Things I love about Savannah...

Since I got a little emotional in my last blog, I decided to face reality head on and look at the positive sides to being located in Savannah.

• Spending time with Steven's family. I love being able to see little Sarah grow up and I am looking forward to the twin boys making their arrival in November/December. We have gotten to know Lyndsey's sister Rebecca and her husband Richard better and "adapted" some of their friends as our own. :-) When Grandma Betty (Durrence) was getting her hair done in Savannah, I adored having lunch with her on Friday's when my schedule allowed. His Aunt Gigi and Uncle Danny have always been so supportive and generous and it was so nice having them close by when we were in Sunbury for dinners together and sharing Internet time. :-) The Tucker side of the family we are getting to know better and better especially with Steven working there now. They're some of my biggest fans of my blog! Hi Melanie, Megan and Aunt Gail!!!!! Love ya~
• LESS TRAFFIC! My commute is cut in half from Jacksonville and I love it. We can get to downtown in @ 15 minutes from our house and @ 30 mins to the mall, but who needs to spend money anyways. :-) Walmart, Sams, Lowes and Home Depot are less than 5 mins away and Kroger is a 10 min drive.
• The trees. The large draping oaks that line the streets of Savannah whisper tales of history going back to 1733. Their moss weighted branches cast a shadow of black coolness in these dog days of summer and I can see so many stories of romance and bravery etched in their gnarled trunks. If you can't tell, I'm a huge fan of history, writing and romance and the cobblestone streets, rustic iron works and horse drawn carriages are right up my ally. I'm hoping to head up to Charleston, SC sometime soon and absorb some history there too (it's @ 2 1/2 hours away).
  
• My house. Our house layout is fantastic and the dogs enjoy the large yard tremendously. We're not big fans of yard work, but we do our best! We have so many plans that we'd like to do and hopefully, one day we can do. We still have some painting to do and curtains to get, but the four bedrooms allow Steven a Miami Dolphin crazed office/autograph room, a scrapbook/exercise room for me, a "guest room" with a wonderful king blow up mattress and our master bedroom. We have 500 more sq feet than we had in Jacksonville and it's great for all our "crap" with the addition of a great dining room suite from Steven's grandma Tucker.
• Our neighborhood. We love all the trees that they left and the wonderful park right in the middle of the subdivision. We have a terrific pool which we hadn't used much, but we have started swimming almost ever night and it's AWESOME. We don't have the upkeep of a pool yet all the enjoyment. :-)
• My job! I have never had a job that I have loved and now I do. Living day to day is so much more enjoyable when you don't dread everyday and are miserable at work after driving an hour one way. My bosses are so flexible, understanding and supportive and my co-workers are crazy and fun! I have taken advantage of getting my hair done, chemical peels monthly on my face and pedicures bi-weekly for free. :-) Don't get too jealous now...lol

Why do I...

• Bite my fingernails. It's a nasty habit I have had since I was little and I just can't ever seem to stop. Being a massage therapist, we are required to have short nails, but mine are shorter than short.
  
• Always order different at every restaurant we eat at (or at least Steven says I do). I like being the adventurous one and adding some spice to my life I guess.
  
• Love to sleep! Last night, I slept 10 hours and LOVED it. If I don't get a good night sleep, I am not a very pleasant person. I don't know what I'm going to do when we have kids. :-)
  
• Talk my poor, innocent friends' ears off. Becca was so sweet to call me the other day and we were on for almost an hour with me going on and on about moving back to PC. Mandy and I played phone tag back and forth the other day until we finally got to talk a bit. Having friends that have kids is hard because I never want to call when they are so busy with crazy, wild kids. :-) j/k I don't want to be a pain, but I am.
• Really enjoy just being at home. I think I have always been a sort of home-body. When we were in Jacksonville, it was easy to stay at home because we didn't have much money to do things anyways. I love watching movies and chilling out with some popcorn or working on my scrapbooks. I've really gotten into cooking a lot more at home too because it's so much better for you and it costs so much less. (If only I could learn to love dishes!) Don't get me wrong, I love a great dinner out like we had the other night at Uncle Bubba's with Dad and John, but I end up paying for it later.
  
