Christmas is over and I'm so Blue.

I am so sad that Christmas is over. It is my favorite time of year and I feel like if flew by. That could be due to the fact that this was the first year ever that I did not get a month off to celebrate Charismas and that I moved into my new house not even a week before Christmas. However, the little time that I did have off was spent with family and friends and it was great. Andrew and I spent Christmas together with each other’s families and this required about 5 Christmases in a 2 ½ day period. However, it was a lot of fun and we enjoyed getting to do everything together.

I am in the new house and I love it and the dogs LOVE it! I am still working on getting everything set up but I am getting there. I do have things up on the walls and I did put up a Christmas tree that I have refused to take down till Saturday. I do not want to put pictures up till I get everything how I like it.

Speaking of putting pictures up, I received a great Christmas gift from Andrew. He got me a new camera that does everything! It takes video, you can take special pictures where you pick out one color to stand out and everything else is in black and white. It is awesome and I have been using it a lot lately. So expect more picture from me in the future. I am also about to start on a Photo Book using Shutterfly. If you did not notice with the Christmas cards, I have become obsessed with Shutterfuly and they give great discounts to bloggers and to everyone. Hailey, Andrew’s sister, made a photo book and it is super cute and ever since seeing it I have wanted to make one for myself. So as one of my many New Year’s resolutions I will be making one.

I have not blogged about Annie in a while, so I will update everyone on her life now. She is doing great, she has a wonderful big (but younger) brother who is very sweet to her. Annie is definitely the more bossy of the dogs and she always gets her way with both Andrew and I and with Bo. She is loving the backyard and I am very proud of her going out and playing by herself. She has had another seizure and is suffering from stiff joints during this cold weather but she is doing good. Andrew made her a special Christmas present that she received last night. He made her a “real” bed. I am not talking about one of those regular fluffy dog beds, I am talking about a wooden bed. It is so cute and she seems to be enjoying it. However, we are still working on breaking her from sleeping in the bed. I know most people think it is gross that dogs sleep in the bed, but Annie is not a dog she is a baby. But I am trying to be strong and tell her NO. I will keep you posted on how the training is going both from my point of view and hers.

You can see the pictures below.



Well, I hope everyone had a great Christmas and that you have a good and safe New Year’s. My next post will be about my New Year’s resolutions. I hope to make a list similar to Brandi’s of things that I would like to accomplish within the next year.



Thanks
Kelley

Ordered my Christmas Cards

Delightful Damask Magenta Christmas Card

Make a statement with custom Christmas cards at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Favorite Time of Year

It’s official—The Christmas Season is here! I love this time of year and everything about it especially Christmas Music and Christmas Lights. I have been listening to Christmas Music for almost a month at work and am so excited that it is now being played on the radio. Last week was Thanksgiving and Andrew and I had three thanksgivings to attend but had a great time at each of them.

However, the first part of the week I was afraid I was not going to make it. Monday afternoon I went to the doctor and was diagnosed with Kidney Stones. I had been hurting for a few days by then and had even missed Meg’s Shower on Saturday due to hurting so bad. Nothing could have prepared me for the pain I was in on Monday night. I have to thank Andrew for being a trooper and putting up with me crying and being plain out mean. But by Thursday after missing two days of work I felt great. That was until we watched the game on Friday. We went to the Fraternity house for the game and had a great time hanging out with Andrew’s friends and seeing his cousin’s, even though they were pulling for the enemy.

Saturday we had our last Thanksgiving with my Dad and afterwards we picked up the kiddies(Annie and Bo). Annie had been at home since the weekend before and poor Bo had been at home for a couple of weeks due to our crazy November schedule. Now we have both of them back and are so glad. On Sunday Andrew treated me to an IHOP breakfast then we attempted to have a photo shoot with the kiddies. This turned out to be a disaster, but I did get a good one of Bo and a few ok one’s of them together. You can see them below.




The closing on the house is getting very close. I am getting excited but stressed as well. I have so much to get together to get moved not just packing but changing the power over, getting cable and internet, water, garbage, buying blinds and…. The list just goes on and on. But once everything is done I know I am going to be very excited. I bought a table a chair(s) set from JCPenny this weekend that was on sale. I had looked at it a while back but it was a little out of my price range, just playing around on the internet and I found that it was marked on Clearance and was 75% off. I could not pass this deal up and I ordered it. Now I just want to see what it looks like and pray that it looks good in my Kitchen.

