J & M: The Younger Years

I figured the best way to start the story about the evolution of Jamey's and my relationship was to start from the beginning. Well of course I would start from the beginning, but I didn't want to start at what was the beginning of our relationship I wanted to start at the first time we met. Mainly because this is Jamey's favorite part of the story ;) Well, I guess I like it too!

When I was 11 years old and about to start 5th grade my parents made the decision for me to stop going to the private school in Demopolis and to start at the public school system. A few weeks before school started a girl was having a back to school dance for all of her friends. I wasn't really friends with the girl, but a neighbor was and so the parents all got together and decided that it would be a good idea if me and one of my friends who was also changing schools that year went to meet new friends before the first day of school. Well, my neighbor friend also had a bestfriend that was going to the party and that friend was a boy named Jamey, who I would grow to know and to dislike (but secretly crush on) over the next couple of years. We all road to the dance together and I really don't remember a whole lot of my thoughts other than the fact that I was pretty nervous that I was going to a dance with a bunch of kids I didn't know. Well there was of course awkward 5th grade dancing and a lot of standing around and maybe even a game of Honey will you kiss me (Which is a lot more innocent than it sounds). I don't remember all the details these days, but that is when we met as told by me.

Now here is Jamey's version:

On the weekend before school started (when we were going into the 5^th grade), there was slated to be a dance, as such was the tradition for 11-year-olds celebrating their birthdays in Demopolis. On that fateful day, I went over to the house of my best friend’s grandmother’s house. The plan was this: we boys not wanting to arrive at such a social event flying solo planned on traveling together. Our mothers (and the mothers of others) thought that it would be best if we could share the ride over to the dance with others our age. And so, two of my friend’s grandmother’s neighbors’ daughters came over to my friend’s grandmother’s house. It was none other than my beautiful Morgan and her friend Morgan (no relation).

The introductions went well. I stated my name and proceeded to be really cool. She totally dug me from the very beginning (LoLZzZ!!). We rode over to said dance in a Taurus station wagon (rockin’!) and then proceeded to talk to other members of our respective sexes. I don’t remember too many dances that I danced that night, but one stands out. I finally built up the courage to ask Morgan for a dance. It was a clumsy, stiff dance. A mating ritual for giraffe amputees might have been more graceful than this. It was a dance I might have scoffed at myself for dancing so awkwardly, but looking back it was beautiful in its own right. I still remember that dance to this day, and it was in that dance (somewhere near the third chorus or the end of the bridge) that I knew that I was dancing with someone special…

PS I had nothing to do with his story. I merely handed him the computer and a blank document and asked him to write how we first met. Just throwing that in there in case you all thought I added that part at the end haha. Kidding.. I know you all know how sweet Jamey is to me. 

Over the course of the next 6 years we both grew up, changed a lot, made some mistakes, learned some things, and lived out young adolescent lives. We had most all of our classes together over the course of the next 6 years. We had the same 5th grade class, and then when we went to middle school we shared some classes together. Jamey loved to pick on me in gym class, and secretly I loved every minute of it. I still remember all the names he called me and how I would sit and listen to him talk about quantum physics and building hover crafts even though I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. I think this time in our lives proves that God's timing works. When we were in middle school eveyone "dated" everyone. I think I had approximately 378274832 boyfriends during that time. I dated each one no more than 2 weeks and I never dated any of them ever again after that. I know it may seem silly to say that the Lord kept us from each other since we were only 13 and 14 years old, but looking back now that is the only thing I can say about it because while we were all busy dating everyone else we both had crushes on each other, but never actually dated each other. Maybe it was just because we were in different friend groups, but I think it was a little more than that too.

Coming Next: The Highschool Years

I'm terrible at keeping promises...

I know I said I would post a series about Jamey and I, and I promise I will, but last weekend while I was in Atlanta I got sick and by the time Jamey and I got home Sunday night I was running a fever! I didn't really start feeling up to par until about Thursday morning, but I still have a cough and a little congestion sticking around. Needless to say I was a little lazy last week just trying to get to feeling better! Then a friend came into town for the weekend, so I didn't have time to post then either! I do have a couple of the posts written, but not typed out and there are a couple of the beginning posts that I want Jamey to help out with because honestly he tells the story of us meeting so much better than I do! I will definitely try to get some of those worked on this week!

