Three cheers for The Parr's

This weekend we celebrated a few things. Our good friends, Annie and Andrew, got married. Annie is one of my Atlanta Pi Phi girls and one of the happiest ladies I know. After dating for six and a half years, we all knew The Parrs would have a spectacular marriage celebration. After a lovely ceremony at Peacthree Road Lutheran Church, we danced (and ate) the night away at Ansley Golf Club. Annie is absolutely amazing and actually baked some of her famous lemon cupcakes to add to their Cupcake Cake from one of Atlanta's favorite bakery, A Piece of Cake.

One amusing part of the evening was when Andrew proposed a speech to his beautiful bride and presented her with a Denver Bronco's jersey with PARR lettered on the back. The spirited person that she is, Annie immediately put the jersey on over her wedding dress, showing off her love for the Bronco's (and Andrew). The busy bride also made the guest favors, professional looking (and tasting) sugar cookies shaped in the letter A, and little Stetson hats, symbolic of their alma matter in Florida. It was very evident that everyone in attendance was so happy for the Annie and Andrew, their strong families, and their new family that is just beginning.

Pi Phi's with Mr. & Mrs. Parr

The following morning Danny and I hosted brunch for the Pi Phis and their significant others. It was a good excuse for us to put the finishing touches on the condo that we'd neglected since April. We had a fabulous time recanting stores from the fun night before and making plans for the next group gatherings, Ashley's baby shower and a haunted movie night taking place next week. It was a nice farewell to send Annie and Andrew on their honeymoon to Playa del Carmen, and also to send our girl, Jackie, back to Boston where she now resides.

Sunday afternoon Danny and I relaxed and enjoyed a Date Day to celebrate our upcoming new jobs and our 6 month anniversary. We ended the evening with fondue dinner at The Melting Pot, one of our favorite special occasion restaurants.

On with the new!

Adjusting to newlywed life has been great over the last six months [that's right, six...time sure has flown by], full of change, and many lessons in communication. And now that we are pretty sure we've got it all mastered [chuckle], new challenges are on the horizon! Both Danny and I are starting new jobs...on the same day, October 25! First of all, thank God for all the answered prayers.

After 4-1/2 years at my current job, it is time to move on. I've learned a lot since graduating from college and the great hands-on experience gained in this small company will serve me well. My soon-to-be company, Karpaty Cabinets, is also family owned. They design and manufacture cabinetry, mill work, and furniture in a variety of styles; modern, traditional, rustic...they do it all, and for every room of the house. It so happened that a designer friend introduced us more than two years back after she collaborated with them on a Holiday Showhouse. I was very impressed and dubbed working for them as my "dream." Recently I had been exploring other career options and the Lord knew exactly how to point me in the right direction. A few weeks ago, the owner of Karpaty called me up, we met a couple times again, and the rest is history! I am honored to join such a enthusiastic team who really strives to be creative in every application and stays busy sharing their talents all over Georgia. I look forward to a more flexible schedule, getting great field experience, meeting with clients, and submitting computer rendered designs to the workers who skillfully create the masterpieces we dream up. There is so much for me to learn about construction, I'm so excited!

Here are some examples of Karpaty's amazing work:

I was sitting quiet on my job news because we knew something was in store for Danny right around the corner and it would be awesome to announce it together. Just becoming official today, Danny's new position lands him a little closer to "home", continuing his 8 years with Home Depot, but in an entirely new field. Leaving finance behind, he'll be working in the Services division as a Sr Operations Analyst. Danny will be coordinating with contractors and government housing authorities all over the United States as Home Depot bids to rebuild low income housing. After spending so much time working in the stores throughout college, Danny feels that knowledge is a great asset at the corporate level. This position is a good step in connecting him closer to the stores, which has been his goal for a while.

Other good news to report is that we said 'adios' to Danny's Hyundai last night. There will be no more hubcaps rolling down Peachtree Road on our account. It's always a little stressful selling a car on craigslist. Fortunately the first people to test drive it purchased it after a couple days of deliberation. We are getting pepped up for a 16 hour road trip at the end of the Thanksgiving holiday to bring home a new car for Danny.