Christmas Preview

Greetings, my fellow blog readers who never leave comments! :) I just always assume people are reading, but throw me a bone once in awhile people, and it will make my heart smile. Hahahaha!

Anyway, I am in the process of trying to create a "holiday card" for our company that we send out to all of our clients and our employees. I mean, why pay someone else to design something if it's fun to do it yourself? Of course, anything I come up with has to be approved, but I am working on it right now. I edited a picture I took last winter to have as the front of the card, and I put Happy Holidays in a pretty red flowing script across the bottom of the picture. I can't show you that at the moment, but here is the picture I am using. I made it be black and white, except for the red bow and a bit of a glow in the lamp, and I like the simplicity and classic feeling of it.

My cat is finally settling down for a snooze. Remember me telling you about how birds had built a nest out on top of our neighbor's porch light? Well, that has resulted in birds flying all over the place, and when I was sitting out on the porch the other night, one of the birds flew back to the nest, and I saw a baby bird stretch its head up out of the nest! It was soooo cute! Anyway, the birds were everywhere tonight, and Ellie spent about an hour running from the screen door to the window and back trying to chase them. I was amused.

The weather here is absolutely gorgeous! Clean, crisp air, high temps at about 70-72, and it's very cool at night. We are sleeping with the windows open, and I was buried under my comforter last night, as was brother. Ahh, fall in New England.

I'm looking forward to this weekend - a day off Monday, and some time to have fun and relax! Hope you all have a good rest of the week. Love from the north!

Fall Is Coming

Friends! Happy Sunday afternoon to you all. I just got finished doing the laundry, and I'm sitting on the couch relaxing before cooking some dinner. It is an absolutely GORGEOUS day here - temps in the 70's, breezy, beautiful blue skies. The high on Tuesday is only supposed to be 70, and for the rest of the week, the temps are supposed to be in the low 70's for the highs. Fall is coming! You can sense it in the air, in the leaves that are beginning to show a hint of color.... And believe it or not, I'm actually looking forward to it. There is something invigorating in a new season, with clean crisp air, beautiful scenery. I can't wait to take some fun pictures to share the beauty with all of you! Or you can just come and visit us and see a fall in New England for yourself. :)

Before the fall arrives, though it may soon be here, it is still a beautiful summer day. Proof for you....


To offer a few updates for you.....Michael and I did hear from our landlords that everything had been taken care of, and so we are not going to get kicked out of our apartment. Unless there are unforeseen circumstances, it would appear that we will be able to stay here until our lease is up at the end of next June. I appreciate that if for no other reason than I can enjoy the paint that I spent so much time on. Come next summer though, we may try to find a place that has a few more doors and a bit more space. We'll see - lots of life to be lived between now and then! Thank you for your prayers though as we walked through that process.

As Labor Day gets here, it signals the beginning of a lot of stuff for us. Brother starts school that week, our community group is getting cranked back up, and a lot of things will kind of start happening. I'll be sure to keep you posted on life as it happens! Have a great week!

I'm Official!

Before I explain my blog title, let me share a bit about our weather here. We are having our first taste of fall - high today of about 73, with lows last night and tonight in the low 50's. We have the windows of our apartment open, and it's so cool that I have on squishy pants, a sweatshirt, and a blanket over my lap as I sit here typing this. :) Gotta love it! Anyone wanna come visit now??

So about being official....Today, on my one year anniversary of working at Curbside, I went to the RMV and got my Massachusetts driver's license. Yep ladies and gentlemen, I am an official "Mass-hole". :) I know that I should have gotten my license here a long time ago because I think when you move somewhere, you're technically supposed to get a new license within 30 days. Oops, missed that deadline. I think some of it was because there seems to be something so permanent and final about changing to a new license, and when I first moved here, I wasn't really ready for that. I am now. And since my car has Mass plates, I thought it would probably be a good idea for my license to match.

I've had a GA driver's license for all of my driving years. I had a moment when they took my GA license today - I felt like I should keep it and frame it or something. It was sort of unreal walking back to my car holding my temporary Massachusetts license (they mail the real one in about a week). It's official, folks. I'm putting down some roots. Not that I can't come back to GA someday if I want, but for now, this is home. This is where God has me, where He is doing a great work. And I love the life He has blessed me with and am excited at all that is in store. And a Mass license? Well, it's just a visual representation of how much has changed in my life in the last almost 2 years. Beauty out of ashes.