Now that it is Christmas and I am an adult I am going to send out Christmas cards. I am excited about this and my wonderful sister-in-law has found a website where I can get some FREE! Now I need addresses. So if you have addresses I need them! Send me your address and any additional addresses of friends to KelleyJ0423@aol.com!

Thanks

Kelley

Christmas Cards

Shutterfly is offering a great promo for Bloggers! If you blog about your favorite Holiday Cards you will receive 50 FREE. I had already been checking different websites about Christmas Cards and had my sister-in-law take a picture of Annie and I on Thanksgiving! So I was set, then I saw this great promo and thought I would give it a shot. I looked at all the different designs and have picked out my Top 4. See pictures below.

Option #1

Option #2

Option #3

Option #4


This is a very hard choice for me but I think I like the “Get Glowing Christmas Card” (Option #3) best. My second favorite is the “Pine Cone Toile” (Option #2). These two are very different in my mind but I think I am going to go with the more fun looking option than the classic one. Maybe next year I will do the more classic one. Tell me what you think and check out Shutterfly and see which designs you like best and let me see them. I could spend days looking at these designs. I also want to try one of the photo books. Andrew’s sister made one of the photo books and it looks great. I am starting to gather and take pictures now so that I can make one soon.

Kelley

Home Sweet Home

Sorry I did not update last week. I have been super busy because I have just bought a house. Click on the link “Details” to see some pictures of the house. I am still waiting on the appraisal of the house, but my expected closing date is between December 8 and December 17. It was originally December 17, but everything is moving pretty fast so they think it might be sooner. I am super excited about the new house, but it is going to be a big change. I love my condo that I live in now and I am very comfortable in it, but now Annie is going to have a good size backyard to play in and we are going to have a much bigger Kitchen.

I am very excited about decorating the new house and I am constantly going through magazines and looking online for ideas. I am most worried about the Living Room. I need to pick out curtains and pillows and I am not sure what color/design I want to go with. I know I have time to decided and that everything does not have to be perfect right when I move in, but I need something to do to keep me busy with the house cause if not the waiting game to move-in is going to drive me crazy.

This house is a 3 bedroom 2 bath house so I am ready for some visitors. However, I am not sure when the extra two bedrooms will be decorated/have furniture. I talked to Mave on Sunday night and I want to do a girls weekend soon. I miss all my girlfriends so much and it is crazy to think that we all live in different cities now. Maybe we can do something close to New Years or maybe later in January.

This week is going to be a lot slower than last week. I am off on Friday! I have worked full-time since May 10 and this will be only the 2 day I have taken off. I love my job, so I like to come to work, and when I am out of the office I get behind on things, but I have important things to do on Friday. That is to sleep then watch Harry Potter again. Yep! Harry Potter comes out Thursday night at Midnight and I will be there. My brother and I are going to this together and we are very excited! I have my Harry Potter shirt ready to go!

That’s all for now! I will try to update again soon with more details of the house.

There will be days like this…

Yesterday was one of those days when everything I did went wrong. Things started going wrong for me before 7:00 a.m.. This was the first sign of a bad day. I over slept and had to rush to get ready. Andrew being the kind person he is, let me start getting ready and took the dogs out for me. Well, we don’t always put Annie on a leash when we take her out with Bo. So Annie was taking care of her business and so was Bo, Bo and Andrew start walking back to the condo, Annie looks at them like they are crazy and goes the opposite way. I believe Annie was thinking, “Those boys are crazy! There going the wrong way!” Andrew was thinking, “Annie must not be done with her business”. After Andrew puts Bo inside her turns around to discover Annie is missing.

Now Andrew did not come and tell me Annie was missing immediately, because 1) He thought he could find her fast and 2) He knew telling me would make me upset. Well after looking for a while and no sign of Annie he comes inside and tells me he needs my help finding Annie. I run outside in my bath robe and slippers with wet hair looking frantically for my dog. The first area I look is the parking lot, because I have a huge fear of my dog getting hit by a car. I could not find Annie. Now about 15minutes has passed and we are both circling the complex looking for this dog. I decide to go get Bo and see if he can sniff her out like a hound dog.

Not even half a lap around the complex I see Annie peek her head out the rails of the building next to mine (literally one stairwell over). I was already crying at this point and frantic so I call out to her. She wouldn’t come down the stairs to me! In her head she was thinking, “Mom come open the door, I’m cold out here!”, I am thinking, “Why the HECK is my dog standing at this random person’s door!”. After I carry her down the stairs and to my condo, I have mixed emotions of relief and disbelief that my dog could be that stupid to forget where she lives.

