I'm a Bookworm!

As you guys probably read, I got the Nook Color for my birthday and let's just say I'm IN LOVE!!!! My Nook goes (almost) everywhere I go!

The first book I bought was Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. I really wasn't sure about this book at first, but everyone was raving about it so I bought it and I'm SO glad I did! I really enjoyed this book! Reese Witherspoon and Robert Pattinson will be in the movie that is coming out in April and I can't wait to see it! I think I finished this book in like 3 days...I couldn't put it down!

After Water for Elephants, I wanted something a little more "chick-lit." The Shopaholic Series has been around for quite a few years and I just love them. They are easy reads, but the main character is SO funny to me! Mini Shopaholic was just as cute and funny as the others! :)

I am currently reading The Help by Kathryn Sockett and am enjoying it. Well, I don't know that I'm enjoying the story because so far it's rather sad, but I'm enjoying the book. It takes place in Mississippi during the early Civil Rights Movement and I'm absolutely appalled by the way the "hired help" is treated in the story. I'm really anxious to see how the story unfolds! AND, this book will also be a movie, out in August, according to the web!

If any of you read any good books, I would love to hear about them!! I should be ready for my next one sometime during the upcoming week! I've got a few on my "Wish List" that I will be purchasing soon. I'll keep the blog posted! HAPPY READING!

Office Night Out

Last Friday night, my office got together for an evening of bowling. The Arsenal has a really nice and CLEAN bowling alley and AMAZING prices so after work we all headed out for a night of "team-building."

Katie sporting her straight leg jeans! :) haha!
Scott and Karla - pretending to like each other.....they actuallly act like brother and sister

Check out the form! ;)

Jeff, thinking he's a professional!

Katie, Karla and Katie....these 3 keep me laughing ALL the time!

We had a really good time and hopefully will start bowling more often, even though I'm the world's worst bowler! :)

Happy Birthday to Me (Again)!

When I returned to work on the 18th, my staff had decorated my office!! When I walked in the office and my office door was shut, I knew it couldn't be good! ;) How cute are the polka dot streamers???

No 30th birthday is complete without LOTS of black balloons!

They had also made this cute poster and put it on the wall. (and it's actually still there because I like it) :)

Birth year of JT...very important fact!!!! Also, the year Prince Charles married Diana AND post-it notes were launched by 3M. BIG YEAR!

Check out these high prices! I wish a day at Disney World still cost this!

Seriously, who knew that Buffalo Wild Wings was 30 years old? Well, NOT ME!

We also had homemade cupcakes which were adorable and yummy (and I forgot to get a picture) AND they gave me a gift card to Charming Charlie (one of my favorite places). I am so blessed to work with people that I absolutely love to be around! I really do have a great job!

Celebrating (or mourning) the BIG 3-0! :)

On Saturday, I turned 30!!!!! I still can't believe I'm 30! I just don't know how this happened! ;) Oh well, you have to embrace it!

We were supposed to spend a long, relaxing weekend at the beach but after the big blizzard (haha) and a bad stomach bug, Rob and I decided to stay closer to home and have some fun! Since we had already planned to take the days off to go to the beach, we kept the days and spent some time out and about! We were going stir crazy after being snowed in so we were just excited to be out of the house!

Friday we headed to Birmingham for a little shopping at the outlets in Leeds, The Shops of Grand River. This was our first time there and they are pretty nice. I hope it grows a little more so they will have even more outlets. After shopping, we headed to the Summit for lunch at Chuy's.

After lunch and a little more walking, we headed to Flip Burger Boutique for one of their famous milkshakes!

Rob tried the Krispy Kreme and I had the Nutella with burnt marshmellows. They were good, overpriced, but good.

On Saturday (my actual birthday), Rob got us a room at the Westin. We checked in and then went to the movies to see The Dilemma. Saturday night we had dinner at Connor's. If you've never had Connor's you are missing out!!!!!!!

Here we are headed out to dinner

We ordered dessert to go....yummy!

