a year in review

and what a year it has been.  2010 started off with a bang as we celebrated sully's first birthday and the birth of my nephew, brooks - all in the same weekend!  february brought the first "real" snow charleston has seen in 10 years which worked to sabotage the night of a much anticipated valentine's date with my husband. with february also came the decision to build a house and the start of a grueling construction process.  the next few months were filled with sully's first steps, planning and more planning for mine and john's summer wedding, design decisions for the house, mom's long awaited retirement, the visit of two special friends and their little boy in april, 3 bridal showers, the return of a friend who had been living in france for 8 years, a revelation that my love for photography should be invested in, resulting in the purchase of a bad-mama-jama camera (thanks john!), and a hiatus from blogging for about 3 months (sorry, sorry).  then summer arrived and on june 5th, the stress of all that wedding planning proved its worth as john and i made this thing official and said "i do" at a charming old barn in the pasture land of fort mill, south carolina with 180 of our closest friends and family.  it was bliss.  i'm embarassed to say, though, that i only just visited the social security office today to legally become mrs. courtney ackerman greider.  oops!  less than one month after our nuptuals, construction on the house was done-zo and we closed.  falling in line on the very last day that we could qualify for the $8,000 tax credit - that john just mailed out this morning.  i know.... what is wrong with us?  at the crack of dawn on july 17th, movers showed up at the little apartment that was sully's first home and hauled all of our belongings out to summerville in the sweet neighborhood where everyone waves and sunny days seem just a little bit sunnier.  trying to fill a house over double the size of what we had before was no easy (or cheap) task.  in fact, it was pretty exhausting, but in the past few months we have turned that empty dream house into a home.  there might be worse things to complain about than having too much space.  ;)  july breezed into august which breezed into september where i celebrated my 29th birthday.  i find myself sometimes pushing against the days that lead me into the year that i turn thirty.  i like 29.  just old enough to be considered mature, but not too old to still act young.  you know?  september also brought the fantastic news that my bf, carissa, was pregnant.  which, of course, gave me the baby itch.  but we won't tell john.  shhhhhh!  and in october, the birth of another nephew jackson (to john's sister) made that itch even stronger.  and no, i won't be ending this post by saying that i'm pregnant. in the future, yes.  or hopefully.  but for now, just hopefully.  later that same month gamecock fans across the state went berzerk as we watched our team beat the number 1 team in the country, alabama.  a victorious season for a team that's long overdue.  coming off of that victory, was yet another victory - i found a new daycare for sully.  it was one of the best decisions i have made, to date and he couldn't be more content.  but with the sweet, comes the sour.  days before thanksgiving my sister was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer.  as i type she is at her second chemo treatment with her newly bald head.  the big "c" may have brought on its share of undesirables but they are no match for her humorous and heroic attitude.  holidays in our family have been filled with just as much laughter and joy as all those past.  and maybe a few extra bald heads in show of support.  the christmas season came and went with a new collection of absurd and hilarious stories to add to the pot.  and today i prepare as three boys - my two stepsons and 18 year old brother-in-law - will be coming to visit and celebrate the new year this weekend.  i call it "the landing of the hurricanes."  but there could be no better way to end a year full of such change and new beginnings than to celebrate with the ones i love.  i pray for peace for the families of those who have passed on in 2010 and send light and love to the lives that came in 2010 and are soon to come in 2011.  i send warm wishes to those who don't have the luxury of being with their families this season.  and raise a glass of bubbly to 2011 and all that it shall bring.  HAPPY NEW YEAR!

blogging for boredom

these last few days at work have been so slow. and when i say slow i mean maaaaybe 5 phone calls in one day, zero closings, zero projects for me to immerse myself in, and the sound of the air conditioner buzzing in my ear all day long. slow! so to kill some time, here i am, blogging. blogging about who knows what. stuff. instead of spring cleaning, i am fall cleaning... my mind. (i'm excited, so I sit up proper-like in my chair and brush my hair back)

speaking of hair, i got a new cut. the evening before our flight took off to dc (2 weeks ago) i dragged john to my fabulous hairstylist, trayce, back home for some much needed hair therapy. john was looking like a shaggy mess, my split ends had split ends and to let you know how bad it was, trayce winced when i pulled my ponytail down and said "ooh, this is pre-tty bad court". she's never said that to me - not in the 13 years since i started going to her. 13 years is quite an accomplishment, p.s.! that's longer than most marriages last. maybe i should send her a "thanks for keeping the hair on my head all these years" card. so anyway, she's asking me what i want to do with my moptop and i say "i don't care". so she looks to john and john says, "how does your hair look short". fabulous! so short i got. 3 inches shorter to be exact - right up to my chin-line and i love it. i felt new and improved. it's amazing how a haircut, even just a trim, can do that for you. then john hopped in the chair for his first "professional" hair cut. he goes to sportclips and thinks he's getting a good cut. ha! i wanted him to see what a real stylist could do. and do, she did. it was his best cut yet. we left there feeling like a million bucks and ready for our adventure.