When I got back to the office, my coworkers welcomed me by assuring me that I had risen from my status of "illegal alien" to "legal alien". Guess they'll have to find something new to make fun of me for! :) Love you all!

Happy Anniversary To Me!

Tomorrow is my one year anniversary of working at Curbside! Can you believe it? Time goes by very quickly, doesn't it? My boss said she would take me out to lunch, which is very nice. I have now lived in a new place for over a year, been at my new job for a year, and been going to my church for almost a year. Crazy and cool!

A couple of funny cat stories. I have mentioned in previous posts that Ellie has a problem with going to the bathroom as soon as I change her litter, thereby ruining the new litter. I saw a new one Sunday night. I use liners in her box, so you just pull the liner out to clean it, which is nice. I had put the new liner in, and she walks over and starts sniffing the box, even though there is no litter in it. I tell her she has to wait until there is litter, and as I start to pour it in, she starts to get in the box. I'm trying to keep her out until I'm finished pouring, but two of her feet are in the box and she's trying to get in. As soon as I stop pouring the litter, she jumps in and starts pooing. It's a new record!

Another random story....When I take a shower every morning, I have to leave the door partly open. If I close it all the way, Ellie stands outside of it and howls really loudly. If Michael is still in bed, that's not an okay thing. And if our neighbors are downstairs, they would not be happy. So pretty much every morning, she pushes the door open and sticks her head around the shower curtain and meows at me. Almost always, when I turn the water off and open the curtain, she is laying on the rug waiting for me. Don't you just love cool pets??

Sorry that I've not put up a post in awhile. I'll try to get better, I promise! Hope you all have a great week!

Back In Boston

Hello once again, everybody, and welcome to another night of Tiffany's Tales from the rainy and cool North Shore of Massachusetts. [side tangent - that opening, for those of you who aren't baseball fans, was in honor of Skip Caray, one of the voices of the Atlanta Braves, who passed away while I was at home. His memorial service was today, and I thought I'd remember him by opening and closing this blog entry in the same manner in which he opened and closed broadcasts. I don't have hardly any Braves memories that his voice isn't a part of. He will be missed.]

Anyway, on to blogging. I apologize for the delay between blogs, but I was busy visiting with many of you and trying to relax a bit between the visits, and now you get an extra long entry. I experienced a bit of culture shock on this visit home - to be explained in a moment - and now back in Boston, I am experiencing reverse culture shock. I went from hot and humid to cool. When I got home from work tonight, it was so cold in the apartment that I had to turn off the little window unit AC, and even with it off, I am sitting here in a sweat shirt and squishy pants. I will say I am very thankful for the clean and crisp air up here after breathing the nasty Atlanta air. If you guys come and visit me up here, you'll choke on the air when you get back to the ATL. :)

I had a fantastic visit home, and thank you so much to all of you who went out of your way to spend time with me. I know that people's schedules are crazy, and I appreciate the opportunity to spend time with some of the folks that are so important to me. For those I missed this time around - perhaps Christmas??

As far as the culture shock goes that I mentioned a moment ago, here are a few examples. After living in 400 square feet for a year now, my parents' house - that I grew up in - felt like a mansion! It took me awhile to get used to it. And another weird thing....while that will always be my home - I grew up there, so many of you are there, so many memories are there - this time around, I felt like a visitor. I guess that's what happens as more time passes by, but it was a little strange. Since being here for a little over a year now, I realize that I have two homes, and as much as I love my roots, I also love the life God has given me here. I will say that He gave me amazing roots, and the foundation I have there has helped me be successful here. Thanks to all of you for your support, love and many prayers. They are being answered daily! :)

Enough seriousness for now....on to pictures!! Here are a bunch of me with some of you! I got my hair highlighted by the people who have been doing my hair since I was about 8.

I got to have breakfast with the Webbs (yay Chick-fil-a!!) and discuss the fabulous game Settlers of Catan (if you haven't played this game, learn how. It's awesome!!!)

I got to eat at Sprayberry's bar-b-que (lots of eating on this trip!) with my fantastic grandparents - love you guys!

