Home Sweet Home

It is official, Jared (and I) are homeowners!

I say that loosely, it is really Jared that is the homeowner since he is the one with the actual job....and income.

However, it is our first real home together and I am bursting with excitement about all the wonderful possibilities it is going to bring us!

The process would have not been possible without the wonderful people at Go Realty....more specifically Zach our Realtor and his wonderful assistant and good friend of ours, Candace.

When Jared first decided to start the house hunt, he immediately thought of Candace. She was a leasing consultant at the apartment complex that Jared and I lived in before I moved to Columbia for school. She had taken a position as a broker assistant at Go and he knew it would be the best place to start. 

I am so happy he started there because we never turned back :)

Jared looked at a series of houses that he and I narrowed down through internet searches and would update me on them. When I was home for the holidays, Jared and I went out to look at six houses with Zach, but could not find what we were looking for. 

The house that we finally decided on was one what we had been looking at online for a few months. After Jared walked through the house, he skyped me and did a walk through the house with me. It had a fenced yard and all the space we were looking for. 

After a couple of counter offers, we got the house!

Here she is:

Isn't it beautiful?! 

Today was closing. Candace and Zach thought it would be nice to Skype me in for the signing, so I got to be a part of it. Although the papers were signed today, it will not be documented until tomorrow, which means the house was bought on February 29th... leap day! The perfect way to remember it!

Very intense process

Now that we have the keys in our hands....and no money left....I am so excited about our new home together!

House warming party anyone?

Did you find our house okay?

Weekend Recap

Erin came to visit! Yayyy :)
Friday night was spent with cosmopolitans, magazines, and HGTV.

Saturday morning we went to the Bodies exhibit.

\

It was extremely interesting to see everything.... and I mean everything! From fat tissue to just the blood vessels around the heart. The best part was that they had the bodies in action positions so that you could see how the body reacted to the motion. My favorite bodies were the acrobats in which there was a man lifting a woman over his head.

After a delicious lunch of summer vegetable tacos and watching more HGTV (we might be slightly addicted to house hunting), we went out to Village of Sandhill to go to Ulta. Of course if you bought $17.50 dollars worth of Ulta makeup you got a free bag of makeup worth over $88....so naturally we both bought $17.50  in Ulta makeup to get the bag of goodies.

Here is the haul:

2 Eye Shadow Quads 

(Silk, Honey Bee, Sapphire, Green Machine)

 (Bone, Mystique, Espresso, Gold Dust)

1 Blush (Flush)

1 Voluptuous Volume Mascara (Jet Black)

1 Double Sided Lip Gloss (Plush and Illusion)

1 Lipstick (221)

2 Dual Ended Eye Liners

(Deep Brown, Chocolate & Bronze, Black)

1 Nail Polish (The Jungle Look)

3 Makeup Brushes 

(Blush, Eye shadow brush and Eye shadow applicator)

Dinner at Red Bowl with delicious martinis

We came back to test out our new makeup of course. Erin bought black liquid liner...check out her cat eye

I bought new nail polish and gold eyeliner. The new shade is called Ginger Peach....I couldn't resist!

My attempt to be like the girls on Pintrest...

Best Friends!

Sunday pretty much consisted of  magazine reading and talking...I miss having her here to just talk and hang out :(

All good things must come to an end, and I had to let her go back to Raleigh. I cannot wait until we are in the same city again.

Because I did not have school on President's Day, after Erin left on Sunday, I headed home to spend time with baby sister and the family.
My mom got the day off by surprise so the whole family went to Ikea!
We wanted to buy an entertainment unit for my old bedroom.  They are discontinuing it, but there were four left and we snatched one up!

Expedit

Downfall: It took FIVE HOURS to put together. My mother and I almost gave up 823948 times. I am still sore from putting this thing together.

....but my mom did buy me new pillows, they are super soft.

Perfect weekend with friends and family....only 1 week until Jared closes on our house and a week and a half before spring break!


It was a big formal gathering. All our friends were there. 

14 Things I Love

Thanks to a fellow blogger and good friend of mine, I decided to talk about all the things I love on the day that is devoted to love!

14 Things I Love (in no particular order)

1. Baby Sister
She is simply the most wonderful person I know. I strive to be more like her everyday and I cannot imagine what my life would be like without her.

2.  Jared
My best friend and boyfriend of the last 4.5 years. He has made me a better person, been there through thick and thin. I cannot wait for more adventures with him.

3. Erin
An RA on my floor freshman year to being the best friend I could ask for. She understands me when no one else can without me even needing to tell her what is wrong.

4. My Parents
They have been there for every note I sang in concerts and every tear shed over exams. I am so lucky to have them as a support system and to have them catch me when I fall.

