JULY

It's hard to believe, but July has come and is almost over. Time sure does seem to pass a bit more rapidly during the summer time! As strange as it seems, we are already seeing "Back to School" signs and advertisements at Target and Wal-Mart. Secretly, I am pretty stinking excited about it this year- I can not wait to meet my new students and co-workers- I'm ready to get this show on the road! Fortunately, I don't have to wait too much longer. I'll be attending the new teacher orientation August 11-13, then I begin teacher workdays on August 19th. Oh, I remember the days when seeing teacher workdays on the academic calendar would elicit a "WOO HOO!" (At that time, it meant that I'd be able to sleep in and have an extra day to complete the homework that I'd put off until the last minute). Now, while it still brings excitement, it is definitely a different kind, which admittedly will probably fade rather quickly!
Though August brings new and exciting things for Greg as well, I'd be lying if I said he was as eager as I am for it to be here. He is officially registered for a total of 17 semester hours, split up between Cape Fear CC and ECU. He is incredibly motivated and I know he is going to kick some academic butt this semester, but sadly that doesn't do much to ease his nerves! He just knows that he needs to get through it (that seems to be our motto for a lot of the things in life that we've been through over the last 4.5 years!!) I can't begin to say how proud I am of him and his perseverance!
Aside from looking forward to what the Fall semester has in store for us, we have really enjoyed our summer vacation. I have to say that this is the most time we have ever spent together, and it has been amazing! I've always heard people say that it's so difficult to be around the same person all the time and that living together makes it difficult to get along. To that I say PISH POSH! The more time I spend around my husband, the more I want to spend even more time with him. We have had the best time whether we've hung out with the Knight/Queen clan, walked on the beach, played Uno, cleaned the house, gone grocery shopping, or done flat-out nothing at all!
Anyway, I suppose that's enough chatter for now... NCIS is on! By the way, if you get a chance to watch White Collar and/or Covert Affairs, we highly recommend that you do. We are looking forward to Tuesday night TV which involves the 3 previously mentioned series!!!! Yep, we're excited! Until next time...

Happy Birthday and SCORPION TIME!

It has been my turn to post since Michelle's first post, but I have neglected to do it in a very timely manner :-(. So here it goes...

First is a VERY sweet thing my incredible wife did for me - she threw me a surprise birthday dinner! I did not see it coming and it was awesome, Michelle did a great job planning it. When we walked into El Cerro Grande - all the tables in the middle of the restaurant were filled with friends and family - I was so surprised I walked right back out of the restaurant (haha!). It was so cool to have so many people there to celebrate and enjoy a nice dinner with. During the course of the dinner, of course they put the sombrero on me and sang Happy Birthday and then came the NASTIEST thing I have ever tasted. They made me take a "Birthday" shot that was three different liquors and was lit on fire... Wow, never want to experience that again!

** This me taking the "Birthday" Fire Shot... **

** This is what I looked like right after I took the fire shot... and Michelle is LOVING it. **

Thank you so much for the surprise sweetheart!! :-)

On a VERY, VERY exciting note - Michelle got a JOB!!! She is very excited to have been offered an English position at North Brunswick High School!

According to sources (haha), there were several applicants, but the English Department Chair and the Assistant Principals (the ones that performed the interview) were very impressed with Michelle and recommended her to the Principal, Mr. Bob Grimes. After meeting her, Mr. Grimes was also very impressed and offered her the job!! Wooo Hooo!! The first call from NBHS was on a Monday and she was offered the job on Friday - I would say she knocked their socks off :-). I am so proud of her and she will be a GREAT English Teacher!!! Congratulations to the newest Scorpion!

Well that somewhat "ketches" everybody up for now. Thanks for reading and hope everyone is having a happy summer!

Back in the Swing of Things

That's right... Greg and Michelle are back in the world of Blogging! Except this time, we are sharing the responsibilities!

Admittedly, Greg and I have never been outstanding at keeping people "in the loop" with what is going on in our lives. Whether it be that we are busy, forgetful, or flat out lazy we are not entirely sure; however, that is hopefully going to change with our collaborative blog. This way, regardless of who authors the post, you will get the information!

Greg's sister, Sarah, made an interesting observation: it has been way too long since either of us has taken the time to catch people up with the new Mr. and Mrs. Therefore, we have decided to attribute the idea of catching up ("Ketchup") to the title of our Blog.

I have always liked to read stories or plays that begin in medias res (a fancy term for "in the middle of things"), so I'll just jump right in for the first post. Here goes...

Right now, I am sitting here with my husband of almost 6 months writing the first post to our brand new Blog. Excitingly, the first post is being typed up on the newest addition to our family (if you can call it that). Our first born: Mac- sorry Kristin! As luck would have it, we picked up Mac on Wednesday evening after Greg received a call informing us that he had in fact won a raffle that he had previously entered. The prize? A 21.5" i-Mac desktop computer. (Insert "Holy Crap" here). Needless to say, we were shocked and SUPER excited! It has been a challenge getting used to the new layout, but we fell in love with it instantly!

Aside from our miraculous inheritance, we have been through a whirlwind of craziness in the last 6 months. We have gotten married (FINALLY!) and moved into our first place. Both of these events have made us undoubtedly the two happiest clams in all the pond :-) Similarly, we have finally experienced living in the same town again- something that had not been the case for upwards of 3 years!

As if life couldn't get any better, I finally finished my internship and graduated from ECU! I am currently still waiting to receive my diploma and teaching license and oh yeah... a job. Even more excitingly, I joined First Baptist (probably the most reluctant I have ever been to walk up in front of a group of people, but I am so glad I did). And, I was baptized on April 4th (Easter Sunday).

Greg has experienced some monumental changes as well. He was let go from his job in May. Immediate response? Devastation. Regret. Worry. Fear. Reluctance. What changed? I suppose we would have to use our own true realization of a cliche- Our God truly works in mysterious ways! After conversations, tears, prayers, and a couple heaps of rationality, we realized that this could be a minor "set back" instead of a major catastrophe. So, we decided to revisit an idea that we had previously tossed around. As it turns out, this "set back" is going to in fact be a blessing (one that happened to be disguised in a really mean costume). Greg has decided to take on school full-time again in the fall and get his degree sooner than later. He will be completing the courses online through East Carolina, as well as a few more basic courses at CFCC. He has realized what it is that he wants to do, and he finally has the motivation and freedom he needs to do it. As I said, we had previously discussed this; however, if you know Greg Collins at all, then you know quitting is not something that comes easily for him, and it would have been extremely difficult for him to have given up his job voluntarily. Now, the choice was made for him, for us (Thanks, God!).

In an attempt to allow you time for all of this "ketchup" to sink in, I think I'll go ahead and call it quits for this post. Thanks for all of your love and support in the past few months. We hope you enjoy out new Blog, and that the upcoming posts can be a little easier to swallow!