Don’t dogs have a unique sense of smell? My lord, the dogs in Homeword Bound found their way home after going through a national park! Annie could not find her way home following Andrew and Bo (a 42 pound dog). I worry about her. However, this was not the only bad incident of the day but this one turned out with a happy ending. The other incidents include but are not limited to, being without power for 8 hours the night before, missing a meeting with my Realtor, losing my car keys at the mall, my internet modem box breaking, getting lost going to Comcast, and getting pulled over by the cops. Let’s just say when the day was over I went home and stayed home! Valerie asked if I wanted to go walking with her and I was afraid I would break my leg if I attempted to leave the house.

Hope no one else had a day like this. Today has been much better thus far and for that I am very thankful!

Only WEDNESDAY~!!

Wow! It has been a crazy few days! We have lots of new material at work that is needing lots of my attention. I also went home on Saturday! It was a short weekend but I am glad I got to spend it with the family.

I did something Saturday Morning that I never want to do again. I did yard work! It was hard and I got dirty and I hope to never do it again! Well, I have a feeling that doing yard work will be inevitable with the possibility of buying a house with a yard in my near future, but still, it was hard work.

ACU and our Adopt-A-School Rock Quarry Middle School worked together to do landscaping in the front of RQMS. First we had to move the rocks they had covering the entire ground area. Then we have to dig holes. (holes the size of Texas) However, I dug 3 holes by myself and 1 more with the help of a co-worker. After we dug holes we had to mix the dirt together and plant the trees and shrubs. The actual planting was mostly done by the landscaping company we had out there to help us, but still we did a lot of work.

I have posted a few pictures of our project below. It was hard work but it was very rewarding to see how good the area looked after we were done.







Beside’s doing yard work I am once again house hunting. Instead of the SMALL condo that I live in now I am looking for a larger house with a good size backyard. However, I want to stay close to the central Tuscaloosa area. This makes house hunting lots of work. However, I have a great realtor named Trica Gray! I have found a subdivision that I like and I am now trying to figure out what to do with my condo. Let me tell all ya’ll home buying virgins a secret; buying a home sucks. There is a lot of little expenses here and there, you always have to consider the resale value and the appraisal value and in this economy you are always second guessing yourself in terms of rates. Will rates drop again, will they stay the same. WHO KNOWS.

Home buying is stressful and not near as much fun as the HGTV shows make it out to be.

Wish me luck as I continue looking at houses and weighting my option.

Volunteer- someone who does something without pay

I am currently teaching a Junior Achievement class to Kindergartners and this is one of the first words we had to talk to them about. Surprisingly most of the class knew what a volunteer was, however as an adult I find that few adults understand its meaning and want to become a volunteer. Maybe this has to do with the fact that by definition a volunteer does something without pay; and we as adults are always trying to make money. Don’t get me wrong, we need to make money but why not doing something out of the goodness of our hearts without trying to make money on it?

This is sad to me, because there is so much more we could do with our time than sit at home or sleep(lots of my volunteer activities happen very early in the morning!). I volunteered when I was in high school for different things but never to the extent that I could have and should have. While in college my time was spent studying or with the sorority. Now as I begin my career (working a minimum of 45 a week sometimes much much more) I find that volunteering has become an important part of my life.

There are many reasons why this has become so important to me; one is that I feel it is now time to give back to AOII and when Ms. Frey asked that I help I could not turn her down. However, the main reason I have started volunteering with different organizations is that the company I work for and my boss are passionate about volunteering and encourage me to volunteer. This is something I never thought would happen for me. Boy Was I Wrong or What?!?! My boss truly inspires me to be a better person. How many people can say that about their boss?? I can! She volunteers her time and gives without ever thinking “what’s in it for me”. Last week she was awarded a Community Service Award for the second time in three years (Guess they couldn’t give it to her in back to back years) and was recognized by many of our peer’s in the credit union world. I was so proud of her!

The reason for this post about “volunteering” is that this morning a group of employees from work volunteered at the West Alabama Food Bank to stuff food packs for the Brown Bag program they sponsor. This program provides food to needy elderly once a month. When I say morning I mean MORNING! I got up at 4:30 a.m. to get ready and get breakfast for our volunteers. What was truly amazing is that I asked Andrew to help as well. We were afraid we were going to be short on volunteers due to two of our main employee volunteers being off on vacation this week. Andrew said, “sure no problem” and when I told him we had to be there at 6:00 a.m. he still never complained. I have always known that Andrew had a big heart and is truly a great person, but today he amazed me even MORE. He was there at 6:00 AM no complaints with a smile on his face. When I returned to work today, everyone that was there has come up to me and said how nice it was of him to come and help and I know they truly meant it.

