New Position!

Well the cat is out of the bag! I have taken a new position at work. I have been working for Bailey's Fine Jewelry (www.baileybox.com) for the last 11 months as the assistant manager in one of their Pandora stores. It has been the most amazing job. I have loved every minute of being with our team. I have been in charge of inventory and ordering, which is where I really have found my place.

Which leads me to my exciting news. My new position within the company is going to be at our corporate office. I am the new Bridal Merchandising Manager! Could there be a more perfect job for me?? I am beyond excited for many reasons! It will be amazing to have a normal schedule, so I will no longer have an excuse not to cook dinner every night. Let the recipe finding begin!

My last day at Pandora will be this Friday. On Saturday Thomas and I will then be heading to St. Thomas with my family! This week has been really bittersweet for me. On one hand I am beyond excited about my new position and beginning the transition into the role. But on the other hand, Pandora has been like a family for me. We have all become so close and I will consider these ladies dear friends for many years to come. I was the store's first employee and helped with the hiring of all our staff. I am so happy to be staying in the company, so that I will be able to stay in touch with everyone.

More details about my new position will be coming soon. My first day at corporate will be August 2nd!!

Life Is Changing Again!

Things around the West house are changing again! I can't share details yet, but exciting things are happening.

Life is grand in Raleigh! We are counting down the days until Hart family vacation! We are heading to St. Thomas and we will be staying at the Ritz Carlton. It is going to be glorious. I am in great need of a getaway!

More details to come about what is going on so stay tuned!!!

How is it already July?

I am in pure disbelief that is July 8th! Today is Thomas and my 11 month anniversary. Where has the past year gone? It is crazy to think that this time last year we were traveling back from NC with my family, after tearfully moving my belonging into our new place. If some someone had asked me if I would love North Carolina a year ago... I would have said "I think it will be nice for a couple of years, and then I want to be back home." Now I could not be happier here!! The Raleigh area is such an amazing place, and we really feel like we are beginning to take roots here.

The store is going great! Our company has just opened another location in Charlotte at the Southpark Mall. I think I am working at the wrong place, because Southpark is getting a Tory Burch boutique!!! Our store has been going through some growing changes as well. We lost 2 of our charter team members to new jobs:( Katie and Lindsey were 2 amazing employees, and we were so sad to see them go! I am so proud of them, and I know they are going to be great in their new fields! We have also welcomed new team members that are fitting right in and selling like crazy. The store has been a it slow with the holiday, but we are hoping that it will start picking up again soon.

Thomas is taking summer classes and working at Bailey's right now. We have been so fortunate to work for such a generous and awesome company! They are having a gold buying event this weekend, so Thomas will be very busy!!

Over the last month Thomas and I have been visiting Capital Community Church. It is a church plant of Providence (where we have been going since we moved here) that is geared toward "inside the Beltline of Raleigh". It is an amazing church and we are so excited about getting plugged in and serving.

On a very fun note... Hart family vacation is a little over 2 weeks away!!! We are crazy excited! It will be such a relaxing and fun trip together. We will be going to St. Thomas, so we are praying for beautiful weather while we are down there!

Until next time,

Elizabeth

Life Update

The past few weeks have been a bit of a roller coaster for our family.

My sweet Thomas turned the big 2-5! To celebrate we took the train to Washington D.C. If you have never taken the train...it is quite an experience. Very entertaining if you are a people watcher like me! The unnerving part of it is that there is absolutely no security. Not even a single metal detector. Thankfully, we survived the trip and arrived at Union Station on Friday afternoon.

Then we hooped on the Metro and headed to the Hotel Monaco. If you are planning a trip to D.C. I would definitely recommend checking our the Hotel Monaco. The staff was absolutely great and our room was beautiful. The hotel is also very centrally located, so it is easy to get everywhere.

On Friday night we took a twilight tour of the city. I thought this would be a great way for Thomas to see the sites, since it was his first visit. We were able to see the monuments, the Capital, and the White House.

We headed to Clyde's for a very late night dinner that was quite tasty!

We woke up Saturday morning and everything completely changed. My mom called to tell me that my grandfather had passed away early that morning. Grandaddy Don had been battling lung cancer and his doctors gave him up to a year with us. However, the Lord decided to bring home much sooner than we all expected. It completely changed the whole temperature of our trip. We immediately started figuring out how we were going to get back to Raleigh. Many thanks to the amazing concierge at the Hotel Monaco for helping us get a flight out on Sunday and canceling our train tickets.

My parents were adamant about Thomas and I making the most of our time in D.C. So we decided to get out and walk the city. It was exactly what I needed! I was able to take Thomas to my favorite Smithsonian. The Museum of Natural History is my absolute favorite, I mean they have the Hope Diamond in there for goodness sakes! We walked the whole mall and headed up to the Capital then down to the White House. Thomas was really hoping for an Obama siting.

We then headed back to the hotel to freshen up for Thomas' birthday dinner. We made reservations at one of my favorite restaurants, Legal Seafood! It was sooo tasty. The seafood was so delicious, and it just the right place to relax and reflect on everything going on in the last 24 hours.

Sunday, we took another walk down to the White House before catching our flight back to Raleigh.

Monday, our travels continued to Ocala, Florida. It was absolutely wonderful to see my family. I had not seen Katherine and Daddy since January! We were able to spend time remembering all of our good memories, and visiting with family we had not seen in a long time. There was a beautiful memorial service on Tuesday, the the funeral was held on Wednesday in Mayo. Mayo is where my dad's family is originally from. It is as tiny as it sounds! In the middle of nowhere!!!

Thursday we said our goodbyes, and hooped on yet another plane to head back to Raleigh. I love to fly, but don't want to the inside of another airport for a very long time!

Sorry for the long post... just wanted to update everyone on what has been going on!