I got to snuggle with my cat Kit, who is quite old but I think still remembers that while the parents take care of her, she's really mine. :) Just for reference, this picture was taken after I had spent 8 hours painting at my brother's new house as a housewarming gift. A picture of his new brown accent wall and the new color of his downstairs bathroom follow. Go visit him! I love his house - I'm proud of you brother! :)



I got to spend some good time with Jeanne, my favorite person to chunk with. I miss you!

I celebrated my half birthday, which is a big deal for those of you who know me. Let the record show that I am now 30 1/2!! My mom made me brownies and cut birthday napkins in half, and I sang to myself (with help)!

I was able to spend time with my beautiful sister - I am so thankful for kindred spirits, and I love you!

And of course, I got to spend time hanging with the fam, all of whom I adore and am so thankful for.




I think that about does it for now! I had so much fun being home, shared some wonderful conversations, and for those who I did see and yet there aren't pictures to show, that's what you get for being shy and not wanting to be made famous on the blog! :) I hope you guys know that I enjoyed sharing time with all of you. I am so thankful for the roots God has given me that in many ways have helped give me the courage to live in freedom in a new place.

More to come in the days ahead. But for now, this concludes another night of Tiffany's Tales. So long everybody.

Friends & Family

On Sunday afternoon, we had an open house for my cousin, who just graduated from college. After spending four years in the army, he went to college and worked hard to finish his degree as quickly as possible. I am SO proud of the cousin! I can't wait to see all that God has in store for him in this next chapter of life. Here is a picture of him with his brothers, my brother, and our grandmother (and me!).

Here are a few more pictures of family and friends - me with my uncle, aunt, and cousin, me with my brother who lives here in Georgia, me with my friend Glenda, and me with my "sister" Sarah...




I always joke with people about how famous they will be if I put their picture on my blog, so here's a picture of two of my closest friends from high school with their little sisters so they will be "famous".

After my cousin's celebration, I had some friends over for a mini reunion. When I was in high school, there was a group of us "band nerds" who became really close friends, and most of us have managed to stay in touch over the years. I still consider these guys some of my closest friends and enjoy the privilege of having friends who have known you for years and still stick around. It was great to see everyone and catch up a bit, and I appreciate all of you making time in your busy lives to come by. Here is a picture of the girls, and then a picture of everyone, including our high school band director who came by as well.


I think we all still look pretty good, don't you?? :) Just for comparison, here's a picture of us from early college. We were minus one girl the other night. Please ignore my absolutely horrible hair - I had gotten a really bad haircut that I was trying to recover from. I have great self esteem to be posting this picture....but 10 years later, I think we all look pretty similar!

I'm having a great time catching up with people here and enjoying spending time with my family. The time is going by very quickly, and I know it'll be time to head back to Boston before I know it. But I will return with lots of fun memories and shared times....and to cooler temps. :)

Back in Georgia

Greetings from the HOT south! It's so hot here! I'd forgotten how hot it is in August in Georgia, but I'm getting a quick reminder. It's hard to breathe when you go outside, and we spent all afternoon and evening yesterday outside at the Braves game. We had a great time, and I got lots of "home" things crammed into one day.

On the way to the game, we stopped at the Varsity, which has the yummiest greasy food ever! They were celebrating their 80th year of operating on Saturday, and I think the grease they use is the same grease they had when they opened. :) Doesn't this look so yummy???


The Braves lost, but I still enjoyed being in my home stadium.

Two great icons of Atlanta - Coke and Chick-fil-a. Bet you've never seen a cow in a Braves hat that does the tomahawk chop...

After the game, Steven Curtis Chapman had a concert. A severe thunderstorm came through right after they got everything set up that delayed the concert for an hour, but it was worth the wait. Due to the rain, they were unable to have the whole band play, but Steven came out and did an unplugged set by himself, and it was awesome. I'm sure most of you are aware that they lost their 5 year old daughter 2 months ago when one of their sons accidentally ran over her in their driveway. Listening to his story of the journey they are on and how despite the questions and the good days and bad days, they are still choosing to praise the name of God....it was so encouraging and an awesome evening of remembering who God is and what it means to trust. Even in the midst of storms, God brings beauty. The color behind SCC was the sunset God gave us after the massive storm.

Finally, we hit up Krispy Kreme on the way home for a hot glazed donut. Mmmmm....another Atlanta landmark I was happy to visit!

Today we had a graduation celebration for my cousin and some of my closest high school friends came over. It was a full day of catching up with family and seeing old friends. I'll post pictures of that tomorrow.