I want everyone to think about an opportunity that they could become involved with and volunteer their time. Ask your company what community service projects they are involved in! Adopt-A-School and Junior Achievement are two groups that are always looking for volunteers. I love a busy life and feel that I am more productive when I am going 90 to nothing. See for yourself, when you volunteer your time I bet you will find a more balanced life.



Thanks

Kelley

Three Day Weekends ROCK!

So I have had a three day weekend. Yep, it’s the wonderful holiday of “Columbus Day” and banks are CLOSED. With this long weekend I have not very little other than relax and spend time with Andrew. As many of you might be aware, Andrew and I became Facebook official this week. I am not sure why this is such a big deal, we have been “seeing” each other for a few months but we felt it was time to just throw the news out there to everyone. I think some people were a little surprised by this news flash.

Since Andrew and I are seeing more of each other our dogs have become quite close. Ok this is a total lie. The dogs spend time with each other because they have no other choice and I am positive if they had to choose a best friend they would not choose each other, but I think they are super cute together so I like to make the sit, lay, and play together. This is the ONLY picture I could get of them together and it took lots of work.



Cute picture of Bo wrapped in a blanket.



With my three day weekend, I got a haircut, went to the lake and watched the game, started the process of looking for a house (Yes, I am once again on the house search) and cleaned my apartment. That might not sound like a very busy or productive weekend but it was a great weekend!

Today Annie has been loving having her Momma at home. She had not been far from my side all day. When I went to run so errands she went for a car ride. She is now taking her afternoon nap, she has been so excited with me cleaning and being at home today to take a nap.

I am not sure when I will be able to post again this week due to a short week at works makes for a very busy week at work. But I will try to post at the end of the week. If Brandi is reading I still need her to send me pictures from the NOLA trip!

Thanks
Kelley

Brandi has inspired me....

Well, it has been a long time since I have last updated my Blog. For that I am sorry. Brandi has inspired me to continue with my Blog and update more often.

This past weekend I was able to visit Brandi in Mobile and go over to New Orleans with her and Natalie (Brandi’s cousin). We had a great time! I will post pictures from our trip once Brandi sends them to me. While in New Orleans we were able to do lots of fun stuff. We watched Alabama beat Florida and we went to a awesome Jazz Lounge. I believe the Jazz Lounge was one of the best things about the trip. We heard about the “lounge” while out shopping in the French Market. A guy Brandi was buying candles from told her about the band that played at the Jazz Lounge. The lead singer/trumpet player was in the Harry Conic Jr. Band. Overall the band was great and I think Brandi had a crush on the guy. He was pretty cute.

However, during the New Orleans trip I received bad news from home. On Saturday morning my Mom called to tell me that Annie had suffered from a seizure the night before. However, Annie was very luck she was already at the vet receiving her yearly shots. The vet said it could possibly be from an allergic reaction from the shots or could be something she is starting to develop. I hope it is the allergic reaction issue but this is not the first seizure Annie has had. A few months back Annie had a similar episode while we were getting ready for bed. After talking to the vet about this episode, they felt at the time it was a muscle spasm due to the long walk we had gone on earlier that week. Now we believe it too was a seizure. We will be monitoring Annie’s condition for the next few months to make a better decision on what to do to help her. Keep her in your thought.

That is all for today but I am going to try and update again later this week with pictures from the New Orleans trip.


Thanks

Kelley

I am going to do better about Bloging

So it has been a long time. I promise I am going to get better! I have been super busy with work and Secret Meals (which are the same thing). On Saturday, Alabama Credit Union finished up its two week kickoff campaign for its charity, Secret Meals for Hungry Children.

Secret Meals provided food packs to the backpacks of elementary children, who have been identified by school officials as not receiving nutrition over the weekend. Last year this program served 392 children in Tuscaloosa City and County schools. This year we have expanded the program to cover all areas where there is an Alabama Credit Union location. This program is funded by Alabama Credit Union and we rely on the support of individuals and businesses to help through donations. All money raised goes to the charity and Alabama Credit Union pays for all promotional materials.

This program has been amazing to work with, the school officials are so grateful for this program and it is amazing to see the need that is in our backyards. I thought hunger was only in third-world countries, but NO its in my backyard. So as you can see I am very passionate about this program! It is one of the reasons I love to get up and go to work every morning.