This is what I lived off of while I was sick. This stuff is awesome! Well it and Nyquil :)

I did get a couple of things accomplished this weekend though! Friday I rearranged our furniture. Don't even ask what got into me because honestly I have no idea. Let me go ahead and say I am TERRIBLE at decorating! My mom, sister and I laugh about it and I'm sort of the joke of the family, because every woman in my family is very good at that sort of thing. I mean seriously my grandmother (Mama's mom), Mama and Mallory can whip a room into shape and have it looking like it came out of Southern Living in 30 minutes!  Somehow I skipped all that and pretty much the only thing I'm good at is reading and eating. HA! Kidding, but not really. I digress.... All I know is that one second my sister was fussing at me for still having not mounted our tv above the fireplace (We have a fireplace in our apartment and Jamey and I planned on mounting the tv above it, but ever since we moved in the tv has sat on a table in FRONT of the fireplace....) and the next thing I know I'm thinking about how we will never mount that tv, so I'm just going to rearrange the furniture instead..... So I drove straight home and spent the entire afternoon doing just that. Then I made Jamey get us a potted plant to put in a bare corner and hang a picture above the fireplace that he had hung just the day before in another spot. Yeah, he was probably cursing me in his head, but he didn't admit to it out loud! I think by now he is used to my indecisiveness, because as soon as he got it hung I decided it was too small, and I'm already planning out new things to put there. Poor Jamey, I sometimes think he had no idea what he was getting into when he popped the question.

This is our tv in its new spot. Along with our potted plant Freddie (Jamey named him) Oh and yes this wall still needs a lot of work, but it will be a process, so I'm trying to be patient!

I also baked a Chocolate-Peanut Butter Torte that my sister found on THIS website, and I think it must taste pretty good since Jamey has been eating it for breakfast and for dessert these past couple of days...Then last night I mixed up some cookie dough so we could have them ready when we wanted to bake them over the next couple of days, and so we could bake some for our new neighbors that moved in next door.

Yummy Cake! It isn't the prettiest thing I've ever made, but it was tasty!! 

Okay, so now that I've caught you up on our past week I'll get busy writing those other posts and let you know when I get them finished up!

Time Flies When You Are Having Fun!

Whew, can you say fastest two weeks of my life?? I worked last week and ended up working over 50 hours. Yep, it is definitely busy season when the part time intern is working over a 40 hour work week. And yes tax accounting has two busy seasons. When your clients are large companies most get an automatic extension until September 15 for their returns. Our Spring is actually not busy because of returns like most people think, but instead we are doing audit work. Anyway, needless to say it is busy around our office.

I did have a bit of break this weekend when a good friend from college came down to visit. It is so refreshing to be able to catch up and spend time with friends that you haven't seen in awhile. I've been able to do that a lot lately, and it has made me realize how much I miss time with my girlfriends. In Birmingham I don't have that many friends yet, and It makes me realize how much spending time with friends is not only good for my sanity, but good for my relationship with Jamey. Blessed I am by wonderful friends!

Hiking at the Falls in Oak Mountain State Park this weekend! 

Well, if I thought last week flew by then this week was gone in a blink. I started my classes Wednesday and I've been trying to hit the books hard and get ahead in all my classes. I've been trying to get ahead because as of Thursday I officially applied for the CPA exam and ordered my review materials. Next week starts my crazy hectic life of school, work and CPA exam studying. I practically had a panic attack after I pressed the submit button, but I think it is because it all comes down to this. Five years of school, a year of recruiting, and months of interning comes down to wether or not  I can pass this exam. With an 8% pass rate my nerves are on edge, but tons of people have taken it and passes and so I know I can to....well hopefully.... I'm probably being over dramatic, but I truly am very nervous about the coming months. I'm trying to take a step back and relax and know that I can do it.

