tgif

i thought i would post today since next friday, i'll be out of town for my sister's bachelorette party in wilmington.

eye update: i had an eye dr. appt. last night after work (my first one since i moved to charlotte--oops!). turns out my eyesight is a little worse, so i was fitted with new contact lenses. i suppose, maybe for christmas, i'll get some new glasses. i found out i have a slight astigmatism in my left eye. other than that, my eyes are healthy. i go back in 2 weeks for a check up...it's so nice to be able to see everything even more clearly now! ;)

this weekend, i am laying low & staying in..unless my neighbor still wants to hang out. ;) i want to finish priming the dining room and living room tomorrow, so tonight i'm going to prep after work. ecu plays rice for homecoming tomorrow, but i doubt i'll be able to catch much more than the score on the ticker. and, i need to work on my room...basically, i'll be spending my weekend painting/sorting/purging/organizing. and, i will be up in plenty of time to hit north campus on sunday morning. ;)

hope everyone has a great friday and a great weekend. go pirates!

review/preview

it's been a couple weeks since i've posted..not much to write about i suppose. :/

this past weekend, i was going to go home. as usual, i didn't feel like driving friday night so i stayed in..i went to bed at a super reasonable hour since i was planning on getting up early to hit the road. but, man! did my bed feel good saturday morning. so i rolled over and called my mom. she did her darndest to convince me to come, but the security of my 3 comforters, 1 blanket & 4 pillows (+ teddy) just wouldn't let me go! so i rolled back over, and was in and out of sleep (mostly "in") for the next few hours. i ended up getting myself up at 1:30 or something like that! poor b...stuck in her crate since i thought we were leaving early....but she's a trooper. ;) saturday, i was lazy and watched football & movies (including staying up to see the end of the ecu-smu game. ecu lost by 7 pts. agh! we are just NOT a 2nd half team. i don't get it!! sunday morning, i went to church. but, since i was running behind, i ended up going to the main campus service that starts around 10:30 (the north campus service starts at 10:15). i like north campus better, but i'm glad the services are staggered. :) all i can say for sunday, is i did watch most of the panthers' game (not really sure why though), and cleared my dining table off and played a couple games of solo scrabble. i won. ;) then, i went to bed and had my horrible nightmare again, waking up at 1am and not wanting to go back to sleep. but, the nightmare also proved something i already knew: that i kinda have a crush on my neighbor. i think he lives with his dad, which is slightly endearing. he's really nice. we may hit up the wine vault this weekend, since i've yet to go. we'll see.

this week: it's back to the grind today..bah. i have a quick work project that's due by monday dealing with apf data entry. shouldn't be too bad. tomorrow, i have artitudes at 6:30 downtown, and then supposedly meeting derek for dinner somewhere south (since he lives in ballantyne). thursday, i have a much-needed eye appointment after work in concord. i haven't been to the eye doctor since i moved to charlotte. i need contacts!! (that's not to say that i've been wearing the same pair for 2 years, because that would be disgusting and incredibly bad for my eyes!) friday, after work, is another mint after 5. so long as the weather cooperates, i'm gonna go. saturday, i have a hair appt. (last color appt. before the wedding..darker, less blond, tone down the red, etc.). ecu plays rice for homecoming. the way rice got spanked this weekend, if we can't win, i'm gonna go give the team a swift kick in the rear! i'm going to be motivated this weekend for sure...get some work done (maybe even finish priming the living/dining rooms?). oh, and i need to find some new black flats (as i am in studded thong sandals today despite the temperature/weather; which is okay for outside work but maybe not so much for work in october?). wish me luck. ;)

hope everyone had a great weekend and survives the chillier & gloomy/rainy week that lies ahead.

p.s. i promise to upload pictures this week/weekend!

couldn't resist

Antelope Canyon, Page, Arizona.

The Charlotte Observer held a photo contest this summer. I pulled these (along with other breathtaking shots) off the website. The winners will be published in Sunday's paper. These are a few of my favorites. BEAUTIFUL!