So besides sleeping, eating, and breathing Secret Meals I am not been up to much else. I am missing my sisters very much, but hopefully I will get to see everyone once football season starts. Give me a call if your going to be coming to some of the games.

Well that is all for today, I have to go and work! Yes work on a Sunday!

Father's Day

I hope everyone had a great Father's Day! Yesterday, my Dad, my brother and sister-in-law, and I went out to breakfast and just enjoyed some time together. It was a great start to Father's Day and I hope my Dad enjoyed it.

I don't always say it, but I am very thankful to my Dad. He has helped me so much to become to successful adult that I am. I especially want to thank him for all the hard work he has done the help me close on my Condo. He has taken care of so much while trying to make sure I don't stress about it. So thanks Dad, your the best!

I am sorry for the long gaps between my posts, but all I do is work. Now don't get me wrong I love my job, and I have no problem working a lot, but I doubt anyone wants to hear about my job everyday. Right now I am working on a Kick-off Campaign for Secret Meals for Hungry Children- this is such a great program and I hope the kick-off goes great and we can raise lots of money to help feed kids!

I am getting a facial tonight! I am excited about this, but also a little scared. I have never had a facial before but I hope it makes my skin look better. Kelly at Nancy Taylor assures me that this will help, she has already helped me with some new facial products that I feel are already working. If you have any tips for me about my Facial please let me know!

That is all for now, I will let everyone know how the facial goes tomorrow. Have to hurry off to work early for a conference call!

Kelley

Annie

Ok. I am horrible at updating my blog. I am going to try and get at least on post a week starting today. Brandi called me out on not updating, so I am going to write about my fav subject--ANNIE!

My sister-in-law took some great pictures of my dog Kiwi, that lives with my mom. Once I saw these pics, I asked her to take some of Annie. And she did, I have some cute candid shots of Annie. Above is one of my fav's.

Since I started working I have been feeling guilty for leaving Annie for such long periods of time. I guess this is the same when parents leave their kids in daycare. I come home for lunch and take her for a walk, but I usually feel more guilty when I leave cause she cries. And when I say she cries, I mean she cries like a baby. She has the tear stains to prove it. She has severe abandonment issues.

She has been doing some very funny things lately. For example, she spreads her toys out all over the apartment when I'm gone. I pick them up and she just watches me, so I try to play with her with them. She just stares at me. Then once I have moved on she picks them up and moves them back to where she had them.....without playing with them. She just places them throughout the apartment.

She also hates that I sometimes have to go into work at 7. This means I get up really early cause I do my Yoga every morning. When this happens she gets back into the bed before I can make it up and digs her way up under all the covers so that its nice and dark for her to go back to sleep. Lazy dog. I swear she sleeps 20 -22 hours of the day. I made her wake up the other afternoon at 7 cause she was snoring.

OK enough about my baby Annie. Brandi has asked about my schedule for the Summer. Well, my schedule is work, work, and more work. I work at the Ferg during Bama Bound sessions, so this means talking to scared parents and kids. So far this has been very fun! I don't have any major plans for this summer. With starting a new job, I don't have a lot of chance to take off. But like banks the Credit Union has great hours. We are closed on Monday so that means this is a long weekend for me.

On a side note, my Mom came up Friday night to help me do some stuff around the apartment. We steamed all my floors and did a few other things. I still have some decorating things I want to do to the apartment, but these will have to wait, I am trying to spread things out so I am not spending tons on decorating each month. Thanks to my wonderful Mom for all her help this weekend on my new home.

Hope everyone has a great long weekend!

Marketing Assistant

Today was my first day as a full-time employee at Alabama Credit Union. It was a great day, but a long day as well. It started with Honor's Day Breakfast at RQMS at 7:00, Avanti Breakfast at 8:30, and ended with a training session at 7:30 tonight. So super long day. But it was busy and I LOVE busy days.

I know that not everyday will be this busy, but I look forward to more days learning the ropes of my new position and hopefully taking on more duties to help the Credit Union.

This past weekend my Dad and I went to the beach. We had a great trip, just relaxing! I am glad I got to spend this time with my Dad, we don't always get to see each other as much as we would like.

We came back from the beach Sunday and I spent a little bit of time with my Mom before, I had to come back to Tuscaloosa. I am glad I got to see her on Mother's Day. I have the best Mom in the world, I know everyone thinks they have the best Mom, but my Mom is awesome. She is my best friend and my number one supporter.