Before my birthday, Rob totally surprised me with the Nook Color. I've been wanting one for a while but I was NOT expecting it, at all!! By the way, it's even better than I thought it would be!!!

On Saturday, he gave me a Brighton charm bracelet that he started for me. This is a picture I did on Brighton's website of what my bracelet looks like. They have some really neat charms and spacers and I'm excited to start one as I start this new chapter of my life....my thirties!!!!

I'm 30! I still can't quite wrap my mind around it! I am excited to see what my 30's have in store for me though!!!!

What Nichole at 30 would say to Nichole at 20!

Things that Nichole at 30 years old would tell a 20 year old Nichole!

1. MTV is NOT the only channel on TV!
2. Easy Mac should not be eaten at every meal! When you are 30, you will still gag at the thought of eating Easy Mac because you ate FAR too much of it back then!
3. Go ahead and start loving your alarm clock! It will be a part of your life FOREVER!
4. Sleeping until noon will not always be an option!
5. Working 20 hours a week while going to school is NOTHING! Just wait, in a few years you will work a full time job while working on your Master's! Then, you will know tough!!
6. You will LOVE sushi! There is more in the world than chicken fingers and fries!
7. The lights that you leave on actually do cost money! You will learn to turn things off!
8. As cool as you think you are, in 10 years you will look back at pictures and ask yourself what you were thinking!
9. Cell phones are nothing! Just wait and see what's coming down the pike!
10. Go ahead and learn to LOVE football! You will eventually plan your weekends around the SEC and actually enjoy it! CRAZY, I know! You will actually be a little sad when college football season ends!

But seriously, I wish 20-year-old Nichole would have known and understood these things!

1. God's plan is SO much bigger than your plan. Your path is so much bigger than you ever thought it would be. Life is not going to go exactly as you would like it or as you had planned!

2. All of the heartache will make you a stronger person and make you truly appreciate the one that God finally puts in your life.

3. Learn to love yourself! Everyone has flaws and it's OK!!!!

4. The material things will never make you who you are! Only buy things you can pay cash for!! You will have a LOVE/HATE relationship with Dave Ramsey and wish everyone around you would follow the plan too!

5. 30 is NOT old! 30 is actually a GREAT time because you will finally start figuring this whole life thing out!!!!

6. Don't say you don't want kids because at about the age of 27 your "clock" is going to go CRAZY!

7. Learn to be patient and wait! Enjoy the journey that gets you to the place you want to be! You will literally blink and be 30 before you know it!!!!!!!!!

8. Make meaningful friendships!!! You will need them SO many times!!!!!!

9. Have a REAL relationship with God! Talk to Him everyday!!!!!!!!!!! (Even at 30, I'm not where I want to be with this) He listens!!!!!!!!

10. You will find a husband who loves you for you! He will be kind, patient and your absolute best friend! You will become so much closer than you ever could imagine!

11. Go ahead and try new things!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You will be happy you did!

Bloggy Update!

Sorry guys! It's been a crazy few weeks. Rob and I were busy during the holidays and then have been sick for the last two weeks! It's been CRAZY! We had a great Christmas with family and started out 2011 hibernating from the COLD!!! It's been so cold here lately and we have gotten 2 snows! We even had a white Christmas! Here are a few pics from the Christmas holidays!

The Saturday before Christmas we had our "Smith Family Christmas Breakfast." This has become our newest tradition with the ENTIRE family and a HUGE breakfast! YUMMY!! It's amazing how much bigger our family gets each year! So fun to watch the changes!

We headed to Oneonta on Christmas Eve and woke up to a WHITE CHRISTMAS! It was beautiful! This picture is looking out into my parent's pasture.

Christmas afternoon we headed to my grandmother's for Christmas with my mom's side of the family. We had a good time and laughed a lot! :)

Christmas night some of our family came over for our traditional game night. We played Mad Gab which is always hilarious!

We came home the day after Christmas to this! So pretty!