Well I have to say that my first time hosting a major holiday turned out even better than I thought it would. All the food was perfect, there were plenty of beds for everyone, and though I spent the holiday very busy, I've never enjoyed myself more. I have 8 people spend the night and cooked for a total of 12 for the actual meal on Thanksgiving day. It was so much fun. I am hoping to possibly host the holiday every year. We'll see. :-)
We had put up most of our Christmas decor up before everyone had arrived, but saved putting the tree up to do with everyone. So the day after thanksgiving, Josh loaded up the car with all the guys and they went out to pick out a tree. Then once they got it in the house, everyone got to decorate it together. It was a really nice way to end the day. We had family stay with us until that Sunday morning. Then that afternoon one of my old college roommates and very dear friends came to visit Josh and I before she moved back to New Jersey. It was a great visit and was a nice cap to the whirlwind week.
The few weeks in between Thanksgiving and Christmas are a bit of a blur for me. I spent the majority of them working a lot of overtime. Wasn't exactly conducive to prepping and enjoying the holiday season, we weren't even able to throw a Christmas party this year to not having time to plan one. So that was a bit of a disappointment. However, it was soon lifted as we spent Christmas with Josh's parents again this year. Both Josh and I took vacation time and don't go back to work until Jan3rd. Which gives us a much needed break. Its been nice being with family and getting to see our nephew. And of course, the puppies are thrilled as they very much enjoy getting to go to Josh's parents house. They are lavished with toys, playtime, and get to sleep with Josh and I in a king size bed. So they are very spoiled during these trips. lol. But its still pretty relaxing. I always tell Josh that our trips to Marianna are like getting to take a deep breath finally and holds such a comfortable feeling of hominess. Coming home to visit family and the people in our church up here is so refreshing. Between time spent with our family up here and also with dear friends, we stay pretty busy, but a relaxed sort of busy filled with laughter, good memories, and joy. It's definately needed after the past few weeks of work craziness.
Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!:-)
Grace Family
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Sunday, November 13, 2011
its 6:40am on a Sunday...and I'm awake, blah....
Its not even 7am yet and I've been awake about an hour. The house is quiet, nice and chilly due to the cold front we got, and the puppies are playing contently on the floor, tearing their numerous toys apart. And here I sit, wide awake, well before I need to wake up to go to church. Yuck! I've never really been a morning person, my dear husband can attest to that, lol. But I've found that since Josh and I wake up regularly at 5:30am or 6:00am....that even on my days off, my body still thinks its time to wake up. At best, I may make it to 7:00am before waking up, but rarely. I never thought 7am would be considered sleeping in! lol. But once the puppies realize that I'm awake, then they want to begin the goodmorning routinue. lol. This means as soon as I left them out of their cages, they pounce on Josh who is sleeping in bed. In the 30 seconds it takes me to get to the bedroom door in order to open it and coax them out to the living room, they've both pounced on Josh and lathered his face up with morning kisses. lol. Its really the funniest thing because they can't wait to see him in the morning. However, once I get them out to the living room, Josh is able to go back to sleep. I have no idea how he manages that. lol.
So, back to where I am now...sitting on the couch, playing on the computer, waiting for my day to officially start. We've got a lot to do today. After church, we're finishing up painting and putting up more christmas decorations. Next weekend is the last weekend before I have my parents, Josh's parents, and Josh's grandparents, coming to spend a few nights with us for Thanksgiving. It'll be a total of 11 people on Thanksgiving Day though, as my grandmother and a friend of hers, along with a co-worker of mine will be joining us for Thanksgiving Dinner. I'm super excited to be cooking for everyone. Its the first big Holiday I've hosted. I invited a couple friends over for Easter last year, but it pales in comparison to what I'm planning for Thanksgiving. :-) I'm excited to have everyone here and getting to enjoy our new house with us. I'm also thankful that we've got a house large enough to house 8 people overnight. I'm putting my parents in Josh and I's room, Josh's parents in our office, grandparents in guest room, and Josh and I will be in the nursery with the puppies on an air mattress. We've got queen beds in all the rooms except the nursery, we have a old twin bed that Josh had before we married. And we both can't fit on that, so we'll sleep on an air mattress. I refuse to put company on one, and we didn't put a queen bed in that room because we're planning on putting a crib in there eventually. But it all works out pretty well this way. I know that Tele is going to be thrilled, he LOVES it when we have a bunch of people over, because he gets a ton of attention. But specifically, he LOVES Josh's dad, Jay. Tele just about jumps out of his skin with excitment when he see's Jay. I'm pretty sure it foreshadowing how our kids will react when getting to see him too. :-)
I'm really thankful for the family that I have and the family that our kids will get to grow in. It's not perfect, there have been bumps in the road, but "love covers a multitude of sins..." and mistakes turn into lesson's learned and new days turn into happy memories and new beginnings. I'm a big believer in being thankful for even the hard times, as they make you appreciate the good times all the more. I saw a quote the other day "learn to enjoy the small moments, as someday you'll realize, they were the big moments" its an idea that I've adopted and its amazing how it can change your perspective.
Hopefully, if it doesn't take us long to have children, our kids will be fairly close in age to my nephew Carson and my niece Julia. I'm excited about that because I didn't grow up with any cousins and so I think its neat that my kids will get too. We haven't fully decided how many kids we'll have. We know for sure at least 2 and then we'll evaluate where our lives are. But I'd really like to have 4. I've thought that for years, but I also want to be able to feed the kids, lol. so we'll see. We were in the store a few days ago looking at Christmas toy ideas for our nephew and Josh said "Wouldn't it be amazing if we had a 4-5 kids and when they were adults with children of their own, came to visit? We'd have a huge family at that point" :-) I love the idea of that, I'm just not sure if I'll be able to survive labor and delivery that many times, lol. We'll see. I know at least we want two children. I'd prefer boys, but Josh wants a little girl as well. I told him we could have 4 boys and 1 girl. lol. Boys are high energy, but little girls grow up to teen girls eventually which leads to crazy drama. lol. In my nanny experience, boys were always so much easier even as toddlers, there was much less sass, even at that age. lol. But regardless, we'll see how it plays out. We've got names for either one we have and ironically, despite wanting boys, I only have one boy name I like so far. Most of the names I like are girl names...hopefully that's not indicative of what's to come. ;-)
Anyway, its 7:15am now...I think its late enough for me and the puppies to go wake up Josh ;-)
So, back to where I am now...sitting on the couch, playing on the computer, waiting for my day to officially start. We've got a lot to do today. After church, we're finishing up painting and putting up more christmas decorations. Next weekend is the last weekend before I have my parents, Josh's parents, and Josh's grandparents, coming to spend a few nights with us for Thanksgiving. It'll be a total of 11 people on Thanksgiving Day though, as my grandmother and a friend of hers, along with a co-worker of mine will be joining us for Thanksgiving Dinner. I'm super excited to be cooking for everyone. Its the first big Holiday I've hosted. I invited a couple friends over for Easter last year, but it pales in comparison to what I'm planning for Thanksgiving. :-) I'm excited to have everyone here and getting to enjoy our new house with us. I'm also thankful that we've got a house large enough to house 8 people overnight. I'm putting my parents in Josh and I's room, Josh's parents in our office, grandparents in guest room, and Josh and I will be in the nursery with the puppies on an air mattress. We've got queen beds in all the rooms except the nursery, we have a old twin bed that Josh had before we married. And we both can't fit on that, so we'll sleep on an air mattress. I refuse to put company on one, and we didn't put a queen bed in that room because we're planning on putting a crib in there eventually. But it all works out pretty well this way. I know that Tele is going to be thrilled, he LOVES it when we have a bunch of people over, because he gets a ton of attention. But specifically, he LOVES Josh's dad, Jay. Tele just about jumps out of his skin with excitment when he see's Jay. I'm pretty sure it foreshadowing how our kids will react when getting to see him too. :-)
I'm really thankful for the family that I have and the family that our kids will get to grow in. It's not perfect, there have been bumps in the road, but "love covers a multitude of sins..." and mistakes turn into lesson's learned and new days turn into happy memories and new beginnings. I'm a big believer in being thankful for even the hard times, as they make you appreciate the good times all the more. I saw a quote the other day "learn to enjoy the small moments, as someday you'll realize, they were the big moments" its an idea that I've adopted and its amazing how it can change your perspective.
