It's A Boy!

My manager at CCE is having a baby boy in just a few short weeks. Since it is his first baby, we decided to through him a baby shower at work. You all know me and know how much I love to plan so it won't be a shock to you to hear I took the lead on planning it!

Onesies I printed the baby's name on for decor

Since it was a "Man" Baby Shower, we did not want to embarrass him even more than he already would be so we made it real simple but a surprise! We some how managed to keep it a surprise for over a month and get his wife to even show up to surprise him.

Everyone contributed money and I went out and bought tons of stuff and filled boxes up as well as bought them their jogging stroller Chris really wanted.

Chris with the jogging stroller

I had so much fun planning it, I really think I want to plan parties and events on the side, maybe even be a personal shopper. I love buying gifts for people and putting together packages!

Some of the gifts

Full Swing

Russ is in full swing for studying for finals and in complete stressed out mode. I don't think I thought I would ever say this but thank goodness work has kept me busy and working late. With it being finals time, Russ stays late at school and with me working late that is less time I am alone at home trying to figure out what to do with free time.

Everyone always wishes they had more free time but I find when I get it, I do not know what to do with myself. Like today, Russ had a jammed packed day and it was so nice outside, so I did not want to sit in the house all day and I can't start planting flowers yet so I had no idea what to do. Thankfully, Mom took the day off from showing houses and we spent the day together. We drove around looking at house trim color since we are about to paint our house. Then went up to Jefferson, GA to some old Mill factory to walk around a warehouse full of home decor. Some how we managed to only spend $10 on decor and $15 on lunch, we had a good day together and didn't spend much money!

Russ did take a break from studying to eat dinner with me so that was nice. I think over the past week, we only ate dinner together once. He did also take last night off from studying since Darren and Mary stayed the night with us. We wish they had stayed longer but they were on their way to Florida and Russ needed to get back to studying.

After May 7th, I will have Russ back hopefully. He has managed to give himself a full summer, trying to write onto Law Review, trying out for Moot Court, studying and taking the Patent Bar Exam, one night class on Thursdays, and hopefully getting a job. Oh yeah, plus helping me around the house! There is always something going on in the Dunlap household. I guess I should take advantage of all my free time and stop worrying about how to fill it up.

It's Prom Season

April is Prom season in Georgia. All the girls are busy trying to find that perfect dress and hairstyle, and making sure they are dressed to the nines for their high school proms. The guys have to remember to pick up their tuxes and wash their cars to pick up their dates. Looking back at it now, between finding the perfect dress and hairstyle, ordering the boutonnieres, making sure you match your date, having transportation to the events, and making reservations is a small look into preparations for a wedding. We had a "Prom" of our own to go to.

Last weekend, was the Barrister's Ball, also known as the Law School Prom. When I hear the word Prom, I begin thinking of all the fancy dresses and spending the day getting all dolled up. Luckily, the Barrister's Ball was not that time consuming. I actually spent the day hiding Easter eggs for our church Easter egg hunt and shopping with Kara in the afternoon. An hour before we were suppose to leave I then decided to get ready. Kara helped me with my hair and I got dressed. I did not even buy a new dress but I did buy new shoes though! Russ showered and through on a suit. Easy enough!


There are a couple of things that made the Barrister's Ball better than Prom. The event was at Park Tavern, which was a really neat venue. It overlooks Piedmont Park and has amazing view of the city skyline. The other great thing about it was it was an open bar, you won't get that at a high school prom!

I spent the night learning more law terms than I think I will ever use in my lifetime but it was nice to get to hang out with Russ's law school buddies besides having them over to watch football. They are all a great group of people and I did have some stuff in come with them. I think all the law students needed an excuse for a night away from the books too.

Honey, I found your ring!

This morning I came running out of the bathroom to tell Russ I had found his ring. Once I woke him up and he seemed excited I proceeded with "APRIL FOOLS!" He told me I was mean and turned back over and went back to sleep. I thought it was a good one!

I know that was horrible to do but I had been planning it for a week and I love doing April Fool's jokes. Every year when I lived at home I would get my Dad with the same trick. I would put a white hairband around the sprayer so when he turned on the water to fill his coffee pot it would squirt him. He never learned, when I went off to college I would call my mom to remind her to do it. He wasn't too happy about it because he would always have to change. I remember one year it was laundry day and he was wearing his last clean dress shirt, oops....

I love to do little jokes, nothing harmful or really mean, just enough to get a mean look for a second then a laugh. I already have one planned for next year....

Favorite Gas Station

Last weekend, Russ and I visited our good friend, Rachel, in Wilmington, North Carolina. Russ was on Spring Break and I used my first vacation day for the year to go visit Rachel. We left on Thursday night so we would not waste the entire day on Friday traveling.

We got there late Thursday night so Rachel was a little tired for work on Friday. While Rachel was at work, Russ and I visited Downtown Wilmington. We walked along the streets and river and had lunch at a restaurant along the river. It was so nice having a day off from work and Russ not studying!