Annie got a major hair cut this past week and is now super skinny. My sister-in-law took pictures of her this weekend, so I will post one when I get them so everyone can see how cute my baby is.

Hope everyone had a good Monday and is glad the school is done. I know I am.

Kelley

Real World Slapped Me in the FACE!

I am now 23, It feels older than 22. But that could be because I now have a full time job and a mortgage. That's right. I just bought a house, well condo. I also start full-time with Alabama Credit Union on May 10th. I will be the Marketing Assistant and report directly to the Marketing Manager. I am very excited about this job, I have known for a while that I wanted to work in a small to medium sized bank's marketing department and now all my ducks are in a row!

I will be living in Tuscaloosa from now on! I am excited by this prospect, unlike most people I love the city of Tuscaloosa, and no not just the bars. I love the people and my co-workers at ACU are amazing.

I am an adult, I attended my last "class" on Thursday night, and have finished all my reports. So I am done. Just have to turn everything in on Monday! This is both and exciting and scary time in my life.

I will post more about finishing school in my next blog, and hopefully I will start posting more often now that I do not have any more group meetings! Annie and I are going to enjoy a slow afternoon, once I get back from my chaperoning the AOII party.

Happy Easter

Hope everyone had a great Easter! I had a great day! My Momma came and visited me! She cooked a great meal and we spent some time together. Overall it was a great day!

School is going well, its getting close to the end so I thought I would tell you about a book I just finished. Its called "Can You Keep a Secret?" by Sophie Kinsella. Its a great book! It will keep you laughing and saying "that's so something that would happen to me". So if you have some spare time read it. And if you are not making time to read for fun, you should. There are some very talented authors out there, with something for everyone. So make the time, you will thank yourself later.

Well, that it for today! Annie has been in her Easter Dress all day long, and is so ready for it to come off.

Kelley

It's Friday!

I wish that it being Friday means that I have AWESOME plans for the weekend. But I don't! I worked late this afternoon and plan on working on some school work tomorrow. SAD

So I had a great week. On Tuesday I went to eat dinner with AOII Alumni and then we went to Sip's and Strokes. I have only done this one other time and I totally sucked then, but we had a great time. And if I do say so myself, I didn't do to bad....


On Wednesday I had a very intense interview, but it went pretty well. Hopefully I will hear something soon. On that note, I am still job searching, but I am starting to get beginning offers, so I am super excited but I don't want to get to excited yet.

This coming Monday Alabama Credit Union will host their 55th Annual Meeting, and I am super excited, 1) I have worked hard to see this event happen, 2) I am ready for this hard work to be done, and 3) I get to meet more awesome people who work at the credit union. So if you are a member of the Credit Union you are invited to Hotel Capstone at 5!

Hope everyone has a great weekend! If its pretty tomorrow Annie and I plan to go walking, and relax outside reading a good book!

Kelley

Last Week

Last week was Spring Break for U of A. However, I had to work on Monday! But I went home as soon as I got off work. However, my spring break did not go as planned. I had intended to go to Destin to visit Amanda with Mave and Allison. But Monday night a close family friend had a heart attack and passed away at 61. J.T. Boykin was a great man, he always helped those in need out.

He left behind a host of close family and friends and his wife Sandy (My Second Mom) and son Matthew (age 23 and BFF since age 4). It was a hard week for the Boykin Family, but they showed amazing strength and my prayers are still with them.

After the passing of J.T. I have become concerned with the health of all those around me. I encourage everyone to take a look at your families health and encourage family to become healthy! Just a few changes and you could add years onto your life! Think about it!

I am now back in Tuscaloosa and I have a busy week ahead, I guess that's what I get for taking a week off work and doing zip school work. Has anyone taken a personality test? I had to take one online last night for an interview I have on Wednesday and it was hard!!!!! I am going to be so embarrassed if I "fail" my personality test!

Have a great week!

P.S. Annie says "Hi" and is glad the rain has moved out.

Weekend with the Girls~!!

This past weekend I got to spend some time with MAVE!! I miss her like crazy, since she now lives back in Memphis. Well, whenever Mave and I go out we get a little out of control.....

So are night started with Mave, Allison, and I going to the AOII party, where I was the Advisor. This was very calm and all the AOII's were well behaved. We left there and went to Inisfree. That is where things got BAD! Shots, Drinks, and Shots later, we were in for a rough night.


Oh well, we had a great time. I will admit that Allison was the guilty party for the reason we were all out of control, but it was a fun night...till the next morning.