Hopefully, if it doesn't take us long to have children, our kids will be fairly close in age to my nephew Carson and my niece Julia. I'm excited about that because I didn't grow up with any cousins and so I think its neat that my kids will get too. We haven't fully decided how many kids we'll have. We know for sure at least 2 and then we'll evaluate where our lives are. But I'd really like to have 4. I've thought that for years, but I also want to be able to feed the kids, lol. so we'll see. We were in the store a few days ago looking at Christmas toy ideas for our nephew and Josh said "Wouldn't it be amazing if we had a 4-5 kids and when they were adults with children of their own, came to visit? We'd have a huge family at that point" :-) I love the idea of that, I'm just not sure if I'll be able to survive labor and delivery that many times, lol. We'll see. I know at least we want two children. I'd prefer boys, but Josh wants a little girl as well. I told him we could have 4 boys and 1 girl. lol. Boys are high energy, but little girls grow up to teen girls eventually which leads to crazy drama. lol. In my nanny experience, boys were always so much easier even as toddlers, there was much less sass, even at that age. lol. But regardless, we'll see how it plays out. We've got names for either one we have and ironically, despite wanting boys, I only have one boy name I like so far. Most of the names I like are girl names...hopefully that's not indicative of what's to come. ;-)
Anyway, its 7:15am now...I think its late enough for me and the puppies to go wake up Josh ;-)
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Baby its cold outside...
So we've finally hit the first cold night of the "fall/winter season." This past week we've had a couple nights in the 50's and then a high 72 during the day, making its absolutely beautiful outside. The only downside to the cooler nights, is that I've been eaten up by mosquito's. I guess its a small price to pay for such wonderful weather to enjoy.
This weekend, Josh and I are planning on going to the Pumpkin Festival. From what I understand, its a huge farm that even has a 7 acre corn field maze. I'm pretty excited, I think its going to be so much fun. There's a petting zoo too! The thoughts of a fun weekend with my sweetheart, homemade pumpkin pie, and sweet corn on the cob all rolled up into a festival is what has been getting me through a busy work week. Thank goodness its almost here. :-)
Another thing that has helped this week fly by is excitement about the future. :-) Josh and I are officially trying to have a baby! :-) Now that the house is just about done and our financial goals and budget is working out smoothly, we decided that now was a good time to plan on beginning our family. Its super exciting, and yet scary at the same time. I can't believe that possibly this time next year, I could be a mother. Its a crazy and wonderful feeling at the same time. So we'll see what happens. I've got a good mix of friends that were pregnant just weeks after stopping birth control and others that have been trying a couple years. So we'll see how it goes for us. I just know that I'm excited to be taking this next step for our family with Josh. He's got to be one of the most patient and caring people I know and I am sure he is going to be a great father. :-)
At first we didn't think we'd tell anyone we were trying to have a baby. We thought we'd just wait and tell everyone once we got pregnant. But then I reconsidered because this season in our life is still super special to us and we want to begin this journey with our friends and family by our side. So here we go, I'm excited to see how God guides us down this new path. :-)
This weekend, Josh and I are planning on going to the Pumpkin Festival. From what I understand, its a huge farm that even has a 7 acre corn field maze. I'm pretty excited, I think its going to be so much fun. There's a petting zoo too! The thoughts of a fun weekend with my sweetheart, homemade pumpkin pie, and sweet corn on the cob all rolled up into a festival is what has been getting me through a busy work week. Thank goodness its almost here. :-)
Another thing that has helped this week fly by is excitement about the future. :-) Josh and I are officially trying to have a baby! :-) Now that the house is just about done and our financial goals and budget is working out smoothly, we decided that now was a good time to plan on beginning our family. Its super exciting, and yet scary at the same time. I can't believe that possibly this time next year, I could be a mother. Its a crazy and wonderful feeling at the same time. So we'll see what happens. I've got a good mix of friends that were pregnant just weeks after stopping birth control and others that have been trying a couple years. So we'll see how it goes for us. I just know that I'm excited to be taking this next step for our family with Josh. He's got to be one of the most patient and caring people I know and I am sure he is going to be a great father. :-)
At first we didn't think we'd tell anyone we were trying to have a baby. We thought we'd just wait and tell everyone once we got pregnant. But then I reconsidered because this season in our life is still super special to us and we want to begin this journey with our friends and family by our side. So here we go, I'm excited to see how God guides us down this new path. :-)
Sunday, October 9, 2011
The big 24! :-)
This past week was birthday week in the Grace house. It was my 24th birthday and it was very nice. Josh started the birthday celebrations by giving me my birthday present early (he is just as bad as me about waiting to give gifts, lol) he gave me a sewing machine! :-) I have been wanting one for a while now and was very excited to finally have one. I went out the store right away and bought sewing materials to try to make my first sundress...lets just say...I learned very quickly that I need to enroll in a beginners class if I want to be able to make clothes that I can actually wear. The pattern was simply enough, but I didn't understand quite all the terms...so Josh had a good long laugh at the finished product that was supposed to a dress. :-)
My actual birthday day was a super busy day at work followed by dog classes for Lucy that night, so we planned on celebrating my birthday on Saturday by going to Disney. We recently bought year passes so it seemed like a good idea, however, once Saturday came, I realized that I was a bit too tired to make the trek out to a theme park all day. So we decided to sleep in, and then we took the puppies to the dog park. It was a beautiful morning! only 70 degrees outside! HELLO FALL! :-) It was so nice out that we stayed at the park for about an hour and a half, letting the puppies play while
we soaked up the sun and cool air. When leaving the park, we decided that for my birthday lunch, Josh would break out the grill and we decided to continue our fall day with grilled hot dogs, onion rings, fruit salad, and pumpkin pie (instead of birthday cake). I know the menu seems more fitting for summer than fall, but summers are usually too hot to enjoy the outdoors. So while Josh got the grill going, I turned off the AC and opened ALL the windows and doors. It was a beautiful afternoon. After lunch Josh and our friend Dan, put together the guest bed for our office, its a twin sized daybed that put the trundle part pops out and up it turns into a queen sized bed. That was the last piece of furniture for the office, making it now one more room finished. So the day was a good mix of rest and fun along with being productive. :-)
I'm starting to get very excited about Thanksgiving, the guest list is ever expanding but when we've got the space, why not? I'm going to be so in my element cooking for everyone! I can't wait! I've already requested the day before and after Thanksgiving off in order to prepare for and then enjoy my guests and the Holiday. :-) Its going to be fun.
Not much has changed lately for us, our days have been filled with work and then decorating the house. So we decided that we needed something fun and bought Disney passes. We've entered into the nice part of the year and so thought now would be a good time to get them. We started out with Animal Kingdom as it had been along time since I had been there and Josh had never been. We've got access to all the parks as often as we like, so it takes the rush out of the day and we can leisurely explore the park. :-)
We've also started Lucy's dog classes to begin her training. If I'm going to have a house full of people for the holidays, then my two silly puppies will have to be on their best behavior. So far Lucy has been to one session and was pretty unsure and distracted by being in a large room with 20 other dogs, but I think she is going to catch on really well.