Russ in front of the bridge along the river

Once Rachel got off work we got to catch up with her. It was so nice to just sit on her porch, drink a beer, and catch up like old times. That evening, we went and watched Rachel play volleyball, her new addiction :) It was at a really neat place, I think every town needs a place like it. It was at Captain Bill's, it was restaurant/bar place with about 7 sand volleyball courts. It is a great place to just hang out with friends, drink, and play volleyball if you want. We spent the entire night there and had a blast.

Rachel playing volleyball in her neat sand socks!

Rachel and I hanging out inside at Captain Bill's

On Saturday, we had our very own tour guide show us the ins and outs of Wilmington and the beaches nearby. She created an jammed pack itinerary for us. We started the day by going to Wrightsville Beach and went on a nice walk along the beach then had lunch at Oceanic (sounds like a restaurant for the show Lost) it has a pier with tables on it over the beach and ocean. It was a neat atmosphere and great food! After lunch, we continued our tour of Wilmington, saw were Rachel works and the outdoor mall there (our friend Will help develop when he was an intern). The weather was so nice we spent the entire day outside. After those adventures we went to the other beach, Carolina Beach. It is a bit different than Wrightsville Beach, it is best described as a smaller Myrtle Beach. While we were there we went to a this neat bar, Fat Pelican. You walk in go into a trailer and pick out your beer you want then go to the bar and pay for it. Anyone that goes to Carolina Beach needs to experience it. That evening we went and had Mexican, I think that is a tradition with our college friends. Whenever we are together we seem to eat Mexican for at least one meal! We met a couple more friends of Rachel there for dinner. She has a lot of them there! We finished off our amazing day with a good game of Scrabble, and guess who won....ME! I actually bet two of the top Scrabble players!

Rachel and I on Wrightsville Beach

Rachel and Russ in the trailer at Fat Pelican picking out their beer

Sunday was a sad day, we lost an hour due to daylight savings time and had to say our goodbyes to the nice weather, Spicy, and RACHEL :( Russ being the concerned one he is about gas prices asked Rachel what her favorite gas station was. I do not know about you, but I really do not have a favorite gas station or a loyalty to any gas station, so we gave Russ a hard time about that. We ended up getting gas at the Wal-Mart place, hope that satisfied his gas station visit :)

Russ and Spicy (Russ was in heaven all weekend playing with a dog!)

We had such a wonderful weekend visiting Rachel. It was so nice to get away and visit a friend all at the same time. We are already planning our next trip back! Thanks Rachel for being such a wonderful host and friend! We miss you already!

Who knew windows would be so exciting?

I am not sure if I am already an old woman or getting new windows really is that exciting....

As many of you know, Russ and I bought an older home. It was built in 1963 and has a lot of character but also has the same windows from when it was constructed. Over the past couple of months, Russ worked on getting different quotes on replacing the windows throughout the house. I had no idea how expensive new windows would be so we took our Christmas money and replaced half of them. We decided the first ones to attack would be the large bow window in our living room and the two windows in our master bedroom. These two rooms are where we spend majority of our time so we thought those were the most important. Eventually, we will replace all the windows. As you can see from the pictures, the windows were aluminum framing and very thin single pane. We replaced them with double pane and wood, so hopefully our house will be warmer as well!

Original Master Bedroom Windows

Old Bow Window

We ended up hiring a general contractor to do the work which actually ended up being an old family friend. I played soccer with his daughter in elementary and middle school and Mom sold him his house. The windows took three weeks to come in and three full days to install. We finally got new windows but little did I know there was more work for me. Since the bow window was custom made, it came in a little bigger so they had to open up the wall putting in new sheet rock and trim creating a big paint job for me. Also, lots of dust to clean up!

One of the new windows in the master bedroom before it was paintedIn the middle of replacing the bow window

We ended up replacing the five section bow window with a three section bay window. The original window was thinner so we could have five sections and in order to replace it with a bow window we could only do a four section. We wanted it to be an odd number so the middle part was flat so we went with a three section bay window where the two sections on the side are casement windows (open up by cranking them open). It is amazing the difference the it made by replacing the windows. I cannot wait to get them all updated! One step at a time Brittany.... I am getting a seat cushion made for the bay window though!

The new bay window!

One of the master bedroom windows all painted!

Overdue Update

Sorry for taking so long to add a new post. It has been very busy around the Dunlap household the past two weeks.

Russ was on Spring Break two weeks ago. I do not know if I call it Spring Break though, we had 3 inches of snow and he worked on his paper the entire time. We finished it off with a short vacation to visit one of our very good friends, Rachel Frey, in Wilmington, North Carolina. Also, during that week we replaced three windows in our house. This past week after work each night, I came home and painted the new windows, trim, and walls as well as cleaned all the dust from the construction. In the middle of the week I got a phone call telling me my Granddaddy was emitted into the hospital which made me mentally check out from anything else around me. Please pray for him to gain strength and comfort. As of today, Granddaddy was being moved to a rehab nursing home so hopefully he can get healthier there.

We did have an exciting event this week. My Grandparent-in-laws (Grandpa and Grandma Dunlap) stayed with us on Friday night. They spend their winters in Ft. Myers, FL and were driving back to Louisville so they stopped for the night in Atlanta. It was so nice seeing them. We had not seen them since Darren's wedding in June 2008. It was a nice and long overdue visit with them!