Trip to Dandridge

Lauren and I went to Dandridge, Tennessee, the weekend after the 4th. Dandridge is near Gatlinburg, so we ended up basically making the same trip for a second weekend in a row. However, we stayed on the other side of the lake that's up there and most of our activities were at the Mountain Harbor Inn (pictured above), where almost everyone else was staying.
There was a VERY good breakfast served every morning that we were able to take part in. That's Lauren's dad sitting with us at breakfast.

We also got to see some of Lauren's relatives that we don't often get to see, like Lauren's cousin Amy. The weekend was a lot of fun and we got to go paddle-boating on Saturday afternoon. Then we left on Sunday to come back to Charlotte and go back to work.

Work is still going well for both of us, and Connor's still doing well. He was happy that we were back from our second week in a row being gone, meaning his second week in a row being in a kennel.

Gatlinburg

After much delay, here are pictures from our Gatlinburg trip on the weekend of July 4th. We had a great time and the house was beautiful.
On the way there, we took a little (unintended) detour down the Foothills Parkway, which had several sharp turns and was pretty steep, but the lookouts along the way were breathtaking, so Lauren wanted to stop to get a picture.
And after we got there, we had to come down this driveway (which is even steeper than it looks) and is a pain to get both up and down.Katie Margaret wanted to ride the skylift, but we figured Meg would have a cow, so we compromised and put her in the chair in front of the ticket window.Then Katie Ebers and I went up to the top of the mountain and hung out for a little bit. Its amazing how even on top of the mountain, the gift shops sell useless crap.And then we went to the a little mall there and Dad wanted to wander into the Western shop (why I don't know). Tom randomly put a hat on and I snapped a picture of him being a giant dork.And of course, I had to do the same, because I was bored in that stupid store. All my Dad's fault.Thought this was funny. This is what happens when the Air Force runs out of bombs and decides to get rid of some rednecks. Don't make the government mad, or they'll drop a house on your parking lot, too.

The weekend was a great break from work, and Lauren and I both enjoyed seeing the family, especially Katie Margaret, who has gotten so much bigger. Next up, pictures from our trip the next weekend to Dandridge, Tennessee, across the lake for Lauren's great aunt's 80th birthday, and then pics from Lauren's parents visiting Charlotte.

Job

Well, its not with a law firm, nor is it a long-term solution, but I have a new job starting on Monday. I will be working document review (staring at paper/computer screens) for the next month or so, and will be working 40 hours per week. I am going to keep my job with Banana Republic, so along with attempting to play softball for my church on Mondays and Fridays, my weeks will be pretty full. However, this is at least a step in the right direction. I'm going to try to get my hours at Banana decreased for the next few weeks so I can actually see my wife and puppy some time, but we'll see how well that takes.

Lauren is still loving her job. Her direct superior has been out for the last week after a surgical procedure, so she's been doing the job of both of them. Still, its the kind of stuff that she finds interesting, so its not like when she had to work 12 hour shifts when she worked at the store.

Connor is doing well, but I have a feeling he's going to be a little sad the next few weeks. With me working during the day, he'll be home by himself for several hours. Lauren may end up coming home a few times a week at lunch so that he can go out, but he'll still be lonely all day. On top of that, he'll be spending the next two weekends (after this one) in a kennel while we're out of town. The being home all day is something he'll have to deal with though, I suppose.

My dad got a clean bill of health from the doctors in Minnesota today, so it appears that for now, he's healthy again. It has been a long road, and if the last five years has told me anything, it is that I shouldn't count my chickens before they hatch, so I'm cautiously optimistic.

Twenty Seven Years

Yesterday was my 27th birthday, and we didn't really plan anything exciting. We went to church and then ate at California Pizza Kitchen for lunch. After that, we were planning to go hit some softballs in anticipation of my first softball game earlier this evening. We got there and had to buy tokens to do it, but after we got out there, we realized that the machines were broken and ate all of our tokens. We tried to get our money back, but their policy is not to give cash back for tokens. So we had to take a "rain check", and they ended up giving us an hour's worth of batting cage time, but they didn't really have a long-term plan for repairing it, so we'll see how that pans out.