Next week is my Spring Break and I have no idea what I am going to do. But anything will be better than worrying about school.

Annie has been great, she is already in the bed asleep tonight! FYI- I totally think Annie is learning yoga with me cause she always gets in the floor and lays next to my mat when I bring it out.

Hope all is going well!

Kelley

Long Time No Post/Mobile/AOII Founder's Day

So it has been a while since I have posted! Sorry! I have been super busy! This past weekend Rachel, Brittany, and I went and visited Brandi in Mobile for Mardi Gras. I had a great time and was so glad that I got to spend some time with my sisters. I will post some pictures once Brandi gets them to me, but she is super busy with school too. FYI- I had so much fun at the parades and I caught goodies to give to Annie, she loves them.

On Monday I went to AOII's Founder's Day. All advisers had to go because we also had a meeting afterwards. The ladies in the house did a wonderful job setting up a very nice Founder's Day dinner and speaker. I love all the new stuff in the house and they are really working hard with their Advisers, something we did not have the chance to do, to make AOII great.

Last night Annie had a date! Yep that right, Annie is dating. Well,I am dog sitting Max for Rachel while she is out of town due to work. They had a great time playing and even sharing their food. However, Annie is super jealous she will not leave my lap! But Max is not giving in he has not left my side either. They are so cute together.

I am still loving my job, but I am still job searching for after graduation! So that is keeping me pretty busy, and all my projects for this semester are in fully under way. I will be staying in all weekend doing work that is due next week. Wish me luck! Hope everyone has a great day!

Kelley Jones

First Day of Work

Yesterday was my first day at Alabama Credit Union. It was a great first day, and I am so excited to be working there. I think I am going to really enjoy working there and I am going to learn so much. Dusti my boss is great, she is super sweet and wants me to get lots of hands on experience.

Yesterday my Mom was in town for a meeting so she picked Annie up to take her home with her. It was so sad to come back to my apartment without Annie, and I keep feeling like I was missing something all night long. Annie is spoiled so she sleeps with me and it was so odd to have the bed to myself. HAHA

Well this is just a short post for today, I have a Global Marketing test that I need to get ready for, its due Thursday. Wish me luck and I hope everyone has a great week and be careful with all the messy weather.

Kelley

So I had a very busy week! I interviewed with Regions on Tuesday, so everyone keep your fingers crossed that I will get into their Management Training Program!

But the most exciting part of my week, was the Brad Paisley concert, that PJ and I went to last night. The concert was awesome and I had a great time.

However, I had to get up very early this morning for Employee Training/Yearly Meeting for Alabama Credit Union employees. We had a guest speaker, who did an awesome job. So I am now home and done for the day!

Annie is doing good, she was going to go see Grandma this week due to me going out of town next weekend. However, due to the meeting this morning and the fact that I feel like crap(this weather sucks) I am going to have to take her to Grandma another day this week. She will get to see Kiwi her sister of another breed, and I think she is excited about it.

Hope everyone else had a good week and I cant wait to start my job on Monday. I will post again on Monday and let you know how my first day went.

Kelley

Poodle Fact

This is a quick fact I found on the Today shows website. Today they had the top five dogs on the show. The poodle did not make the top five but did make the top 10. Way to go Poodle's!

The Poodle holds the record for being the most popular dog for 22 consecutive years (1960-1982). The breed is exceptionally smart, hardy and excels in obedience training.

The breed has inspired everything from poodle skirts to the book “Travels with Charley” by John Steinbeck. Presidents Richard Nixon and Grover Cleveland both owned Poodles.

On another note, I received a call from the AOII chapter Advisor today and I am now the official Social Chair Advisor. I know I am crazy for doing this, but I told myself I would take a year break for the sorority then I would start volunteering my time to help. So I am sure I will have some crazy stories and I pity the poor girl who is the social chair now, I know it was a headache of a job. Wish me luck!

Hope everyone has a great day!

Kelley

Awesome Day

Today has been AWESOME! After a dull weekend, I interviewed with Alabama Credit Union on Monday afternoon and as of this afternoon, I am a proud member of their team! I am very excited about this opportunity! I will be a part-time employee working with their marketing department. I can't wait to work with their wonderful staff and gain much needed experience.

On another note, Annie turned 4 years old Saturday. She ate doggie cookies and was spoiled for the day. Just another day in the life of Annie. I sometimes wish I was Annie, she sleeps 20 hours a day, watches tv the other 4, does not have to worry about cooking, cleaning, or bills. Her life revolves around new chewy bones and short walks to take care of her business. What a life!