So for now, that's about it for the Grace's. :-)
My actual birthday day was a super busy day at work followed by dog classes for Lucy that night, so we planned on celebrating my birthday on Saturday by going to Disney. We recently bought year passes so it seemed like a good idea, however, once Saturday came, I realized that I was a bit too tired to make the trek out to a theme park all day. So we decided to sleep in, and then we took the puppies to the dog park. It was a beautiful morning! only 70 degrees outside! HELLO FALL! :-) It was so nice out that we stayed at the park for about an hour and a half, letting the puppies play while
we soaked up the sun and cool air. When leaving the park, we decided that for my birthday lunch, Josh would break out the grill and we decided to continue our fall day with grilled hot dogs, onion rings, fruit salad, and pumpkin pie (instead of birthday cake). I know the menu seems more fitting for summer than fall, but summers are usually too hot to enjoy the outdoors. So while Josh got the grill going, I turned off the AC and opened ALL the windows and doors. It was a beautiful afternoon. After lunch Josh and our friend Dan, put together the guest bed for our office, its a twin sized daybed that put the trundle part pops out and up it turns into a queen sized bed. That was the last piece of furniture for the office, making it now one more room finished. So the day was a good mix of rest and fun along with being productive. :-)
I'm starting to get very excited about Thanksgiving, the guest list is ever expanding but when we've got the space, why not? I'm going to be so in my element cooking for everyone! I can't wait! I've already requested the day before and after Thanksgiving off in order to prepare for and then enjoy my guests and the Holiday. :-) Its going to be fun.
Not much has changed lately for us, our days have been filled with work and then decorating the house. So we decided that we needed something fun and bought Disney passes. We've entered into the nice part of the year and so thought now would be a good time to get them. We started out with Animal Kingdom as it had been along time since I had been there and Josh had never been. We've got access to all the parks as often as we like, so it takes the rush out of the day and we can leisurely explore the park. :-)
We've also started Lucy's dog classes to begin her training. If I'm going to have a house full of people for the holidays, then my two silly puppies will have to be on their best behavior. So far Lucy has been to one session and was pretty unsure and distracted by being in a large room with 20 other dogs, but I think she is going to catch on really well.
So for now, that's about it for the Grace's. :-)
Friday, September 9, 2011
dreams of fall and thoughts of christmas :-)
I can't believe that its been so long since my last blog. Time has gone by SO fast, I feel like I blinked and August was over. But thats just fine for me. Because it means I'm all that much closer to breaking out the Christmas decorations. lol.
Things are certainly picking up for me at my job. I've got 5 new cases this week, bringing me to 15 kids so far. Thankfully, I have a supervisor that has been really great helping me get settled into the job. Everyday is something different and you wouldn't believe half the stuff that comes across my desk each day, its a constant reminder to me at how lucky I am to be blessed with the life I have. It also reminds me to carry a thankful heart and compassionate one towards others, so while its a job thats paying the bills, its also one that is continuing to grow me into a better person.
For the past few weeks, Josh has also been working a lot of overtime and crazy days at his office. Its been stressful and tiring for him, but its been a great opportunity for him to show himself as a valuable employee and to remember patience, even when he's tired.
Our little Lucy is not so little anymore. She is now 40lbs....and only 4 months old....she is slightly bigger than I thought she would be, but she is still half the size Tele is and super sweet. She is such a cuddler. But, she is also MUCH more willful than Tele ever was. Needless to say, when she starts her dog classes on the 28th of the month...she is going to tossing around an attitude. lol. She doesn't like to be told what to do. However, on the flip side, she is significantly smarter than Tele. Its interesting to see, but she uses reason a lot more than he does. So, I'm excited to see her turn into the good dog that I see glimpses of every now and then. lol.
The house is coming along nicely. I found drapes for the living room, that just came in the mail today. Can't wait to have Josh hang them up! I've found various decorations for different rooms for the house each weekend and its really starting to look wonderful. I can't wait to get it finished and then post a video tour of the house. :-)
I've begun preparing myself for Thanksgiving already. Its the first major holiday I'll have ever hosted and so I'm pretty excited about that. With family coming in for the Holiday, we'll have a house of 10 people and 3 dogs (Tele, Lucy, and Betty is going to bring Penny) :-) Since we've got the space and the beds, it just made sense to offer to host it. Plus I love having a house full to cook for. Thank goodness I married a man that likes having company just as much as me. :-) We are planning on having our Christmas decor up and out by then, simply because with family coming from out of town, and since we go pretty over the top for christmas, we decided to put it up early this year so everyone could see it while they were here. Its going to be a lot of fun. :-)
I'm excited to be moving closer to my favorite season for the cooler weather and festive decorations, but also because the fall and winter months hold a lot of special memories for Josh and I. We're just 3 months away from the 2 year anniversary of when Josh asked me to marry him. I can't believe its been almost two years, but at the same time, I can't believe its been only two years. So much has happened and changed, and they've all been wonderful.
One of the wonderful changes is that my sister-in-law is pregnant with my 2nd little niece or nephew. Josh and I are super excited for Salena and Jason and can't wait to find out if its a boy or a girl. Our nephew Carson is getting so big and has to be one of the most photogenic babies I've ever seen. He is adorable. We don't get to see him often because of living so far, but a few weeks ago I did get to talk to him on the phone for the first time. He said "hi" and "buh-bye" lol. It was so cute seeing Josh try to talk to him on the phone. My husband has fully jumped onto the baby train with me and he is completely ready for us to have our own kids. Its fun getting to see that side of Josh and makes me all the more excited for us to try to get pregnant this coming spring. We just want a couple more bills paid off and the house finished up with decorations and then hopefully I'll be focusing my attention on decorating a nursery. :-) Can't wait! :-)
Things are certainly picking up for me at my job. I've got 5 new cases this week, bringing me to 15 kids so far. Thankfully, I have a supervisor that has been really great helping me get settled into the job. Everyday is something different and you wouldn't believe half the stuff that comes across my desk each day, its a constant reminder to me at how lucky I am to be blessed with the life I have. It also reminds me to carry a thankful heart and compassionate one towards others, so while its a job thats paying the bills, its also one that is continuing to grow me into a better person.
For the past few weeks, Josh has also been working a lot of overtime and crazy days at his office. Its been stressful and tiring for him, but its been a great opportunity for him to show himself as a valuable employee and to remember patience, even when he's tired.
Our little Lucy is not so little anymore. She is now 40lbs....and only 4 months old....she is slightly bigger than I thought she would be, but she is still half the size Tele is and super sweet. She is such a cuddler. But, she is also MUCH more willful than Tele ever was. Needless to say, when she starts her dog classes on the 28th of the month...she is going to tossing around an attitude. lol. She doesn't like to be told what to do. However, on the flip side, she is significantly smarter than Tele. Its interesting to see, but she uses reason a lot more than he does. So, I'm excited to see her turn into the good dog that I see glimpses of every now and then. lol.
The house is coming along nicely. I found drapes for the living room, that just came in the mail today. Can't wait to have Josh hang them up! I've found various decorations for different rooms for the house each weekend and its really starting to look wonderful. I can't wait to get it finished and then post a video tour of the house. :-)
I've begun preparing myself for Thanksgiving already. Its the first major holiday I'll have ever hosted and so I'm pretty excited about that. With family coming in for the Holiday, we'll have a house of 10 people and 3 dogs (Tele, Lucy, and Betty is going to bring Penny) :-) Since we've got the space and the beds, it just made sense to offer to host it. Plus I love having a house full to cook for. Thank goodness I married a man that likes having company just as much as me. :-) We are planning on having our Christmas decor up and out by then, simply because with family coming from out of town, and since we go pretty over the top for christmas, we decided to put it up early this year so everyone could see it while they were here. Its going to be a lot of fun. :-)
I'm excited to be moving closer to my favorite season for the cooler weather and festive decorations, but also because the fall and winter months hold a lot of special memories for Josh and I. We're just 3 months away from the 2 year anniversary of when Josh asked me to marry him. I can't believe its been almost two years, but at the same time, I can't believe its been only two years. So much has happened and changed, and they've all been wonderful.