I had my first softball game of the season for our church team tonight. I got to start at catcher, and I really enjoyed it. I had two hits in three at bats, and the second at-bat might have ended in a hit, but the umpire called the ball out of play, and then changed his mind when the outfielder actually caught the ball, so I was out. I was a little peeved, as was the rest of our team, but the rules state that the umpire's decision is final, so we couldn't argue it at all. We almost won the game, and probably should have because the ump pretty much said we were in the last inning, and we pulled ahead, and then we ended up having to play the field for the next inning and they ended up getting enough runs to win the game. Still, we played really well, and if we'd had a different umpire, we probably would have won.

Lauren is still loving her job. Next week her "boss" will be out for some surgery, and she was supposed to do a big presentation for her on Monday, but she found out today that its canceled. The job that I interviewed for ended up falling through. The experienced attorney they'd talked to told them that he wanted to come on with them, but it sounded like they were interested in my services if that hadn't happened. Its hard to pass up an experienced attorney though, so I don't blame them at all. Still, they said they might be looking for someone else in six months or so. I hope I have something lined up at that point, but if I don't, or I'm working document review, I'll probably be interested. Either way, I have a meeting tomorrow with a company about an upcoming document review project, so hopefully that will result in a job that will give me some kind of experience, and more importantly, money.

Rob will be coming into town this weekend to visit, and I've asked off for the weekend, so I'll have plenty of time to hang out with him. We're planning to go to a Charlotte Knights game. The Knights are the AAA affiliate of the Chicago White Sox, and they're playing the Phillies' AAA team, so hopefully we'll see some pretty good baseball. I also have another softball game on Friday night, so hopefully I'll keep up the hitting and maybe we'll win.

At any rate, 27 feels an awful lot like 26. Gas is still expensive, the weather is still hot, and Family Guy is still funny.

Amusement Park

Lauren and I spent Sunday at Carowinds, a theme park that is just outside Charlotte. It is supposed to be "Carolinas-themed" but it really doesn't have much in the way of regional themes. There is a Nickelodeon Kids' Zone, but aside from that everything else is fairly generic in name. At any rate, it was a lot of fun. On top of that, I actually rode roller coasters and thoroughly enjoyed it. I had to take some Dramamine before we went, but that means I was actually able to go on the rides and not just sit around and wait. They also had a water ride that was basically a giant inner tube with seats on the top that spun around and got people wet during different parts of the ride. All-in-all, it was a blast and a great way to spend our Memorial Day.

Lauren is still enjoying her job. Tomorrow night she's going to the Natasha Bedingfield concert with a bunch of her coworkers, so she's really looking forward to that. My job search is still pretty much the same. I did have an interview with a law firm last Thursday, which I thought went pretty well, but I don't want to even begin to estimate how well it went or whether they're interested. I hope they are, as I think I would really enjoy working there. I still haven't heard from the document review company either. I will definitely post something once something works out.

Lauren's New 'Do!

Last night we went to the mall for Lauren to get a haircut and run some other errands, and Lauren REALLY got her hair cut. Here are the pictures (excuse the unkempt background):I think it looks great!

May Update

In the last two weeks, I've been working my tail off trying to find a job at a law firm. However, I'm currently in the same position as before. The positive is that I had an interview with Hudson Legal, a document review company that seems to be a little more put together than the company that I was working with last fall. In other words, they seem to know about projects more than just a couple of days ahead of time. I don't know anything definite at this point, but it looks like I may be on a project by the beginning of June. I don't want to jinx it by talking about it too much, though.

Lauren is enjoying her job with It's Fashion!, a division of Cato Corp. She's working as assistant buyer for a buyer who is originally from New Zealand. She's still learning her way around, and last week, the buyers went to New York on their monthly trip to "market," leaving Lauren and the other new assistant to do more training things and get more acclimated. However, she didn't really have much to do, for those three days. After the buyer returned, however, Lauren had a pretty good bit of work to do. At this point, she loves her job and is very happy that she got it, even though she's still pretty tired most of the time. She's really enjoying the weekends off. Yesterday, we had a Sunday School picnic at the church and cooked out and enjoyed the great weather. She never would have been able to do that if she was still working in retail.

Connor is the same. He's still chewing on anything he can get his mouth on, including the collar stays that I take out of my shirts before I wash them. He's still a good dog in general though. Here's a picture of him wearing some new "bling."