Yellowstone National Park. Heart O' the Hills Trail, Olympic National Park. Storm, Emerald Isle, NC. Ammoudi Fishing Village, Santorini, Greece.

i can smell freedom

...because it's friday! :)

i haven't blogged much because i've been busy with work. next friday's the deadline, and there is A LOT to do! i still haven't uploaded my pictures of my new bead work. i'll probably do that tonight, and post them next week..so stay tuned! :) i am in a super good mood..i hope it lasts throughout the day.

weekend preview: my mom is coming to visit tomorrow. she still hasn't found the perfect mob dress and the wedding is 7 weeks away! eek! plus, i'm looking forward to having her all to myself! (well, and bella of course) so tonight, i'll be tidying up (there's not that much to do, thank goodness) and catching up on this week's tv that i missed. tomorrow & sunday afternoon = mom time. sunday evening, i'll be regrouping for another week...weekends are too short!

after a winning start, the pirates are 1-2 after falling behind the tarholes last weekend. saturday, they take on central florida & it's a purple-out game as the team opens up conference play.
U goooooooooo pirates! argh! U

my sister's getting married

In just over 8 weeks, Paige & Paul will be saying "I do."

Here's a photo of the Gladwin women at Saturday's shower.

It's a true showing of our heights because we're all wearing flats.
Just imagine if I'd decided to wear my heels!

a new day...

Ordinarily, I don't post on Mondays because I'm usually bitter the weekend is over, but I'm feeling pretty good today. :)

This past weekend, Bella and I rolled into town Saturday (afternoon) for my sister's bridal shower. It was a lovely afternoon (the food/cupcakes were delish!) and I won the door prize! They set an egg timer and if it went off when Paige was opening your gift you got the prize. It was a bag of coffee (I gave that to my dad), some tea tins (I'll give 'em a shot-not usually a fan of tea) and some glass latte mugs (those are in my dishwasher now). There were some women that Paige cheered with in middle & high school that I hadn't seen in easily, 10 years or so. Apparently, I've grown since they saw me last. ;) It was nice.

Bella stayed home with my dad. We looped her to a tree with a chain & a 25' cable. She didn't like it much..she whimpered and barked a lot. It made me sad, but she likes to wander and when my dad's on the other side of the house painting, that can't happen..especially now that the Wards got a new fluffy puppy (looks like a cotton ball). I think B scared the poo out of her a couple times with her big girl bark. :) I think her Christmas present will be (if I can find an inexpensive one), a remote controlled zap collar so she can learn to stay in the yard. Otherwise, she'll need to stay leashed or inside, in her crate. :/

I had my date Saturday night when I got back into Charlotte. It was..okay. I think he is a great guy and I really like his personality. I don't want to be shallow or vain, because he is cute, but..he's a big guy. Not fat, just big. I've never been attracted to a linebacker...I couldn't even wrap my arms around him to hug him. I don't know. I am planning on making a day trip up to Boone at some point this weekend to see if it's really an issue or if I'm just being me. Ho-hum.......

Yesterday, I spent the afternoon on the couch since the house was clean and my laundry was done. I was in and out of naps, as was B. It was lovely. :)

This week: I have our first Artitudes event at the Mint on Randolph (a follow-up to Charlotte's Fashion Week) Wednesday evening. Thursday evening, I have our Planning & Zoning Board meeting. I have two rezonings going before the Board, and it's my first meeting in over a year! Friday's pay day (yay!) and the first Mint After 5 and the MMC+D rooftop. It'll be my first one too..I'm excited. :)

Sports recap: UNC barely beat UConn (due to an obscure safety rule), State blew Murray State out of the water (but let's be honest..they should've won that game anyways), ECU lost to WVa by 20 pts. Not a good showing for our second game, but after we spanked the Mountaineers last season, I knew they'd be ready. This week, ECU meets the Tarholes. They're 2-0, we're 1-1. We'll see. ...

Hope everyone has a great week.

weekend preview

This weekend, I will be...

1. in Raleigh for my sister's bridal shower on Saturday afternoon;

2. back in Charlotte Saturday night for my date;

3. doing a little cleaning and more organizing (because hopefully next weekend I'll be painting some more).

It's not an exciting list, but that's good after the whirlwind that was last weekend.

Hope everyone has a great weekend & remembers today, and always.

**P.S. ECU heads to West Virginia this weekend..GO PIRATES!!**