One of the wonderful changes is that my sister-in-law is pregnant with my 2nd little niece or nephew. Josh and I are super excited for Salena and Jason and can't wait to find out if its a boy or a girl. Our nephew Carson is getting so big and has to be one of the most photogenic babies I've ever seen. He is adorable. We don't get to see him often because of living so far, but a few weeks ago I did get to talk to him on the phone for the first time. He said "hi" and "buh-bye" lol. It was so cute seeing Josh try to talk to him on the phone. My husband has fully jumped onto the baby train with me and he is completely ready for us to have our own kids. Its fun getting to see that side of Josh and makes me all the more excited for us to try to get pregnant this coming spring. We just want a couple more bills paid off and the house finished up with decorations and then hopefully I'll be focusing my attention on decorating a nursery. :-) Can't wait! :-)
Saturday, July 30, 2011
new furniture, new neighbors, new puppy tricks
Well, we've now been in our new home for about 5 weeks. Its still hard to believe its ours. However, we did send off the first mortgage payment, so I guess its official, lol. It has been so much fun getting settled into the house. Every weekend, we've been furniture shopping and painting. So its really starting to coming together, but there is still TONS to decorate. So far, we have bought all the furniture for our bedroom, and our new bedding to match it. All we need to do is paint the walls and buy the curtains (we have blinds right now, but curtains are easier to dust) and then our bedroom will be completely decorated. We've painted the walls in the dining room and bought the new table, just have to get 4 more chairs (our previous table sat 4, our new one seats 10 when fully extended) and the dining room will be just about done. Our guest bedroom is currently the only room that is finished, i would like to get a small dresser for it, but other than that, its decorated. Last week we bought new book shelf's for the office from Ikea and I love them. They are white, with decorative edges on top and bottom and they have glass doors on the front. It makes it so much easier for me to dust, with the glass doors, i just have to wipe them down since the books will be protected from dust. We still need the desk, chair, and day bed for the office, so its going to be a few more weeks until that room is finished. We found a day bed, that it is set up as a twin sized bed, but when you pull out the trundle part, it turns the bed into a queen sized bed. So I'm hoping to have the office finished by the end of August. In our living room, we have it almost completely painted, it has high ceilings, so that makes it much harder to paint. But we did find our new tv stand and end tables. We are waiting to get the new couches until Lucy is past her teething/chewing stage. she hasn't hurt our current couches yet, but she chews on things much more than Tele ever did, so we're taking a few more precautions.
One of the new precautions we have to take is that Lucy is now being kenneled everytime we leave the house...we didn't do this with Tele as a puppy because from what I had read, Boxers don't do very well being kenneled up. And Tele did pretty well not being kenneled up, so we thought lucy would be the same. Well...we were wrong.lol
A few Saturdays ago, we were going to go buy our bedroom furniture and we decided to put both dogs in our master bathroom while we were gone. Lucy is only 12 weeks old, so we isn't quite house broken yet and its much easier to clean up tile flooring than carpet. So we put both the dogs in the bathroom so they wouldn't be lonely (Lucy freaks outs when Tele isn't with her) and went out shopping.
Well...when we got home, I went to open our bedroom door to get the dogs out of the bathroom, and found that both of them were at the bedroom door waiting for me...How did that happen? I was pretty sure that I had shut the bathroom door before we left. I figured that Tele must have opened the door (yes...my bouncing boxer knows how to open door knobs, its scary how smart he is) however, when I turned the corner in our bedroom...I found that the bathroom door was in fact still shut. How did the puppies get out of the bathroom? Well, Lucy was rather inventive with this. Apparently, she was bored being shut in the bathroom and decided she wanted to get out. Josh and I have been watching the show "prison break" on netflix lately, so Lucy much have devised her plan from that. SHE ATE THROUGH THE DOOR! I couldn't believe it. there was a great big hole in the bottom of my bathroom door that both of them squeezed out through. All I could do was laugh when I saw it. It was certainly unexpected, but I saw no reason to get mad. Its part of having a puppy, lol. Josh heard me laughing so hard, that he asked me what was going on. I yelled to him in the living room that the dogs had found a way out of the bathroom. He laughed and said that Tele must have opened the door again. I told him that wasn't quite what happened and that he should come see. When he came into the bedroom and saw the bathroom door, he was pretty surprised. But thankfully, my husband has this ability to see humor in almost any situation, and he said "I guess that Lucy is no longer allowed to watch "Prison Break"lol.
So now, for the time being, we have a Lucy made doggie door on our bathroom door. lol. It won't cost much to replace the door so there wasn't much harm done. However, realizing the ability of my little Lucy...she now is kenneled up when we leave just to prevent something really expensive getting broken. We also have been kenneling up Tele, because Lucy freaks out when Tele is not near her. But when they are together, they don't seem to mind the cages. They each are in seperate cages, but they are side by side and the cages have open bars, so they can see everything. We tired kenneling just Lucy and she flipped out. But when Tele is in his cage too, she is pretty calm and doesn't cry. I'm pretty sure that she is SO bonded to Tele because we got Lucy a little too early. She was only 5 weeks when we brought her home, so she is pretty attached to Tele. The only time she leaves him is when she comes to sit with either Josh or me. And Tele is almost always at our side, so she really is never too far from him. lol. goodness...my little puppies. I'm pretty happy that we brought lucy into our family. Tele is such a playful and social dog, so him having a little buddy has been great.
We've started meeting our new neighbors over the past few weeks, and so far everyone has been pretty friendly. Its funny, I tell Josh I feel like I'm on Wysteria Lane, getting the latest gossip from all the housewives. lol. However, its not just the wives, but the husbands too. Each new neighbor is quick to give us to "low down" on the "crazy neighbor" the "problem neighbor" the "friendly neighbor" lol. its really funny. Each couple even has their own set of nicknames for various neighbors. So far we've heard "Captain Crunch" "P. Diddy" "Mystery Man" "Lawn Mower guy" and "weird borrow everything not nailed down guy" hahaha. I'm pretty sure that Josh and I have landed the nickname "The newlyweds" lol. Its funny, so far it seems that we are the youngest couple in the neighbor, but i guess most 23 and 26 year olds aren't in the purchasing a house stage yet. But despite the humor in our rather attentive neighbors, I am thrilled that most of them seem to know the neighborhood well. Its a nice feeling, because they'll be the first ones to notice if something isn't right or a suspicious person is lurking about. I'm pretty sure that while we live here, we're going to encounter some funny memories with our fellow friendly home owners. :-)
One of the new precautions we have to take is that Lucy is now being kenneled everytime we leave the house...we didn't do this with Tele as a puppy because from what I had read, Boxers don't do very well being kenneled up. And Tele did pretty well not being kenneled up, so we thought lucy would be the same. Well...we were wrong.lol
A few Saturdays ago, we were going to go buy our bedroom furniture and we decided to put both dogs in our master bathroom while we were gone. Lucy is only 12 weeks old, so we isn't quite house broken yet and its much easier to clean up tile flooring than carpet. So we put both the dogs in the bathroom so they wouldn't be lonely (Lucy freaks outs when Tele isn't with her) and went out shopping.
Well...when we got home, I went to open our bedroom door to get the dogs out of the bathroom, and found that both of them were at the bedroom door waiting for me...How did that happen? I was pretty sure that I had shut the bathroom door before we left. I figured that Tele must have opened the door (yes...my bouncing boxer knows how to open door knobs, its scary how smart he is) however, when I turned the corner in our bedroom...I found that the bathroom door was in fact still shut. How did the puppies get out of the bathroom? Well, Lucy was rather inventive with this. Apparently, she was bored being shut in the bathroom and decided she wanted to get out. Josh and I have been watching the show "prison break" on netflix lately, so Lucy much have devised her plan from that. SHE ATE THROUGH THE DOOR! I couldn't believe it. there was a great big hole in the bottom of my bathroom door that both of them squeezed out through. All I could do was laugh when I saw it. It was certainly unexpected, but I saw no reason to get mad. Its part of having a puppy, lol. Josh heard me laughing so hard, that he asked me what was going on. I yelled to him in the living room that the dogs had found a way out of the bathroom. He laughed and said that Tele must have opened the door again. I told him that wasn't quite what happened and that he should come see. When he came into the bedroom and saw the bathroom door, he was pretty surprised. But thankfully, my husband has this ability to see humor in almost any situation, and he said "I guess that Lucy is no longer allowed to watch "Prison Break"lol.
