An Update in Photos

Since I posted last, it snowed...a lot. A lot for Charlotte anyway. We were stuck in our neighborhood for a couple of days, but poor Eric took the brunt of it and got stranded in NYC for an extra four days. Pierre was none too thrilled that he had to get his paws wet, but of course I took advantage of the opportunity for him to wear his winter hat.

 Approximately 48 hours after the above photos were taken, it was 74 degrees outside. So I worked on our back deck in the sunshine...with snow still on the ground. You know you live in the Carolinas when...

Once again, my friends went above and beyond with pick me ups and encouragement while I studied. Sarah sent me this amazing box of goodies  - can we just all agree that the power of good snacks is vastly underestimated?

 

My best friend, Amy, and her husband, Josh, were kind enough to host me let the crazy completely take over their home the week of the bar. Amy is always the best hostess, but she really outdid herself this time with the cute presents waiting for me in her guest room and endless encouragement.  Not pictured are the gifts that G (my best friend from law school... you all have heard me talk about her before) had waiting for me every single day of the exam. 

I have amazing friends. Amazing. Worth their weight in solid gold.

See below exhibits of how ready we are for spring.  We have been spending a considerable amount of time on the deck soaking up every ounce of mild weather that we can. Pierre's most recent discovery is that the outdoor chairs are large enough to accommodate him as well.

 

 

In other Pierre news, he applied for a new position as my office assistant, and managed to swipe a six pack of beer from the pantry (if you are wondering how he actually managed this, you are not alone).  Otherwise, he sleeps, per usual. 

 

This past weekend, I made the first batch of Arnold Palmers (iced tea/lemonade combo) of the season, and our cherry trees bloomed.

We have such a fun weekend coming up - cannot wait to share more details next week! Hope you all have a safe and happy Friday!

Starting at a Sprint

Nothing like starting 2014 off at a sprint! We are super thankful for a VERY relaxing holiday season, but now that the first of the year has hit, I don't think I've taken an extra breath yet.

This is largely because I'm studying for the South Carolina bar exam, which will be the last week of February.

"Wait, didn't you already pass the bar exam?"

Why yes, yes I did...in NORTH Carolina. And North Carolina and South Carolina have no reciprocity and require you to take the whole darn thing (federal portion included) all over again.

Oh and on top of that, I'm just running a little law practice on the side.

I'm either overly ambitious, crazy, or a glutton for punishment, and likely a combination of all three.

Basically, if I'm not working, I'm studying. If I'm not studying, I'm working. And if I'm not doing either, then I'm either at the gym or watching Downton Abbey. Regardless, Pierre is an excellent companion for all of the above. Except the gym - which would obviously interrupt his napping.

On an unrelated note, for all the Charlotte ladies: 

Our women's bible studies at our church are starting back up next week!!!!  If you are local and are interested in attending, puh-lease email me at cnferri@gmail.com.  I will let you know which one I'm planning on doing, and you're more than welcome to join me (or any group for that matter).  Disregard the fact that the website says that registration is now closed - we always reserve a few extra books/spots in each class just in case there are any late registrants. And no worries if you already attend another church! We have tons of ladies who go to church elsewhere that attend our bible studies during the week. These bible studies are a major highlight of my week - I'd love for you to join us! You know, then I won't be the only one talking about my "internet friends." (smile.)

Hope everyone is having a lovely week and staying warm! Pierre sends his love!

Happy Everything.

Happy everything. Seriously, those are the two words that best describe the past week that I had.

(And also that adorable little bag that Kait gave Sarah for her birthday.)

Monday night, Eric convinced me to make a double portion of one of his favorite soups (a recipe that Sarah sent me, ironically) because he "wanted leftovers for the week."  In the middle of cooking and cleaning and laundry and all the other things that one does on a Monday evening, my doorbell rang. On the other side was the biggest surprise of my life - Sarah and Kait, with husband/husband-to-be in tow. AND FLOYD!!!!!!

