:: GO TIGERS!!

Whoohooooooey!!!
Clemson beat USC yesterday! 13-9
I wish we could have seen the game. The Midwest doesn't believe in broadcasting the best games of the season though, for some dumb reason! Haha!


Well, we are so excited because Holly, Stephen and the girls are coming on Tuesday and staying for a week! So we won't be "family-less" for Thanksgiving! YAY!


Matt is having to work out at the store today and catch up on some cleaning...so I am trying to catch up on some freelance work before next week hits. But tonight, we are going to see Walk the Line and we can't wait! YAY! I've heard nothing but good things about it, so that makes it even more exciting. Unlike Jarhead, that we wasted $16 on last weekend to see. Just heed my warning...don't waste your money. I'm not going to start a rant about it, because I will never stop, and then I won't get my work done. So, just take my word for it. Haha!

:: fall is definitely and FINALLY here!

here are a few pics of some pretty trees here in our backyard/parking lot...haha!


this is the view looking out my office window...that tree is soooo perty! :)


well, clemson plays duke today. i sure do hope they win! they've been quite on a losing streak here lately...but were all really close games which makes the loss even tougher, to me. well, if they don't beat duke, they might as well turn in their uniforms...haha!


matt and i will be getting on a plane today at 1:20CT and flying to greenville on CFA business. i will be able to share more when we return. but we're SO stoked about going home! YAY! especially matt, since he hasn't been back since we moved. i got to go back for my 10 yr high school reunion...WHICH btw, i still haven't posted pics of...still to come! we'll return on tuesday night. :( but we'll take what we can get! haha!

oh, and here's something funny...matt went to take his rental car back to AVIS yesterday for some servicing...instead of changing the oil and all that stuff, they just gave him a different car...a pimp daddy ride! LOL!

:: happy birthday, gateway arch!

Today is the 40th birthday of the Gateway Arch! There are lots of festivities going on downtown, so maybe we can make it down there at some point...I hope they are giving away some cool arch foam-hats...haha!

My camera has died or I either have forgotten it on the occasions that we've been down to visit the arch. But here are a few pics someone else took, and some random ARCH facts. One thing that isn't mentioned is that it is as wide as it is tall...630 ft!




The St. Louis Gateway Arch is an elegant monument to westward expansion in the USA. Located on the banks of the Mississippi River in St. Louis, Missouri, the 630-foot tall stainless steel arch rises above the city skyline. The Jefferson National Expansion Memorial consists of the Gateway Arch, the Museum of Westward Expansion, and St. Louis' Old Courthouse.

How the design was chosen: There was a nationwide competition in 1947-1948 to design a monument in St. Louis honoring western pioneers. The architect Eero Saarinen (August 20, 1910 - September 1, 1961) won the contest with his sleek arch.

Construction: Construction of the arch began on February 12, 1963, and was finished on October 28, 1965. It was opened to the public on July 24, 1967. (after one of the trams was completed). It cost about 13 million dollars to build. The two bases are equilateral triangles (triangles with three 54 foot-long sides). At the top of the arch, the triangle is only 17 feet long on each side. Visitors enter the arch from an underground visitors center and can travel to the observation deck at the top in a 40-passenger tram that runs inside the arch.

The arch has 60-foot deep foundations. The arch is very stable and was built to withstand high winds and earthquakes. The structure sways about one inch in a 20 mph wind; it is designed to sway up to 18 inches in 150 mile per hour winds.

The Arch: The St. Louis Gateway Arch is in the form of an inverted catenary, which is a very stable structure that is often used in bridges, domes, and arches.

A catenary is the shape that a chain or necklace forms when held by the two ends. The Dutch mathematician Christiaan Huygens named this curve from the Latin word catenarius, which means "related to a chain."

