little, and Baby Blair (future Zeta!)

Group Picture outside the Caverns

An Update on the Rolland Family (our first posting)!

Ok - so to all of you who have been pestering me the last few months about keeping a blog, I am finally getting the motivation to start posting. I cannot guarantee that I will be able to make this a daily ritual, but I will do my best to keep you all better updated about what's going on with us here in Western North Carolina.

So I guess the most recent news is that we are expecting our first child! After reaching our 2nd wedding anniversary this August we figured we would jump on the "family" bandwagon. We found out that it is a girl and we have decided her name will be Emma Grace. I am about 5 months and her expected arrival date is January 18th. We are both very excited about becoming new parents and have very much enjoyed spending the last few months together slowly preparing for her arrival (i.e. working on the nursery, starting a registry, stashing more money away into savings)!

Labor Day Weekend has come and gone, but I am excited because that means we are one step closer to entering the fall season. We were fortunate to share our holiday weekend with dear friends who are pretty much an extension of our family. Michelle and baby Blair came down from VA, which was extremely exciting for me since I have not met Blair since she had been born in June. I was able to see Michelle in April at the tail-end of her pregnancy for her shower, but it was even more delightful seeing her this weekend as a new mom and interacting with her beautiful daughter! Courtney and Austin also joined us on Saturday, which also made for an enjoyable weekend of good meals, fun activities, great conversation, and good company.

In the next few days, I am hoping to get some pictures up of the nursery, our home, and some of the other things we have been up to lately!