And lots of screaming and jumping ensued. And then they all waltzed right into my house, and (after I stopped the screaming) I managed to feed everyone the "leftovers". And we drank wine. And I loved on Floyd. And they loved on Pierre. And then the boys went down to watch football. And the dogs napped. And we sat and drank wine and talked about nonsense until we couldn't hold our eyes open any longer.

Can we back up for a second and talk about how this was the first time that I had physically laid eyes on Kait and Dane in person? Oh, and the fact that Dane (our own Captain America) just got home from a deployment to Afghanistan less than two weeks ago? And he chose to spend his early days back home with us AT OUR HOUSE?

Oh, and then there's the fact that they descended upon my house bearing gifts and bags and coolers of food and wine. Because they thought that they would overwhelm me by showing up and that I would feel unprepared - are they true girlfriends or what? And cooked ME dinner on New Year's Eve? In my own home? With all 8 of us buzzing around the kitchen like we all lived under one roof every day? Dream world, I tell you. It was like Christmas came and just kept on going through the new year for me!

And my HUSBAND, my darling husband, has been 100%, wholeheartedly in on this for the past two and a half months and the fact that not a word has slipped is nothing short of a miracle.

Someone please explain to me how I came to deserve these wonderful, wonderful people that I get to do life with. 

 

Sarah even chose to spend her birthday with us on New Year's Eve, which was so so so incredibly special. We started out the day with breakfast at Bojangles in our leggings-as-pants (only the best), and spent the remainder of the day wearing our grownup friendship bracelets (thanks Kait!) and shopping and snacking and chatting and wining and visiting with another blog friend.  I'm lucky enough to actually live in the same city as Alexa, but having her stop by on NYE to visit with all of us at once was SUCH a treat.  We all just acted like this was a normal day, like we get to do this every single weekend. (Dreams.) It was the. best.

Of course, after dinner, we sang and decorated and made Sarah blow out presents and open gifts - the whole shebang. Isn't she gorgeous? Birthdays are a good look on her!

 We spent the rest of New Year's Eve like a big family - sitting around my dining room table. There was chatting and laughing and wine and Hypnotiq (yep!) and Cards Against Humanity and teasing and wrangling Pierre and jumping up to keep Floyd off the kitchen counter.

"There is no evidence to support the above statement."

And then we rang in 2014 the next morning like a big family too - everyone huddled in the kitchen over a cup of coffee, more chatting, more teasing, me on the floor with Floyd, and Pierre on the kitchen couch with Sarah's husband. If you're ever looking for him, Pierre is ALWAYS with Mister. Always.

And then, just like family after the holidays, we all had to go back to our own lives. And I cried. Because it just really stinks sometimes that our normal lives have to be so far away from each other. But as we all have said in our own ways, everything happens for a reason. Each of these sweet, sweet people (and bassets!) make my life better on the day to day.  Somewhere along the way (and I don't know where - somewhere in the midst of the free therapy we call "group texts"), these  "blog friends" turned into "real life friends."

And those of you who know me will not be surprised that I felt super guilty at first that these people sacrificed 8 hours of driving on a holiday/birthday to drive down to see me and STILL provided all sorts of food and wine and goodness for ME in my OWN HOME so that I wouldn't feel overwhelmed by the surprise.  But then I got my act together and just said thank you. And truly appreciated every single last drop of their efforts and the awesome people that they are.

 In a world where social media can easily become the enemy and online comparisons can rob us of daily joy, I'm so thankful for all of the HAPPY and the PEOPLE and the RELATIONSHIPS that have come out of blogging for me. And to the four people and the basset on the right up there in that photo, THANK YOU. For everything. You are truly the very best.

In my absence...

life happened. And there were way more ups than downs. And overall, 2013 was really, really, really good.

Let us recap, shall we?

January and February

By far the worst two months of 2013. And arguably, of our lives. Two words: Bar study. 

But the icing on the cake was that we got to be together. I traveled to Richmond with Eric, and we lived in a Hilton with Pierre for two months. We have such fond memories of that part of it!

 

March

 

We sold our first home in Tampa in a grand total of 16 hours, closed 3 weeks later, and moved to Charlotte, NC.