:: tune in tomorrow!

tomorrow on ellen...


derek and ginger!! you go guys!!

derek is one of my peeps at work. they just had twin boys, Kade and Kyle...miracle babies! and they have a 2 year old, Kendall...she is precious! ginger entered a drawing for a lifetime supply of ALL laundry detergent and won the preliminaries! so they were whisked off to LA yesterday for the filming and the grand prize drawing! the show will air tomorrow...in greenville WYFF (ch 4) at 4:00pm. most peeps will be tuning in from around there...just check your local listings if you're tuning in from somewhere else.

good luck y'all!!! i hope you win! i'll send my laundry over if you do! :)

:: more backtrackin'

pooooo! i was just about finished with this entry and lost it all! WAAAAH!!
i'll recap real quick...there's been a bit more that has happened since that last date on the last post...so here goes!

i'll start by showing you our lovely apartment...haha! here's the den and the dining area...that's all that was clean when i took these pictures! haha!



here we are in downtown clayton. clayton is about 10 min east of here...it's a cute little artsy town. you can kinda see the "attack o' the hives on my arm"...haha!


we went to the zoo one sunday after church. it was SO hot! most of the animals were in hiding, but we did manage to snag a few pictures of some!



i think the zebras and horses were mixed together in the same cages and produces this offspring! how weird! haha!



doug, a fellow upward employee and milwaukee boy, was in town one week and hooked us up with some cardinals tickets! it has been so hard to get tickets since this is their last season at busch stadium...well, and since they were in the playoffs. this game was on sept 28, so it was pre-playoffs, but it was still packed! cardinal fans are NUTZ about their team! we've gotten sucked into it a bit since we've been here...haha!

here's where we sat..they were GREAT seats! doug is da man! haha!


me and doug...the hook-up KING!


me and matty! bye bye busch stadium!! it meets it's demise on Thanksgiving Day! so sad!


i'll do more backtrackin' later...

today is thursday and i am so glad! whee! matt gets off at 4:00 today!!! something that doesn't happen very often, so we try to do something fun...although, he may just want to rest which is fine with me too! haha! i helped him last night with paying the bills and counting the money...i'm in training...haha!

lots of work to do today, so i must close this out...

:) carla

:: NO KETCHUP

okay, it's obvious that i am NEVER going to catch up on my blog, so i'm gonna just have to start with the present...

well, lemme just see if i can bring all of this up to speed real quick...let me just do a little timeline here to bring some sense to the matter since i'm so far behind...


Just incase you haven't been in on all the happenings, here's a little run-down...

July 10 - I left for New York City with Upward to help with some basketball camps there in the Bronx. (see previous blog entry)

July 11 - Matt calls me in NYC to deliver the news that we may be moving to St Louis for 6 months as he takes an interim manager job at the Chesterfield Mall. Upward is very gracious and will allow me to go and work from home in St Louis.

July 14 - It's official. We'll be off to St Louis. One minor kicker...Matt will need to go on ahead...he will move in less than 2 weeks. I will move in one month.

July 16 - I return from NYC.

July 19 - Matt and I leave for western NC for a few days of rest and relaxation before the move.
Here we are at the North Lodge Bed and Breakfast that we stayed at one night. It was SO nice and SO relaxing!


Here we are leaving North Lodge. :(


At our last stop was at Uncle Mike's...Turkey Creek Campground - Almond, NC.


July 26 - Matt leaves for St Louis. :(

July 30-August 19 - I, with the gracious help of wonderful friends and family, pack up the house and move everything into storage...except for a few essentials that will accompany us to St Louis.
Here's Russ and Dad loading up the fridge...


Joel and Jared are seen here doing the muscle work while Dad is the "steering" committee...haha!


And here's Mom getting those last few dust bunnies...


I don't have any pics of Ralph and Regina (Matt's mom and dad), or Angela or Amy getting in on the moving action...but let me just say, they were such a huge help!! everyone was! thank you all soooo much for everything!! :)

August 7 - I break out with hives. Not sure what they are from...perhaps, pregnancy related.