5. Rory
My snuggle kitty. She gives me smoochies and headbutts me to show her love. What more could you ask for? She's purrfect :)

6. NC State
Not only do I love my Wolfpack, but I love the experiences it provided me with and all the people I got to meet. I love being a part of its history and love how it shaped me into the person I am today.

7. Teaching
Whether it is GN311 or teaching patients as a genetic counselor, teaching for me brings me so much joy. Being able to teach someone and help them understand gives me so much satisfaction and spreads knowledge.

8. Singing
If you know me you know how much I love singing. I do it constantly, including making up my own songs. It is the perfect way to express myself!

9. Learning
As much as I love teaching, I love learning just as much! I am constantly searching for something new to learn... perhaps that is why I have been in school for so long!

10. Disney
Is there anything more magical than Disney? I love Disney movies, Disney World, and Disney on Ice! Anything Disney really....

11. Musicals
I wish that my life was a musical. Plain and simple. ::bursts into song::

12. Cards in the mail
I love sending cards and of course receiving them ::hint hint::

13. Organization
Color coordination, post-it notes, and rewriting notes on loose leaf paper

14. Love
I love love. I say "I love you" about a thousand times a day. It fills me everyday and I just love to share it.  


I cannot guarantee that the other people will love it as much as I do

Valentine's Day Buttons

After a stressful day at school, I thought a little creative cooking would help me relax. I found this recipe on Pintrest of course, and thought I would spread a little Valentine's Day cheer to my classmates, and pass the recipe onto you <3

Valentine's Day Buttons

Ingredients:

Hershey's Hugs

Valentine's M&Ms

Pretzel Snaps (checkerboard)

Step1: Spray a pan with non-stick spray and place pretzels on the pan

Step 2: Unwrap and place "a hug" on top of each pretzel

Step 3: Pop in a 200 degree oven for 5 minutes

The hugs should look as if they glisten but they should still resemble the classic shape

Wreakage

Step 4: Place an M&M on the center of each button

Place in them in the refrigerator for about 10-15 minutes to let them harden

Step 5: Enjoy!

I hope your Valentine's Day is full of love and sweet wishes!

Rory I love you. I love you, dammit! How many times do I have to tell you? God! Just talk to me!

Just Another Manic Monday

Ms. Adams?

Hello my name is Ginger and I am going to be your genetic counselor today.

Today was a big day for me and my classmates. Today we had to perform our first counseling session by ourselves...(thankfully using actors!)

We will be doing three of these role plays throughout the semester, one for each main discipline of genetic counseling, and today was prenatal. We were given our patient's chart on Thursday in order to prepare for what we were going to say and do.

Talk about nerve racking! I must have practiced how I was going to say everything at least 50 times.

Finally, today arrived. My appointment was at 8:30am and as you can imagine, I did not get much sleep. After talking with my director before I began, I went down to retrieve the patient. My heart was pounding the whole time.

Is this really happening? Can I do this? I hope I can be a good genetic counselor!

I called my patient's name in the waiting room and everything else is kind of a blur. A mix of adrenaline, nerves and confidence took over me and I presented all the information that I needed to my patient.

When it was all over, the actor and my director spoke with me about things I did well and things that I need to improve on.  I was praised for my tone and ability to communicate difficult information in a simple way. ::what a relief::

Overall, although terrifying it was a great learning experience. It brings me one step closer to being a genetic counselor and having a C.G.C. after my name!

Mad as a Platter

I feel like I am beginning to sound like a broken record, especially since I keep apologizing for my lack of blog updates because of my school workload.

oh...the glamorous life of a graduate student.

Remember how much fun the Lucky 7 has when celebrating birthdays?
(Need a reminder?....are you sure?)

Finally it was my turn to have a Lucky 7 birthday celebration!
Well, me and Rachel.
We Capricorns have to stick together!

We started the evening off by going to Mad Platter, a pottery painting creativity studio to get our craft on. Of course, I am wonderful at taking pictures at other people's parties, but not so much at mine!

A breakdown of what everyone made:
Stephen: A soap dispenser for his guest bathroom
Rachel: A spoon rest with beautiful flowers :)
John: A plate with a bride and groom on it for a wedding present
Cassie: A soup mug with giraffe print and a green "C" on the inside
Darcy/Niall: An appetizer tray with grapes in one section and fish in another
Ginger:  A small serving tray that I am using in my bathroom to hold jewelry

Finished Product :) 

What do you think?

I really had a wonderful time. I needed a creative outlet and it came at the perfect time. We ended the evening by going to my favorite restaurant: Harpers. Another one of the wonderful surprising things about Columbia is that it has things like my favorite restaurant from my hometown.

Overall it was a wonderful time. I am so lucky to be a part of the Lucky 7 :) Cannot wait until the next birthday celebration!

Why am I being mocked on my birthday?