So now, for the time being, we have a Lucy made doggie door on our bathroom door. lol. It won't cost much to replace the door so there wasn't much harm done. However, realizing the ability of my little Lucy...she now is kenneled up when we leave just to prevent something really expensive getting broken. We also have been kenneling up Tele, because Lucy freaks out when Tele is not near her. But when they are together, they don't seem to mind the cages. They each are in seperate cages, but they are side by side and the cages have open bars, so they can see everything. We tired kenneling just Lucy and she flipped out. But when Tele is in his cage too, she is pretty calm and doesn't cry. I'm pretty sure that she is SO bonded to Tele because we got Lucy a little too early. She was only 5 weeks when we brought her home, so she is pretty attached to Tele. The only time she leaves him is when she comes to sit with either Josh or me. And Tele is almost always at our side, so she really is never too far from him. lol. goodness...my little puppies. I'm pretty happy that we brought lucy into our family. Tele is such a playful and social dog, so him having a little buddy has been great.
We've started meeting our new neighbors over the past few weeks, and so far everyone has been pretty friendly. Its funny, I tell Josh I feel like I'm on Wysteria Lane, getting the latest gossip from all the housewives. lol. However, its not just the wives, but the husbands too. Each new neighbor is quick to give us to "low down" on the "crazy neighbor" the "problem neighbor" the "friendly neighbor" lol. its really funny. Each couple even has their own set of nicknames for various neighbors. So far we've heard "Captain Crunch" "P. Diddy" "Mystery Man" "Lawn Mower guy" and "weird borrow everything not nailed down guy" hahaha. I'm pretty sure that Josh and I have landed the nickname "The newlyweds" lol. Its funny, so far it seems that we are the youngest couple in the neighbor, but i guess most 23 and 26 year olds aren't in the purchasing a house stage yet. But despite the humor in our rather attentive neighbors, I am thrilled that most of them seem to know the neighborhood well. Its a nice feeling, because they'll be the first ones to notice if something isn't right or a suspicious person is lurking about. I'm pretty sure that while we live here, we're going to encounter some funny memories with our fellow friendly home owners. :-)
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Living in the Suburbs
Its been 4 days since we signed the final papers and closed on our new house. The closing went super smooth and last minute we were able to save a lot of money at the closing date. It was an amazing surprise. So Friday night we walked into our new home for the first time as the owners. What an amazing feeling. We ended up going straight to Lowes to buy paint and we spent the night painting the living room. We even slept on the floor at the new house because we were excited it was finally ours. it was an eventful night though with the two puppies. Lucy decided to jump head first into the pail of red paint that we were using to paint the living room with. Apparently my little Lucy did not want to be blue anymore, she prefers red. Thank goodness it didn't make much of a mess because I picked her up right away, and the paint came right off once I rinsed her off in the sink. So it made for more of a funny memory rather than a frustrating one. Saturday was spent moving our furniture over so that way we would have our bed to sleep on, lol. We still have a few things left at the duplex, just little odds and ends, but we've got plenty of time to transport it over during the next month. It was a long and tiring day, but still exciting. Then on Sunday we bought our new fridge and guest room bed. I LOVE the fridge that we bought. Its a black french door model. We were going to get a stainless steel one, but then we found the black one for such a good price that we couldn't pass it up. Then we also picked out the bed for our guest bedroom. We needed to have a Queen bed for when we have overnight guests, and it was good timing to get it with the fridge because Jay and Betty will be staying with us this weekend so they can visit and see the new house. I'm super excited to see them, plus they will get to meet Lucy too :-) Although, I'm pretty sure that Tele will hog all of their attention, he LOVES them so much. The puppies did have a tough time over the weekend adjusting to their new house in the suburbs, but after a trip to petsmart where they each picked out a bone and got tons of attention from people at the store, all was right in their little world. :-)
In other news, I PASSED MY TEST!!! For the past 10 weeks I have been in a training class for my job in order to begin phase 1 of obtaining my certification as a Case Manager. Its been a long 10 weeks, full of a TON of information. The test was 135 questions and I needed an 80 to pass. My job depended on my passing the test, if I didn't, I would get fired. No pressure right? Well, I took the test today and passed with a 90%!!! So I'm "halfway" a case manager. lol. I can now get cases and do the job, but it will take about 10 more months before I'm passed phase 2 of certification. But at least I'm done with the test. It was not easy. I've got a couple more days of training and then I get my first cases on Friday. But now that the test is over, it makes allows me more time to decorate my new house :-)
In other news, I PASSED MY TEST!!! For the past 10 weeks I have been in a training class for my job in order to begin phase 1 of obtaining my certification as a Case Manager. Its been a long 10 weeks, full of a TON of information. The test was 135 questions and I needed an 80 to pass. My job depended on my passing the test, if I didn't, I would get fired. No pressure right? Well, I took the test today and passed with a 90%!!! So I'm "halfway" a case manager. lol. I can now get cases and do the job, but it will take about 10 more months before I'm passed phase 2 of certification. But at least I'm done with the test. It was not easy. I've got a couple more days of training and then I get my first cases on Friday. But now that the test is over, it makes allows me more time to decorate my new house :-)
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
3 DAYS LEFT!!
We have just 3 more days until we get the keys to our new home! I can hardly wait. Our final walk through of the house is on Thursday night and then Friday afternoon we sign the final papers and get the keys! :-) We were planning on moving things gradually over since we have a month left at our current place, but we're too excited to wait. I've been looking at magazines, web pages online, and at the store of ideas to do to the house. I'm so excited to start buying things, I've had to wait, since we didn't have the place to put it in the little duplex we're in right now. Its going to be so much fun getting the house together. :-)
Our new puppy Lucy has adjusted very well and is super loving. She adores Tele, and is never far from him, unless she is sleeping in my lap. At the moment, she seems to be leaning towards being a "mama's girl." lol. I've taught her to not nibble on my face and hands as much, so she settles down quick and just cuddles. However, with Josh...its full on playtime every minute for her. lol. She waddles after him and as soon as he picks her up, she starts to nibble on his face, ears, and hands. She definately has an attitude about her, lol. She starts to cry as soon as she is disturbed from sleeping. If Tele or Josh bother her too much, she whines and waddles over into my lap. lol. Its very funny. But once she feels rested, Tele is her favorite. She constantly chases after him, attempts to play tug-o-war, and wrestles with him. They are the best of friends already. Its very funny though. I really feel like I have two children, when I get home, both of them are battling it out to get into my lap first. Lucy wins because she is so small, but Tele has no problem pushing her right out or simply sitting on top of her.lol.
The past week was a pretty tough one. I was pretty sick with what I thought was a sinus infection, but then I ended up losing my voice as well, so I'm not sure what it was. I took meds for 7 days before I was "better" even now, I'm still pretty congested, but at least my mind is clear. I have a major certifcation test for my job to prepare and study for. I've been in a 10 week training class for it. So being sick right now was a bad time. But thankfully I only ended up missing one day of work and was able to catch up on missed material. I'm pretty sure that whatever I was sick with, stemmed from my allergies. I haven't been able to get my allergy shots because of of my insurance change with my jobs (I will start the shots again next month) and its made my allergies flare up big time. I've been told that I have very small bone inside my nose, so small that if I sneeze too many times in a row, my nose swells shut. So when I'm sick, its no fun. Apparently, I can fix this by having a surgery in which the doctor would shave the bones down inside my nose....NO THANK YOU! talk about painful. So I'm hoping that once I get my allergies under control, it should control the issue enough.
Life hasn't changed much since my last post, between being sick and focused on the house, everything else has been put on hold. Friday can't get here soon enough! :-)
Our new puppy Lucy has adjusted very well and is super loving. She adores Tele, and is never far from him, unless she is sleeping in my lap. At the moment, she seems to be leaning towards being a "mama's girl." lol. I've taught her to not nibble on my face and hands as much, so she settles down quick and just cuddles. However, with Josh...its full on playtime every minute for her. lol. She waddles after him and as soon as he picks her up, she starts to nibble on his face, ears, and hands. She definately has an attitude about her, lol. She starts to cry as soon as she is disturbed from sleeping. If Tele or Josh bother her too much, she whines and waddles over into my lap. lol. Its very funny. But once she feels rested, Tele is her favorite. She constantly chases after him, attempts to play tug-o-war, and wrestles with him. They are the best of friends already. Its very funny though. I really feel like I have two children, when I get home, both of them are battling it out to get into my lap first. Lucy wins because she is so small, but Tele has no problem pushing her right out or simply sitting on top of her.lol.