but before our adventure, we did a little birthday celebration - for me! at that point, my birthday was still 2 weeks away but we celebrated early - we're rebels like that. so we joined my family at a local wing-joint, leo's (legendary raw fries!), and grubbed. then we ventured back to my parent's house for singing, cake, presents, and the funniest damn joke i've ever heard in my life. my uncle, big gavin, who is notorious for his ability to draw a laugh, tells this "potato chip" joke and the whole room was dying from laughter. just crying. i don't even know how he told it with a straight face. he's been telling this joke for 25 years. 25 years! let's be real, people. a joke has to be pretty good to hang around for 25 years. so if you know big gavin, the next time you see him, you have to make him tell it.

4 am the next morning came pretty quickly, and john and i hit the road towards the charlotte airport, leaving sweet baby and the doggie with my parents. at 9am we landed in baltimore to see the beautiful face of my bff, her hubby, and their little boy. we had 3 full days to enjoy their company, see their new home situated nicely in a suburb of dc, sight-see, party, and exhaust ourselves. we walked, what felt like, the entire length of the city, saw some amazing sites, went on an eventful all-day (should have been 2 hour) tubing trip with them and another couple (that day could be a whole blog in itself), ate some scrumptious sushi and to-die-for fried mashed potato and blue cheese balls, drank beer, and just chilled. some time away was much-needed for me and john and we couldn't have spent our time and money in a better place!



tuesday morning came and i was ready to see my little boy. so we hopped another plane and headed back. it was so good to see him and hold him. all i wanted to do was snuggle with him for a month and stare at his sweet smile. only, there wasn't much snuggle time like i had anticipated. wednesday morning woke to find me sick. sick as a dog. actually, i've never understood the expression "sick as a dog", but whatever. i was sick. like an idiot, i went online to discover that i had all the symptoms of the swine flu. needless to say i spent the better part of the day freaking out that i was infected, everyone i had encountered was infected, what was i going to do, poor little sully and all the babies in his daycare - ahhhhhhhh. but the doctor did a nose-swab and said all of my hysteria was for nothing because it wasn't swine flu. it wasn't even the regular flu. it was an upper respiratory infection. silly me! she gave me 2 days off of work (god bless her) and home i went. i already blogged about this so i'll stop with that.

so i worked 1 day in a span of 2 weeks - pretty awesome.

i spent this past weekend recovering from my non-swine flu and from a heartbreaking loss with the usc game and come monday, it was my birthday. still a 20-something. i wasn't feeling completely up to snuff yet, so when john asked what i wanted to do that night, i was confident in saying "stay in". he and sully surprised me with a birthday cake, lit with 20-something ( :) ) candles and a fabulous homemade spaghetti dinner. after sully dozed off, john and i rented the new kate & leo flick, revolutionary road, and vegged out. i even got a shoulder and foot rub. it was perfect. there's nothing like a birthday to make you feel loved. dozens of excited people calling to serenade you and cards expressing their love. it's the besssssssst!

now things are winding down a bit and i'm looking forward to a weekend with nothing planned besides a possible trip to the mall. it's supposed to be a rainy one this weekend and there's nothing like staying in, in your jammies and all-day movie marathons on those dark messy days. and snuggling with a little sweet pea.

firsts and seconds

Sully had a big weekend of firsts (and seconds)...

He has transformed himself from a completely immobile baby to a little boy who locks his legs and stands when I go to pull him into a sitting position. Power legs! You can tell that he thinks it's just the coolest thing ever - he knows he's doing something big. He started doing this last week but I just captured the first pictures this weekend.




On Sunday he rolled over for the first time, completely on his own - he did it 4 times. Sadly I don't have a picture of this moment but I took these cute ones of him (lifting his head like a big boy) with John.


Also on Sunday, he got the opportunity to eat his first food - sweet potatoes (yum!). I think he was a little confused about what to do with his tongue and whether or not he should swallow the unknown substance being shoved in his mouth, but all in all I would say those 5/6 bites went pretty well.


After the stress of learning new things, we decided it was time to take a break so we headed to the pool (Sully's 2nd time in the pool water). He enjoyed it more the second time around and didn't seem too embarassed that mommy had on the same swimsuit as a little neighbor girl, also in the pool. Looks like it's time to go shopping. He was really getting into it until a big nasty storm blew in and blew us right on home.



After all that action, what baby wouldn't be pooped?

Warm & Fuzzy

Yes, Fall is upon us... and with it has come a refreshing cooler air, pumpkin patches, white-chocolate covered pretzels, deep burgundy & yellow leaves, my favorite long sleeved fuzzy sweaters, and the possibility of snuggling by the fire with my sweetie, tonight. These amazing cool breezes have swept a permanent smile across my face and scents of spiced candles are shining unbelievable warmth into my happy heart.

It's change,

and I like it!

little boy blue

Model airplanes & t-ball games...



