T.G.I.S. right?

Man, thank goodness it's the weekend! Ha! Taylor and I really needed this day off! :)

So we got up this morning and headed to the Farmer's Market. This was the second time we have visited the Market and we love it! They have so many different types of fruits, vegetables, meat, and many other goodies! Today we only picked up some zucchini, squash, and corn since we will be leaving on Tuesday to head back to AR and OK. But they also had fresh okra, green beans, and watermelon that looked soooo good! We did pick up some roasted almonds before we left that were a wonderful treat this afternoon!


This afternoon we took a walk over to the mall to see how long it would take Taylor to make it to the bus stop. It ended up being less than 10 minutes which will be so great for him when school starts! Then we wandered around the mall for awhile, which Taylor learned is never a good idea to do with me. Ha! We didn't end up getting anything but I sure found a lot of purses and shoes that I liked! I also got the opportunity to talk with one of my sweet friends Mackenzie about the job search. She was such an encouragement to me and it was wonderful to get to talk with her. I am so thankful to have such great people in my life during this time when it is easy to get discouraged. Thank you all for your prayers!


Dinner this evening was another success, if I do say so myself! We made baked zucchini and squash, rice, and parmesan crusted tilapia. Yummy! After dinner we decided we would head to the video store and find something to watch (yeah, still no cable). The store ended up having all their new releases for $1 and since we opened a new account we get all our rentals 1/2 off for the next month! How awesome is that? We were so excited. :)

We hope y'all had a great Saturday and we will see you soon!

Golf, Dinner, and Anniversaries

So today we went and played golf! Taylor practically begged last night and I finally said yes! ha. It ended up being a great day for golf and we had a lot of fun. The high was only 83 and it was overcast the whole time. Needless to say, I walked all 18 holes and didn't even complain. Or if I did complain, Taylor said it wasn't that noticeable! :)


We tried a new recipe for dinner tonight, Indian Summer Chili, and it was delicious. I mean't to take a picture but forgot! Rachael Ray's Top 10 Book has not let us down yet, so I think we will keep trying out recipes. If you have any good dinner ideas, we would love to hear them!

Now we are just having a relaxing evening in the apartment. Taylor is figuring out all of his employment information for the U of I and I am about to watch a season of Friends! Tomorrow we are planning on making a trip to the local farmers market to pick up some tasty vegetables and lots of corn on the cob :)


And finally... Happy Anniversary to my parents!! We love you both very much.

A Typical Day

As many of you know, I have not started school yet and we are still looking for a job for Jamie. You may be interested what a day is like for the unemployed. Let me give you a glimpse...

Set the alarm the night before for 8:00 AM. You need to pick out an artist that you would like to listen to, because when you wake up at 8:00, you'll realize you have nothing to do...for the entire day. So you wake up at 8:00 to Ray Lamontagne's "Let It Be Me." Then it plays random songs for about 30 to 45 minutes until you actually get up. Go into the living room/kitchen/dining room to eat your bowl of apple jacks or raisin bran crunch. You didn't buy the cereal you're eating, it was all of your friends who bought you Wal-Mart gift cards (thank you for that, seriously).

As of recently, you do a workout from P90X, which takes about an hour and a half. Then, as you are cooling down, get on the internet to look for the most recent jobs, the ones that have been posted in the last 12 hours since you last checked it. Scroll through all of the nursing jobs that are available, probably 20 new ones every day. And we thought a business degree was practical.

So you finally find the administrative assistant or secretary jobs that you were searching for. Or maybe you got really excited to find a marketing coordinator position available. You put at least an hour of work into a cover letter, which you aren't even sure they read. You have your resume and new cover letter uploaded and application almost complete when they have the nerve to have you fill out a 20 minute survey. A survey? We just spent over an hour filling out the same information we sent to your company yesterday (3 times, actually) and you want to ask me if I like to work in groups, 5 being "I strongly agree." Now, it's past noon and you haven't even taken a shower yet.

Take your shower and eat lunch, a chicken sandwich on 100% wheat bread or maybe Tuesday night's lasagna.


Don't get me wrong, the lasagna was delicious. Turn on a Friends episode and watch a couple. You don't have cable yet, so you might as well. As soon as you finish the meal, you have to think about what to eat for dinner and if you have all of the ingredients. You probably don't. You're not too disappointed though, because that means you have something you have to do. So you drive the less than a mile drive through no stoplights to the Wal-Mart and grab everything you need (on gift cards still). Glance at the Red Box and pick one out, say Dear John. You should watch a movie tonight.

Go home and apply to 3 more jobs. Keep in mind, it's 3:00 PM and you haven't heard much from the companies that you've applied to. You thought this would be the day. It's a let down since you got an interview last week. Well, finish up those applications and then start cooking dinner, say cranberry chicken with corn on the cob. You should drink A&W Root Beer from the frozen mug. You deserve it for all of the hard work that seemingly no one notices. Very delicious dinner, especially the corn. Good ole Land of Lincoln. The company is the greatest too. Thank goodness we're going through this together. It's fun to laugh and joke about the small things that we love now. You may think we're living the life, and we are living well, but it's a lot different than what we're used to.

Clean up the kitchen. Clean the counter tops, sweep the floor, and wash the larger dishes that can't be cleaned in the dishwasher (curse those dishes!). Now, it's finally time to watch the movie, Green Zone. Sit in the recliner or on the couch that reminds you of home. It's over, not bad but not great. It's 10:00 and you're already tired. Where did your college stamina go? The fun in college used to start much later. Read the Bible before you go to sleep, the book of Joshua. Read about the allottment of land for the Israelites in the Promised Land. Zzzzzz, you're already asleep.


Go to sleep. Remember, set the alarm to an artist you like.

We love you all and miss you!

Hello!

Here we are in Champaign! We moved in July 16 with our parents and Jamie's sister Keeley. They were a ton of help, especially when Dad and Bryan moved up a lot of the heavy stuff. We're finally getting all settled in to the apartment, so here are some pictures of the place.


It's a shame that such a sweet tv doesn't have cable yet! Without a source of income at this point, we're cheap.



Lots of cabinet space! Thanks to all of you and your gifts, we have filled them all!


There's my recliner. So pretty.


And without endtables, we are using our tv trays as endtables.


That's the only full bathroom in our two-bedroom apartment. I often get kicked out to the smaller half bath to brush my teeth.


We bought that dresser for one heck of a price. "Health and happiness," ya right.


Since we have so many visitors (none to this day), Jamie makes the bed every day! Simply amazing.


We just got the bed in today, so now we have a place for you to sleep. I'll be in the room with you studying at my desk, so just try to ignore the light. Maybe I'll read you a Physics bedtime story!