The past week was a pretty tough one. I was pretty sick with what I thought was a sinus infection, but then I ended up losing my voice as well, so I'm not sure what it was. I took meds for 7 days before I was "better" even now, I'm still pretty congested, but at least my mind is clear. I have a major certifcation test for my job to prepare and study for. I've been in a 10 week training class for it. So being sick right now was a bad time. But thankfully I only ended up missing one day of work and was able to catch up on missed material. I'm pretty sure that whatever I was sick with, stemmed from my allergies. I haven't been able to get my allergy shots because of of my insurance change with my jobs (I will start the shots again next month) and its made my allergies flare up big time. I've been told that I have very small bone inside my nose, so small that if I sneeze too many times in a row, my nose swells shut. So when I'm sick, its no fun. Apparently, I can fix this by having a surgery in which the doctor would shave the bones down inside my nose....NO THANK YOU! talk about painful. So I'm hoping that once I get my allergies under control, it should control the issue enough.
Life hasn't changed much since my last post, between being sick and focused on the house, everything else has been put on hold. Friday can't get here soon enough! :-)
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
new house, new puppy, new season
10 days! That is all that is left until Josh and I are officially the proud new owners of a 30 year mortgage, lol. I'm so excited to get moved into the new house and its been so much fun picking out new furniture, paint, and house decorations. Josh is thrilled to actually be able to put money into landscaping our OWN yard, instead of one that we're just renting. Honestly, the entire house buying process has been very smooth for us. I've yet to feel the "house hunting stress" many people talk about. The biggest issue that we've come up against was securing house insurance, and even that only took a day thankfully. At first we were only finding high quotes or companies that no longer insure Florida homes. Then we came across a company suggested to us by our realtor that gave us the coverage we were looking for at a great price. I was surprised at the discounts available as well. We received a discount because there is a fire station located 2 miles from the house, the fact that we will have a security system in the home, and because of who built our home. Apparently, the insurance company said that they don't receive many claims from homes built by the building company of our new neighborhood. So that was really nice to hear, as well as having a security system. We knew that we wanted one, but I thought it would cost us more money, but instead it saved us quite a bit of money. So I'm thrilled about that.
Another nice thing about the house, is that the current owners did not paint most of the house. So with the exception of one room that they painted yellow with a monkey border for their baby's nursery, the rest of the walls in the house are white. So we're starting out with a blank canvas :-) I've changed my mind a bunch of times, but I'm pretty sure that we've finally settled on the living room colors anyway, lol. Josh is going to put up a white wainscotting (not sure how to spell that) paneling with a chair rail and the top part of the wall will be red. And then I've decided on chocolate brown couches. I've looked through enough pictures and room ideas and I keep coming back to these colors. So for the living room, I think we're all set. The dining room will share the same coloring since its sort of included with the living room. I've found a table that I really want, I just have to measure the it will fit alright. Its seats 6 people, and then with the leaf 8. I've wanted a larger table for awhile because it'll make entertaining much easier. Now I'll be able to let loose the "martha stewart" in me a bit more formally when we have a dinner party. :-) This years Christmas party is going to be awesome :-)
It other news, we've added a new member to the Grace family :-) Our new Blue Tick Hound, Little Lucy. She is absolutely adorable and Tele is amazed by her. He has been lonely since Penny went to live with Jay and Betty and so he has adjusted to Lucy wonderfully. I was pretty set on getting another Boxer puppy, but when I found Lucy, she stole my heart :-) We researched the breed and found that the personality of the breed was just what we were looking for. She has been a challenge, because we brought her home entirely too early but she is super sweet. She was 5 1/2 weeks old when we got her, so her mental capacity is not up to par yet. So correction hasn't been apart of training her yet, mostly we're just redirecting her focus onto something she is allowed to do. Tele is just about the perfect dog but when he starts to get out of hand, all we have to do is put the squirt bottle on the coffee table and its enough for him to start listening again. We don't have to correct him much anymore because he is pretty good about staying within the rules set for him now. But we've spent a year and a half training him, so Lucy has plenty of time to catch up to him. Lucy has been enthusitically accepted into the family as the newest Granddog, although I've promised the next addition to the Grace family will be a real child. lol. I just want to spend a few months decorating my new house and then we'll see what happens :-)
For the past month, on Saturday mornings, we've been taking Tele to the dog park. He LOVES doing this. The car ride alone is the highlight of his week, but then he gets to run in a field off the leash as much as he wants and there are TONS of other dogs for him to play with. I'm pretty sure its his version of Heaven. lol. Last weekend, Josh took him (I stayed home with Lucy, cause she has to get her shots before she gets to go) and there were 5 boxers at the park along with a couple labs, and even a saint bernard! Tele had a lot of fun and after about an hour of running, jumping, and playing with the other dogs, he was all tuckered out. The summer heat us starting to creep into early mornings, so we don't let him stay at the park much longer than an hour. But after that, my bouncing boxer sleeps most of the day away.
Work is going well for both myself and Josh, later I will have to write a blog about what exactly my job entails. Its very interesting and everyday is something new, I'm really learning a lot. Both Josh and I are incredibly thankful for the jobs that we have and the opportunities that they are providing us. And although I dread the summer heat for the next several months, I'm super excited to enter into yet another new season with my handsome husband and cuddly puppies. :-)
Another nice thing about the house, is that the current owners did not paint most of the house. So with the exception of one room that they painted yellow with a monkey border for their baby's nursery, the rest of the walls in the house are white. So we're starting out with a blank canvas :-) I've changed my mind a bunch of times, but I'm pretty sure that we've finally settled on the living room colors anyway, lol. Josh is going to put up a white wainscotting (not sure how to spell that) paneling with a chair rail and the top part of the wall will be red. And then I've decided on chocolate brown couches. I've looked through enough pictures and room ideas and I keep coming back to these colors. So for the living room, I think we're all set. The dining room will share the same coloring since its sort of included with the living room. I've found a table that I really want, I just have to measure the it will fit alright. Its seats 6 people, and then with the leaf 8. I've wanted a larger table for awhile because it'll make entertaining much easier. Now I'll be able to let loose the "martha stewart" in me a bit more formally when we have a dinner party. :-) This years Christmas party is going to be awesome :-)
It other news, we've added a new member to the Grace family :-) Our new Blue Tick Hound, Little Lucy. She is absolutely adorable and Tele is amazed by her. He has been lonely since Penny went to live with Jay and Betty and so he has adjusted to Lucy wonderfully. I was pretty set on getting another Boxer puppy, but when I found Lucy, she stole my heart :-) We researched the breed and found that the personality of the breed was just what we were looking for. She has been a challenge, because we brought her home entirely too early but she is super sweet. She was 5 1/2 weeks old when we got her, so her mental capacity is not up to par yet. So correction hasn't been apart of training her yet, mostly we're just redirecting her focus onto something she is allowed to do. Tele is just about the perfect dog but when he starts to get out of hand, all we have to do is put the squirt bottle on the coffee table and its enough for him to start listening again. We don't have to correct him much anymore because he is pretty good about staying within the rules set for him now. But we've spent a year and a half training him, so Lucy has plenty of time to catch up to him. Lucy has been enthusitically accepted into the family as the newest Granddog, although I've promised the next addition to the Grace family will be a real child. lol. I just want to spend a few months decorating my new house and then we'll see what happens :-)
For the past month, on Saturday mornings, we've been taking Tele to the dog park. He LOVES doing this. The car ride alone is the highlight of his week, but then he gets to run in a field off the leash as much as he wants and there are TONS of other dogs for him to play with. I'm pretty sure its his version of Heaven. lol. Last weekend, Josh took him (I stayed home with Lucy, cause she has to get her shots before she gets to go) and there were 5 boxers at the park along with a couple labs, and even a saint bernard! Tele had a lot of fun and after about an hour of running, jumping, and playing with the other dogs, he was all tuckered out. The summer heat us starting to creep into early mornings, so we don't let him stay at the park much longer than an hour. But after that, my bouncing boxer sleeps most of the day away.