Those of you who have kept up with us for any length of time know that this was a move we really, really, really wanted to make.  I blogged about it at the end of this post two years ago, and it's surreal for me to go read the first five lines of this post from Christmas last year.  The fact that our move to Charlotte worked out so smoothly and quickly was such sweet affirmation for us that this is exactly where we are supposed to be. God works in big, small ways every. single. day.

In fact, our house sold so quickly, we didn't have time to find a house in Charlotte! So, we signed a short term lease on an apartment in Ballantyne and made the best out of living with half of our belongings in boxes for six months.

April

I found out that I passed the North Carolina Bar Exam. Praise Jesus.

 

We celebrated our third wedding anniversary in the Provence region of France on 4/23. 

 You can see my travel posts on: 

Gordes (pictured above) and other small villages in the Luberon region here and here.

Nice, France here

May

We rounded out our vacation with a week in Italy. You can see my travel posts on:

The Cinque Terre here, here and here

Venice here and here

We celebrated Pierre's third birthday, and the one year anniversary of his adoption on May 10!

June

We took a mini vacay to Fort Lauderdale to see our good friend/Eric's coworker get married, and celebrated Eric's birthday.

July

We spent a good bit of time just exploring Charlotte, finding new eats, and doing some hiking.  More importantly,  we celebrated Pierre's big graduation from Level One Behavior Buddies Class.

August

I officially opened doors on The Ferri Law Practice, PLLC at the beginning of the month.

And then we went to Ohio, basset hound in tow, to visit our (blog turned real-life) friends Sarah, Mister, and Floyd!

September

We took another vacation and explored the West Coast (our first time!) for a week.  You can see my travel post on Napa Valley here. While we were there we found out that Eric got a promotion at work, and Napa was such a fun place to celebrate!

 Later in the month, we celebrated my Nana and Papa's 50th wedding anniversary at home with our family and all of their friends.

October and November

We THOROUGHLY enjoyed being back in a state that has seasons for autumn this year!  We spent a considerable amount of time hiking with friends and enjoying the awesome weather and foliage that NC has to offer.

Our apartment lease ended in November, so I spent an entire day out in early October with our realtor (and friend) looking at about 20 homes.  I took Eric back to see one. He was sold, we put in an offer, and we closed on November 15th!  We are so in love with the house's potential (did someone say finished BASEMENT?) and our neighborhood! Definitely a home we plan to grow into for the next twenty years or so. More on this later, promise.

On closing day!

We spent Thanksgiving with Eric's family in Simpsonville again this year, and it was SO NICE to only have an hour and a half to drive instead of 9!

December

This was the first year in a VERY long time that I have gotten Christmas cards out before Dec. 20th and truly enjoyed the Christmas season and all the anticipation/preparation that it brings.  (Law school exams make it incredibly hard to do that.)

 

We were so thrilled to have Christmas in our own home for the very first time! No more driving to someone else's house that's 9 hours away! If having Pierre is this much fun on Christmas morning, then I seriously cannot imagine the joy that having children will bring. 

We hosted a pancake bar/brunch, and my family came up later on Christmas morning to celebrate.  As usual, Pierre stole the show! My mother's dream is to have a grandchild with only two legs one day.  For now, she gets her practice with Pierre ;)

And last, but OHMYGOSH, certainly not least - I got the biggest surprise of my life for New Year's Eve.  Any of you who follow Kait and Sarah (or follow any of the three of us on Instagram) already know that they drove 8 hours to my house and showed up on my doorstep on Monday night. And rang the doorbell. Out of the blue. While I was cooking and doing laundry. WITH MISTER AND DANE IN TOW! AND FLOYD!!!!

And there was screaming and barking and jumping and lots of wine. And the six of us had the absolute best time. I mean, we really did. You'll get a full recap of our shenanigans tomorrow but this event DEFINITELY earned a place on the 2013 recap. And it was the best, the very best, way to start out 2014. 

So there you are! The highlights of the Ferri family in 2013!

2014 is bound to be a good one folks.