August 20 - Matt flies home. :)

August 22 - Matt and I head out with the Element packed to the gills.
I don't have any pics of us heading out, but here's a cute one of Sunny and Matt a few minutes before we left.


August 23 - We arrive in St Louey!! (can you spot the ARCH? well, some of it...haha)



So that's the run-down. Things are going well here! I am missing all my peeps at work, but I must say that working from home is wonderful!! Especially during this awkward pregnancy time when nothing seems to fit me! Haha! I am just now starting to wear a majority of my maternity clothes, so it's nice to be able to button my pants and not have to worry about popping out of my old clothes! Haha!

Matt has had a hmmmmmm...I guess the best way to describe it would be "growing experience"...haha...here at the Chick-fil-A. Everything that has hit the fan, has hit it full force...no fault of his own...just a bunch of hooey from employees and things beyond his control. But things are definitely looking up now! All of the "problem" employees have quit, so that has been a HUGE blessing...as they were 99% of the headache for him. He is having to work some crazy hours...6 days a week...and his days range anywhere from 10-17 hrs. So needless to say, he is exhausted. I, on the other hand, am very rested! Haha! I'm going to start helping him out at the store with his books...oh law...watch out...me and math can be very dangerous! Haha! He did have me being the "fry girl" the other night. That was interesting...I was a bit slow and was terrified that I was going to forget to salt them! Haha!

Well, I'm going to promise again to keep up with my blog. I am very inspired by Rita.

Click for Rita's Xanga

I'm going to learn from her and am going to write at least something everyday no matter what it is...Rita, you have mastered this! And I am inspired! Haha!

Peace out...

:: upward in the bronx

so the following day, after all of the pregnancy excitement, matt had to work and i spent most of the day out and mom and dad's celebrating holly's (that's my sister-in-law) birthday. my dad grilled out...it was really nice! then i went home to pack and get ready for ny...our flight was leaving out at 6:00am on sunday morning! :(

so melody (a peep from work) and i flew out sunday. we just chilled around central park sunday afternoon and met up with david and doug later that evening (more upward peeps).

monday morning, kendall, our fearless leader, briefed everyone on the happenings of the week. (that's kendall in the yellow shirt)

there were 2 churches there to run the camps. we upward peeps were mainly there to observe and help out where needed. we passed out flyers (created by your's truly...hahaha) all day monday and david, doug, melody, kendall and i put together some portable goals so some of the smaller kids could use them.

here's david posting a flyer...


and here we are putting the goals together...that's doug standing up, kendall's in the green, and david's peeking through from the back...


the rest of the week consisted of us getting up and onto the subway by 8:15 or so, to be in the bronx by 9:00. the camps ran from 9-12. i think, throughout the week, there ended up being 120 kids that came! it was such an awesome experience! i am so glad that i decided to go, despite being preggo! haha! (l to r: kendall, melody, doug, and me)


before i start posting photos, i must tell what occurred on tuesday of that week. matt called to tell me that st louis was a possibility for us with chick-fil-a...it would be temporary...only 6 months. he said he needed to tell them in a couple of days if we were going to go or not. we decided that this was what we needed to do since this would put him closer to his ultimate goal of becoming an operator/owner. there was one kicker...matt would be leaving in 2 weeks! i would stay behind to wrap things up at work and get all of our stuff packed up and into storage. at this point, our prayer was that upward would allow me to go with him and work from home for them. i called wendy, our dept director, and scheduled to meet with her and chris (my boss) on monday of the next week. long story short, upward was very gracious and decided to allow me to work from st louis! thank you, Lord! we knew he had answered our prayers!!

okay, on with the pictures...





there were 2 camps being held that week. this is one about 5 minutes from the camp where melody and i were all week. they were doing cheerleading at this one, which as you can tell, went over VERY well! :)


here's melody and david...we had to walk up the street to get some water and snacks for the kiddies. the nice folks at the store let us borrow the buggies...but only after melody left her license as collateral! hahaha! (oh, david said we probably shouldn't refer to them as "buggies" in nyc..."carts" was the more proper term and we were less likely to get weird looks...hahahaha!)