Work is going well for both myself and Josh, later I will have to write a blog about what exactly my job entails. Its very interesting and everyday is something new, I'm really learning a lot. Both Josh and I are incredibly thankful for the jobs that we have and the opportunities that they are providing us. And although I dread the summer heat for the next several months, I'm super excited to enter into yet another new season with my handsome husband and cuddly puppies. :-)
Friday, May 13, 2011
Anniversaries and house approvals
Two months ago, Josh and I found this home that we both thought was perfect for us while we're living in Lakeland. So we told our realtor that we were pretty interested in it, and wanted to view it once more before putting an offer down on it. After viewing it for the 2nd time, it was just more confirmed in us that this house was too good of a deal to pass up on. So we told our realtor we were ready to make an offer on the house. However, much to our disappointment, our realtor told us that another couple had entered into a contract just the day before. NO! That was supposed to be OUR home. But we chalked it up as there must be a different house that fit us even better. So we continued house shopping. Though we didn't have much time for it between being out of town and my starting the new job. So several weeks passed and we looked at maybe 2-3 houses, and not being even slightly impressed with any of them. Then one day last week, our realtor called us and told us that the house we originally wanted was back on the market since the previous buyers financing fell through. And so she wanted to know if we were still interested in the home. YES! we told her that we definately still were interested and wanted to make an offer right away. Two days ago we found out that our offer for the house was offically accepted and we have a closing date of June 27th. Its almost unbelieveable to us still. I'm nervous to be too excited in case something falls through, but I can't help but be enthusiastic about this house potentially being our home for the remaining time that we are in Lakeland. Its a beautiful 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom home. Its pretty new as well since it was built in 2006. The current owners had upgraded several things in the home while they had it that I'm completely thrilled about. The kitchen has floor to ceiling dark cherry wood kitchen cabinets, stainless steel appliances, and granite counter tops. Then in the master bath, there is a huge whirpool bath tub with a seperate shower. Josh is happy about there being two sinks at the vainity since he usually has to work around me in the mornings when we are getting ready for work. With having four bedrooms, its going to allow for us to have an office and two guestrooms (at least until we've got a baby eventually :-) And the floor plan is so open, that its going to so much eaiser entertaining as well. But the BEST thing about having a much bigger house, is that we will have enough space for us to get our 2nd Boxer puppy :-) I'm pretty excited to have a little friend for Tele. :-)
Also, this past month marked Josh and I's 1 year wedding Anniversary. Wow. I've been married and entire year. I've been this thing called a wife for 365 days. Its such a feeling of awe when I think about that. It seems like I started saying "someday my future husband and I..." or "Eventually when I'm a wife..." since I was about 5 years old. lol. I always knew I wanted to find my prince charming and get married. And now here I am, reflecting over my 1st whole year married. Crazy how fast time goes. When I reflect over the past year, I'm consumed with such feelings of thankfullness and a happiness that is almost indescrible. I see so many events in the past year that were God-timed and placed and even better than I had ever dreamed it would be. Though this past year also held disappointments and stresses, now being on the other side of them, I really wouldn't change anything even if I had the chance. Both the good and the bad, made Josh and I grow together and really learn to depend on each other as a couple. It feels like I've been Ashley Grace always and yet its been such a short time. I can't wait to see what year 25 and 50 feel like. :-) I'm excited for the collection of memories we'll have to reflect by then. :-)
Since we just got back from vacation and are trying to be a bit conservative with money until the closing date of the house, we decided not to take a trip for our anniversary. Instead we drove out to Orlando and went to the Orlando Art Museum. Then went and saw the new Jane Erye movie (its my favorite book) and had dinner at Olive Garden where we spent time talking about favorite moments over the past year. Its was a really wonderful and relaxing day. :-) We also defrosted the top layer of our wedding cake. We were both a bit hesitant to eat year old cake, but surprising enough, the cake was pretty good. The cake part was still really moist and tasted much like it did at our wedding. The icing however, was ok. It tasted a little odd and was more flaky after it defrosted than anything. It was a great weekend to celebrate the 1st of many more years to come. :-)
Also, this past month marked Josh and I's 1 year wedding Anniversary. Wow. I've been married and entire year. I've been this thing called a wife for 365 days. Its such a feeling of awe when I think about that. It seems like I started saying "someday my future husband and I..." or "Eventually when I'm a wife..." since I was about 5 years old. lol. I always knew I wanted to find my prince charming and get married. And now here I am, reflecting over my 1st whole year married. Crazy how fast time goes. When I reflect over the past year, I'm consumed with such feelings of thankfullness and a happiness that is almost indescrible. I see so many events in the past year that were God-timed and placed and even better than I had ever dreamed it would be. Though this past year also held disappointments and stresses, now being on the other side of them, I really wouldn't change anything even if I had the chance. Both the good and the bad, made Josh and I grow together and really learn to depend on each other as a couple. It feels like I've been Ashley Grace always and yet its been such a short time. I can't wait to see what year 25 and 50 feel like. :-) I'm excited for the collection of memories we'll have to reflect by then. :-)
Since we just got back from vacation and are trying to be a bit conservative with money until the closing date of the house, we decided not to take a trip for our anniversary. Instead we drove out to Orlando and went to the Orlando Art Museum. Then went and saw the new Jane Erye movie (its my favorite book) and had dinner at Olive Garden where we spent time talking about favorite moments over the past year. Its was a really wonderful and relaxing day. :-) We also defrosted the top layer of our wedding cake. We were both a bit hesitant to eat year old cake, but surprising enough, the cake was pretty good. The cake part was still really moist and tasted much like it did at our wedding. The icing however, was ok. It tasted a little odd and was more flaky after it defrosted than anything. It was a great weekend to celebrate the 1st of many more years to come. :-)
Saturday, April 23, 2011
vacations and break-ins...
Well, our vacation to New York City was absolutely amazing! Our hotel was beautiful. We stayed at the Roosevelt Hotel on Madison Ave. It was so pretty and in just the perfect location for us to easily get where we were going. Once we flew into the city, we both pretty bad migraines (usually flying does that to me, but we didn't know Josh would be bothered as well) so we grabbed some dinner at a cafe across from the hotel, got meds and lots of water and took a nap on our amazing feather down quilted bed with down pillows...it was SO comfortable! We took our time just relaxing around the hotel (the previous week had been crazy busy for both of us). But the next morning we refreshed and ready to go. It was much colder than it was in Florida...we left 87 degree weather and walked into 42 degree weather, lol. But it was wonderful. We decided to walk to Central Park even though it was miles away, because it would be the easiest way to see a lot of the city. It was so much fun getting to be someplace completely different from home. Once we got to Central park, I was pretty thilled through, so Josh got me hot chocolate and we entered into Central Park. It was so odd to be surrounded by massive buildings and then to all of a sudden be in the middle of a beautiful park full of trees ad grass. We walked through it all, snapping pictures right and left, until we found the entrance to the zoo. Josh knows how much I like animals, so he got us tickets to go into it. :-) after the zoo, we found a place to get pizza for lunch, Josh just had to have new york pizza. It was pretty yummy but after that, there was no way I was wanting to walk all the way back to the hotel. So we got a cab and went back to the hotel for a nap and to freshen up for our dinner reservations and Broadway show that evening. Josh was thrilled to get reservations at the Four Seasons. Once we arrived, I was as well. The restaurant was so pretty, live trees surrounded the four corners of the room, and a huge fountain was in the center of the tables. The staff waiting on us were there satisfying any needs we had, almost before we had them, lol. I had decided to try something different since I figured anything I ordered was going to be good. So I ordered and ate rabbit for the 1st time. it came very elaborately arranged on my plate, almost too pretty to eat...almost.lol. And was very yummy. The best way I can describe it, it it tasted like a very mild chicken. But I would definitely get it again. Josh ordered lamb and was just as pleased with his dinner...my husband is a food enthusiast, he almost examines every bite, taste, and smell. He explains that he is on a mission: to find the perfect meal. lol.