• Miss my family so much. In my totally dominated conversation with Becca, I was telling her that when I have to leave them or they leave here, it feels like my whole insides ache and my heart just hurts. I try not to cry, but lately it doesn't always happen. When Steven and I were apart, I missed him so much especially on the day to day activities and such, but this is completely different. In college, I remember just sobbing down Hwy 231 driving out of PC. I got better living in Jax because we were able to see them about once a month, but now that Anna and Allan have moved there, it makes it that much worse. I try to be realistic about all of this because I know that they would all drive me completely crazy, but I miss the little things....breakfast over at Mom and Dad's before church, Lauren's days off were we could go shopping or get our nails done, lunch with Mandy while helping her with cleaning houses, Friday morning breakfast with Mom and Gran, having Auntie just stop by to chat and hang out, watching my wonderful nephew grow and change with each passing day and really get to know Lacy and John who don't even remember me being around for anything in there lives. It's so hard to believe that I've been gone for almost 10 years now.

I think I'll stop at that point before it gets SO completely sappy and sad. Sorry, it's been a really long week and I'm pooped. No more massages for me...until Monday. Lots of love~

Just got home...

We just got back from a wonderfully awesome weekend in Jacksonville with Steven's parents. They treated us to a day at the spa yesterday with massages, hot tubs, steam room and salt water pool. We lounged around and relaxed with not a care in the world. It was HEAVENlY! We then went and had an early dinner at P.F. Chang's, on our fav restaurants and desert at Cheesecake Factory. Who has the best in-laws in the world? MMMMEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!
It was great and I didn't want to come home. I wish I could stay there forever except I couldn't affford the bill and they'd put me to work. :-) Time to unpack...yuck.

At home on a Friday...too much time to think and play on the Internet :-)

Steven is so
good with kids!






Summer time blues I guess. Weird weird day. Business has been hit and miss at work with the phone not ringing much because the housewives of Savannah are busy with kids at home, off their normal routine and lots of people on vacations. I have to work tomorrow which always "bothers" me because Steven is home and I like to spend time with him or do projects together (aka go shopping and spend lots of money together). Went to Sam's and Walmart, my two least favorite places in the world. I always spend too much money, waste too much time, the employees are rude and inconsiderate, and I hate waiting in long lines.
Been thinking a lot about babies again, dang it. I am going to be an aunt again in February which is exciting. I hope it's a girl so I can shower her with lots and lots of pink things. As I surfed the Internet this afternoon, every (halfway decent) show on was about babies. Sometimes I feel like I want to have kids just for all the cool "things" that come along with kids. I think about how happy and excited my parents would be as their oldest child has a kid, Steven's parents with their first and only grandkid, and Steven's grandma who loves babies and could possibly see the Durrence name carried on. I think about having stuff to talk about with other moms and all our neighbors. Cool toys...someone that is half me and half Steven...and there is nothing in the world like a baby smile and laughter. I know they grow up and throw up and keep you up all night. Screaming, temper tantrums and crying...teenagers, what can you do with them? Growing up in a family of seven and two bathrooms and three bedrooms, I always swore I never wanted to have kids. Then Steven came along. An only child married to an oldest kid of 5...very interesting to say the least. Steven and I are opposite in so many ways, but alike in a few as well, the more important ones. He thinks I'm a weird homeschooling freak who sings educational songs and songs from musicals with her siblings and I think he's a "spoiled" special, business analyst who will always be a kid in his parents eyes and doesn't like to share his toothpaste. :) Enough said...lol

Fourth of July, 2008- Branch style

Sorry that I haven't blogged in a bit. Our Mac crashed a few weeks ago and we had to get a new one. I don't even know where the pictures from Memorial Day are, hopefully they will show up somewhere. This year we were actually able to go to Panama City for the first time in 3 years because it fell on a Friday this year. :-) My parents have always thrown a HUGE cookout at their house on the water because you can see the city's firework show from the marina. There is never a formal invite and friends of friends end up showing up. This year, we counted about 90 people total. My mom cooks for about a week and dad worked on the house for 2 weeks. Auntie made 90 deviled eggs and we had a whole dinning room table full of desert. We always have a ton of leftover food, but Mom always freaks out about food. Mandy graciously and wonderfully had some great kids games planned and everyone had fun with water and she was soaked. I don't know exactly what they played because I did kitchen duty- refilling empty containers, greeting new people and trying to find a spot for what they brought and giving general directions for questions (which was more difficult than it sounds because I haven't lived there in almost 10 years). :-) It was nice seeing everyone and talking to people I hadn't seen in a while. The next day we went over to Shell Island on the boat and had a nice time in the pristine water and soft, white sand with Allan, Anna, Jimmy and Lauren. It was a very very quick weekend especially considering the 7-8 drive one way, but we're back to old routine and normalness of Pooler. Sigh- I miss my baby Jimmy already!

P.S. For more great, beautiful pictures of my awesome family and friends go to
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aliciadurrence/