I really think another thing I'm super stressed about is making sure I make time for Jamey. I don't want to neglect him or our relationship over the next few months. Luckily, he is more supportive of my school and studying that I could ever hope for, but up until now I've been able to make plenty of time for him. Starting next week I'll be studying for the CPA and listening to lectures for 8 hours a week and doing homework and reviewing on top of my normal classwork and school. I just want to make sure that while I know studying for the CPA is important for my career, making sure I'm taking care of my husband and our needs together is important for my life. I know he will step up when I need him to and I'm so grateful for that. I'll have to make a conscious effort to balance my time and hopefully one day I will be able to repay him when he is in grad school! In the end my relationship with Jamey comes only second to my relationship with the Lord and when our marriage is so young I want to do my best to foster it and give it the time and respect it needs!

We are headed to ATL in just a few minutes to visit with more friends from college, and we couldn't be more excited! I know we will have a blast! I hope everyone else has a wonderful weekend too!

I have been writing a good bit these days, and I've got a couple of posts that are in the drafting phases, so I'll try to get them posted next week or so. They have to do with Jamey, everything from our meeting, to long distance, to what our first 8 months of marriage have been like! Sorry to keep you hanging I'm trying to figure out how I want to present them before I put them up!

Dates, Jobs, and Other Things

It has been almost two weeks since my last post, and a lot has happened while at the same time nothing much has happened. At the last post I told you about my sister coming into town. We had a blast mainly just shopping at health food stores ha! I finally finished up my summer classes and got all A's! Wahoo! I was SO glad to be done with classes. I finished up on Tuesday night and then headed to Orlando Wednesday morning. Jamey dropped me off at the airport at 8am sharp! I met up with most of my other intern friends and the rest is history. I could give you all a play by play, but I think that it would bore anyone that wasn't in love with Ernst & Young. There were lots of cheers and games and a lot of talks about what it means to be an employee of Ernst & Young and where we hope to go in the future. There was also lots of Disney World of course!

The Birmingham Interns at Disney World! 

Oh, but one really awesome/creepy part was the illusionist. There was a guy on one of the nights that could read minds, and do lots of other cool things with his mind. He was blindfolded and told us the serial number on a Canadian dollar that someone from the audience brought him. He also got random people from the audience to come up and they each got to choose a part of a car. For example, one person chose the type of car (Porsche) then the next got to choose the color and the next got to choose the price. Then he pulled out a sealed envelope and got another girl to read what he had written earlier in the day. HE HAD WRITTEN DOWN EXACTLY WHAT THEY SAID BEFORE HE GOT TO THE CONFERENCE EARLIER THAT MORNING. I don't know how he did it. I don't believe he actually read the people's mind, but I do believe he was a very good illusionist.

So my last week consisted of finishing school and the intern conference, and Jamey's consisted of work and Skyrim ( a video game). Jamey picked me up at the airport on Saturday afternoon and we decided to go on date to dinner and the movies. I came back to the house and unpacked and then we headed over to our favorite pizza place for our favorite pizza with our favorite waitress. It was just what we both needed. Oh and no it wasn't Paleo. It was Jamey's cheat meal, and while I was at the conference I didn't get a choice of food to eat, so I definitely wasn't eating Paleo. We then went to watch The Dark Knight Rises at the McWane Center IMAX. The movie was way overwhelming and awesome all at the same time. We had a blast and it was so good to be able to just hang out after our time apart.

Sunday we went to church and then went shopping. Jamey got some new clothes and even a new bathing suit! I got new face wash and we both got new running watches. Just cheap ones from Walmart, but we were both in dire need for some since running is what we spend most of our time doing! Successful shopping day!

I also finished a really great book called The Poisonwood Bible yesterday. I'll have to write a mini book review when I get a chance! This week we are both busy busy at work. I'm working over 40 hours this week since I don't have school and we have some big deadlines coming up. Jamey has Garden Party this week so he will be at work late every night this week. I have to be present at a couple of the dinners throughout the week too.

Before I leave you I will leave you with a link to a couple of things that we saw at our intern conference that were inspiring :) Enjoy!

- William Kamkwamba: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind  This is his second TED talk his first one is HERE

- Matt Cutts: Try Something New  

Praying for you all! Have a good week!