here i am trying to show some kids how to play H-O-R-S-E...they thought that was a trip!! i got schooled! haha!


some really excited kids learning their bible verses!


more happy kiddies!



here we are at carmine's...boy, was it GOOD!! (l to r: david, kendall, julio, karina, melody, doug, me)


lindsay and deb came up on wed and left on friday...those crazy girls! haha!


this thing was a BLAST! i think they called them "circle cabs", but i'm not sure. we all had to pedal, and the empty seat is where the driver sat and steered, but he was taking the picture. he drove us around time square...i thought we were going to kiss the bumper of a taxi at one point...it was so much fun! thanks, david, for hookin' us up!! :)


we did dinner at tavern on the green and went to phantom of the opera. that was a lot of fun!! (l to r: julio, me, doug, melody, and karina)


and here we are at the mets game...they played the braves and beat them! :( it was a really good game though! GO BRAVES!!
(l to r: melody, deb, kendall, doug, jeff, lindsay, me, and david)


so, that about wraps it up. sorry for such a long post, but i wanted to share all of that. lots of people have asked me about my trip, and i haven't had any pictures with me to share, so here they are! it was an awesome experience! kendall blew us all away with her mad skills and passion for bringing Christ to those kids! she did such an awesome job handling everything! she da woman!! there were several kids who came to know the Lord, and lots of seeds were planted that week and the other weeks in the hearts of those kids. pray for those seeds to be harvested and for the hearts of the people of the bronx to be opened. there are churches there that will follow up with the kids that were at the camp, so they will need our prayers too!

:: 2 months behind on blogging

okay, since i have gotten MAJORLY behind on my blogging since my trip to chicago, I am going to try to redeem myself in the next few posts.

lots of things have happened since then, and i'm going to do my best to fill you in on all the happenings!

i'll start off with this first post with what happened on Friday, July 8!

on tuesday of that week, i came home from work and was EXTREMELY tired. i came home and thought, "i will just lay down for a few minutes"...keep in mind, i have never been able to take naps and i hate lying down when it's light outside! haha! but i was exhausted. i lay down around 6:30 and woke up at.....9:30!!! what the hooey?! wednesday morning came, and i didn't feel so good...thursday and friday mornings followed suit. in talking with some of my fine peeps at work, i was convinced i needed to stop on the way home and pick up a pregnancy test. i did. matt was anxiously waiting when i got home, after he got my "i'm going to drop by target and pick up a pregnancy test" message. ahhaha! i took the test...well, i took 2 of them...here was the aftermath...


eeeeeeeek!! it was positive!! at first, i was skeered out of my mind. i was so overwhelmed, i just started crying. matt was bouncing off the ceiling. he was proud poppa! haha! after he calmed me down, i got a grip and just started laughing! haha! then i threw myself in a panic as i realized i was leaving for nyc with upward in 2 days and would be gone for a whole week! augh! no problem...carla, get a grip...no biggie. i called wendy, my good peep and boss at work, and got some advice from her...she must've thought i had lost my mind. i decided to go ahead and go to nyc as planned. matt and i headed out the door to get some baby items to help us tell the big news to our parents. we were going out that night for matt's mom's birthday...we wrapped up some kid proof electrical outlet covers in her bag of birthday goodies.

when she opened it, she just glared at us and said, "this better not be a joke"...as we are both known for doing that sort of thing...haha! when we told her it wasn't, she just burst into tears...as did ralph and angela too! it was awesome! we headed out to my parents to tell them the big news. we got there and put a tube of "butt paste" in the middle of the table (diaper rash ointment for those of you who are wondering..haha)

...my mom said, "are you pregnant??" when we said YES, she and my dad started laughing and saying "whoohoo!"...quite a difference in the emotions of the carter's and the smith's...it'll be a good balance for baby carter! HAHA!