For all dog lovers out there, I want to recommend a new dog food. Chef Michael's dog food, you can get it at any grocery store and Annie loves it. She is a grazer, eats bites of food all day long. But once I put this in her bowl she ate all of it within the hour. I am taking that as a sign she loves it.

My other recommendation for today are two movies I watched recently. I went on another date with the same guy(from Thursday) on Saturday and we saw The Book of Eli- great movie and I really enjoyed it. Another movie that my friend PJ and I watched on Monday night was State of Play- good movie especially if you like political thrillers.

I will keep everyone updated on the job and hope everyone has an Awesome Day!

Kelley

Date Night~!

I went on a date last night, with a guy from my master's program. First, I have not been on a date in soooo long, I had given up on the dating world! But the date surprised me. I had a good time, maybe a little awkward at first but after a little while we were talking and enjoying ourselves. I do not know if we will have another date but I would not tell him not if he asked again.

Annie was jealous of my date! She was upset when I left and when I got back home she keep me up forever, with her toys and a new bone she got. She also woke my up early and is now back asleep and I'm the one who will not be able to go back to sleep! Kids! But I cant help but hold her and love on her even though I posting how upset I am with her. I do not think that is normal!

Its Friday and my four day weekend has started. Yep that right four days. I do not have classes on Monday or Fridays! I have a to work on internship stuff from home but that it. Good news is that I have an interview on Monday with Alabama Credit Union!! I am excited but have lots of questions for them. Like is this position going to last longer than a semester, because they advertised it through the University as a spring semester position. I am not sure I want to tie myself down, stress, and possibly lose time, where I could be looking for a big girl job. But enough about my rant. I am still excited to be interviewing!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Kelley

Rainy Messy Day Makes My Hair Curly~!!

This is a big problem if your a Poodle with curly hair that you work hard to keep tamed and if you live in Tuscaloosa, where when it sprinkles it floods. This was how Annie was feeling this afternoon after our walk. She had to go out but she wanted back out as soon as she steeped outside.

My opinion to Annie going out in the rain is that she should wear her rain jacket but she refuses to move when I put it on her. So till I can figure out how to get her to move she is stuck getting wet when she goes out in the rain.

But as you can see she does not move when I put her in her rain coat. I usually use it as a timeout cause when I say she does not move, she does not move. She locks her legs up and keeps her head down, then sits wherever she is standing.

So enough about the weather. I have a new obsession. I Love YOGA. Well at least I loved it last week and this week. Which is still pretty good. I bought a yoga DVD, that taught me all the poses then I have a morning and night time yoga workout for beginners. I love doing it. And it does not take that long, but after a few days last week I could tell I was doing something because I hurt! But a good hurt. I also bought a 10 min 5 day cardio DVD. This DVD sucks. Its hard and I cant keep up with the instructor, but I am going to keep trying, but I love my YOGA! Try it, you will too.

So I told you in my profile that I love to read. So tell me some good books you have read recently or good books that you just wish you had time to read. I just finished the Vampire Academy books, well all that are out right now. The series currently has 4 books and the 5th is coming out in May. My Mom read then and said I would like them it took me months to read them but once I started I finished all 4 in two weeks.

Great books, and they are nothing like Twilight. No I love him, but he left me, but he came back so I am going to drop my best friend who has always been there for me. (That is my opinion of Bella from Twilight) But Twilight was a good series too. But just if your wondering no my obsession with Harry Potter will never die.

That's all for today. Thanks for all the response to my blog. I hope to see yall starting a blog soon.

Kelley

Trying Somthing New

So I have decided to try my hand at blogging. I enjoy surfing the Internet and have found some neat blogs and tweets that I like to follow or in other words look at when I remember. I have a Twitter account but I have done nothing but set it up. Maybe I will get that going too. Anyway I have grown tired of Face Book and I want a new way to keep up with my friends.

For everyone who does not know me I am a 22 year old University of Alabama graduate and I am currently working on my Master's degree. I am excited to say I will graduate again this coming May!

As for the Blog Title "Life with Annie" that is my almost four year old (January 23rd is her b-day) toy poodle. Currently we are living in an apartment in Tuscaloosa, and we spend a lot of time together. This is due to the fact that I hate campus libraries and would much rather study from my apartment and also because she cries like crazy when I leave her. She is a big baby. But I hope this blog will allow me tell you great stores of our adventures together.

Thanks for everyone who checked my new blog out and I hope you come back and leave me comments on how your life is going.

Kelley