IT'S A BOY!(due date standing strong at January 22nd)

I wish you enough...

An email I received this morning, that I just had to share...

Recently I overheard a mother and daughter in their last moments together at the airport. Standing near the security gate, they hugged and the mother said, "I love you, and I wish you enough."

The daughter replied, "I wish you enough, too, Mom."

They kissed and the daughter left. Standing there I could see the mother wanted and needed to cry. I tried not to intrude on her privacy, but she welcomed me in by asking, "Did you ever say good-bye to someone knowing it would be forever?"

"Yes, I have! When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, 'I wish you enough.' May I ask what that means?"

She began to smile. "That's a wish that has been handed down from other generations. When we said, 'I wish you enough,' we were wanting the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain them."

I WISH YOU ENOUGH SUN TO KEEP YOUR ATTITUDE BRIGHT NO MATTER HOW GRAY THE DAY MAY APPEAR.

I WISH YOU ENOUGH RAIN TO APPRECIATE THE SUN EVEN MORE.

I WISH YOU ENOUGH HAPPINESS TO KEEP YOUR SPIRIT ALIVE AND EVERLASTING.

I WISH YOU ENOUGH PAIN SO THAT EVEN THE SMALLEST OF JOYS IN LIFE MAY APPEAR BIGGER.

I WISH YOU ENOUGH GAIN TO SATISFY YOUR WANTING.

I WISH YOU ENOUGH LOSS TO APPRECIATE ALL THAT YOU POSSESS.

I WISH YOU ENOUGH HELLOS TO GET YOU THROUGH THE FINAL GOOD-BYE.

L*O*V*E that! It just gives me the 'warm & fuzzies'!

"You see George, it really is a wonderful life..."

It's the typical week before Christmas. A million gifts to wrap, a million left to buy, Christmas cards that need to be sent, cookies to bake, packing before I travel home tomorrow, and (most importantly for a Cosmo girl) finger nails that still need to be splashed in my favorite holiday color - Red. With all of these tasks lingering on my mind, there is only one thing that I truly must do.

So.... I pop the cork on a bottle of red, light the awesome peppermint candle I received as a gift yesterday, wrap myself in a fuzzy blanket, and dive into the couch wearing my most comfy jammies. I press play on the dvd remote and the screen flashes on...

"It's A Wonderful Life"

For years now, it has been a Courtney holiday tradition to watch this incredible Frank Capra film before Santa comes a-knockin' on Christmas Eve. As much as a well-lit tree is essential for promoting holiday cheer, so is this movie for me. Consider it my holiday good luck charm - I simply have to have it.

So here we are, me & George Bailey, on our annual holiday date. George has just saved little brother Harry from drowning (5 minutes in) and I'm already beginning to tear up.

I take a sip of vino.

George accompanies Mary on a midnight walk through Bedford Falls. "What is it you want, Mary... You want the moon? Just say the word and I'll throw a lasso around it and pull it down." And, of course, George and Mary fall in love. But even this love will not subside the frustration of dreams he once believed in, soon to be lost in the shuffle of obligation.

Another sip of vino.

I wish for a moment that I had burning logs in the fireplace to complete this perfect night at home... and then my mind quickly takes me to the fireplace catastrophy of last Christmas (a story for another day).

But I digress. A desperate and suicidal George is soon greeted by his guardian angel Clarence. In an attempt to help him realize his own self-worth and essentially save him, Clarence creates a life in which George Bailey never existed.

Half a bottle of vino and and hour & a half in, my heart is feeling warmer. There is just something about this movie that compacts all of my worries into a ball and thumps them right out into oblivion. As Tucker sneaks up onto the couch and snuggles in beside me, I feel a lump in my throat when George and Clarence arrive at the cemetery...

Clarence: Your brother, Harry Bailey, broke through the ice and was drowned at the age of nine.
George: That's a lie! Harry Bailey went to war - he got the Congressional Medal of Honor, he saved the lives of every man on that transport.
Clarence: Every man on that transport died! Harry wasn't there to save them, because you weren't there to save Harry. Strange, isn't it? Each man's life touches so many other lives. When he isn't around he leaves an awful hole!

TEARS. STREAMING.

Clarence is right, you know, and I believe that's what I love so very much about this movie. It always serves as a reminder to me of what I have and what I have accomplished. I read a book recently called "The Five People You Meet In Heaven" - fantastic read! Go to the nearest Barnes & Noble today, literally, and buy it. In it, the author uses the same idea, different method, to remind his readers that we live unaware of the great impact in which we have on other's lives.

In the end, George Bailey returns to his family and with the help of his friends, the crisis is overted. As George reads Clarence's final words of wisdom, "Remember, no man is a failure, who has friends", a bell rings to signify that Clarence has received his wings. My heart is literally bursting with happiness and Christmas spirit as the sounds of "Auld Lang Syne" fill my apartment and the movie closes.

Christmas mission accomplished.

It is a 'Wonderful Life'!