After dinner we had tickets to see Mary Poppins on Broadway, the show was unbelieveble. I've never seen a set so well put together and the music was so much fun to listen too. We both really enjoyed the opportunity to see it. The next day we went to Ellis Island and the statue of Liberty. It was a bit of an ordeal getting there, lol. Since we planned out trip to New York in 1 week, all the tickets to the statue of Liberty from NYC battery park were sold out. So I bought ones departing from New Jersey. Our hotel was only 8 miles away, so I figured it would be no problem. Josh wanted to take the subway and light rail to new jersey, but I wanted to take a taxi...I told him that I was just fine paying extra for convienance, lol. However, apparently it wasn't as simple as that because the taxi driver couldn't figure out the fair since he couldn't input Liberty park into his meter system. So after attempting to get a taxi, we ended up going on the light rail to NJ. We then had to walk about 2 miles to get to the park, but we finally arrived. It was a pretty amazing experience to walk through Ellis Island, realizing how many people's lives were changed by that place. And getting to go inside the statue of liberty was pretty neat as well, since it symbolizes so much to our country. I had done several of these things before on a previous trip to visit a friend, but it was so different getting to experience these things with my husband :-) Sometimes, it still surprises me that we're married. its so crazy for me to think about, but very comforting at the same time. I still smile just thinking about Josh. Guess its that newlywed glow. :-)
The night before we left NY, Josh had set up reservations for us to eat at BLT Prime steakhouse. OH.MY.GOODNESS....I had NEVER had such amazing food. The resturant was dimmly lit and super romantic, the staff were amazing, and the food was unbelieveble. It was the perfect thing to close out our trip. The trip was such a needed break and some great quality time together. It was the perfect mix of fun and restful. We came home so refreshed. However, this was not so for Tele...we had boarded him at our vet's office and I really had thought it was going to be fine. He LOVES going to our vet. It sounds crazy, but its really his favorite place. He reaches new levels of excitement everytime he gets to go. Plus our vet does all ton of extra things for the dogs, its like a spa, lol. it cost us $40 a day, and he got walked 4x, dog ice cream floats, a color tv in his little room to keep him company, and 15 mins of playtime with a staff member everyday. We even had the option of getting a webcam, lol. but weren't going to pay extra for that, lol. But when we got home, I found that the food I had packed him only had 1 serving missing. So I called the vet (my sister had picked tele up for us since we were on the plane) and asked if they had fed him something else. The staff explained to me that they tried to get him to eat, but that he was sulky and depressed the whole time and wouldn't eat. He would perk up a little when they walked him, but that he wouldn't even play during playtime. They said it was probably because he had never been boarded before and wasn't used to being away from us. So needless to say...Tele didn't leave our side for the first few hours we were home. He insisted on being in our laps...all 80lbs of him. lol. But I didn't mind. I had missed my little puppy a lot :-)
More recently, about 3 days ago, we realized that someone had tried to break-in to our house. We have a door on the side of the house that leads into my laundry room. We don't ever use it, so we keep it bolted. We someone took a hammer to the door knob and its dented in and hanging off.But they weren't able to get in the house because the dead bolt was still in place. Not exactly comforting. We made the police report and we're put on a list for police to do drive by's in out neighborhood for a few weeks. Josh checked all the locks and windows to make sure they were secure still and they were set. So I'm glad they didn't get in and steal or break our things, but it is just one more reason why I can't wait to move. It was perfect for us when we were first married because (we are renting from a friend) we were trying to move up to North Florida and were able to get only a 4 month lease instead of a year long one. But then I got my job in Lakeland and Josh got a promotion, so it seemed more reasonable to stay. But I am more than ready to move. Plus once we move, we a to get a little buddy for Tele. :-) I can't wait to get a 2nd dog. :-)
Life is still keeping us busy, but things and going fairly just a little fast. lol. I can't believe that this time last year, I was working 40 hours a week, finishing up wedding planning, and graduating college. In less than a month, it will be 1 year since our wedding. goodness, time flies. But I'm thrilled with where it is. :-)
After dinner we had tickets to see Mary Poppins on Broadway, the show was unbelieveble. I've never seen a set so well put together and the music was so much fun to listen too. We both really enjoyed the opportunity to see it. The next day we went to Ellis Island and the statue of Liberty. It was a bit of an ordeal getting there, lol. Since we planned out trip to New York in 1 week, all the tickets to the statue of Liberty from NYC battery park were sold out. So I bought ones departing from New Jersey. Our hotel was only 8 miles away, so I figured it would be no problem. Josh wanted to take the subway and light rail to new jersey, but I wanted to take a taxi...I told him that I was just fine paying extra for convienance, lol. However, apparently it wasn't as simple as that because the taxi driver couldn't figure out the fair since he couldn't input Liberty park into his meter system. So after attempting to get a taxi, we ended up going on the light rail to NJ. We then had to walk about 2 miles to get to the park, but we finally arrived. It was a pretty amazing experience to walk through Ellis Island, realizing how many people's lives were changed by that place. And getting to go inside the statue of liberty was pretty neat as well, since it symbolizes so much to our country. I had done several of these things before on a previous trip to visit a friend, but it was so different getting to experience these things with my husband :-) Sometimes, it still surprises me that we're married. its so crazy for me to think about, but very comforting at the same time. I still smile just thinking about Josh. Guess its that newlywed glow. :-)
The night before we left NY, Josh had set up reservations for us to eat at BLT Prime steakhouse. OH.MY.GOODNESS....I had NEVER had such amazing food. The resturant was dimmly lit and super romantic, the staff were amazing, and the food was unbelieveble. It was the perfect thing to close out our trip. The trip was such a needed break and some great quality time together. It was the perfect mix of fun and restful. We came home so refreshed. However, this was not so for Tele...we had boarded him at our vet's office and I really had thought it was going to be fine. He LOVES going to our vet. It sounds crazy, but its really his favorite place. He reaches new levels of excitement everytime he gets to go. Plus our vet does all ton of extra things for the dogs, its like a spa, lol. it cost us $40 a day, and he got walked 4x, dog ice cream floats, a color tv in his little room to keep him company, and 15 mins of playtime with a staff member everyday. We even had the option of getting a webcam, lol. but weren't going to pay extra for that, lol. But when we got home, I found that the food I had packed him only had 1 serving missing. So I called the vet (my sister had picked tele up for us since we were on the plane) and asked if they had fed him something else. The staff explained to me that they tried to get him to eat, but that he was sulky and depressed the whole time and wouldn't eat. He would perk up a little when they walked him, but that he wouldn't even play during playtime. They said it was probably because he had never been boarded before and wasn't used to being away from us. So needless to say...Tele didn't leave our side for the first few hours we were home. He insisted on being in our laps...all 80lbs of him. lol. But I didn't mind. I had missed my little puppy a lot :-)
More recently, about 3 days ago, we realized that someone had tried to break-in to our house. We have a door on the side of the house that leads into my laundry room. We don't ever use it, so we keep it bolted. We someone took a hammer to the door knob and its dented in and hanging off.But they weren't able to get in the house because the dead bolt was still in place. Not exactly comforting. We made the police report and we're put on a list for police to do drive by's in out neighborhood for a few weeks. Josh checked all the locks and windows to make sure they were secure still and they were set. So I'm glad they didn't get in and steal or break our things, but it is just one more reason why I can't wait to move. It was perfect for us when we were first married because (we are renting from a friend) we were trying to move up to North Florida and were able to get only a 4 month lease instead of a year long one. But then I got my job in Lakeland and Josh got a promotion, so it seemed more reasonable to stay. But I am more than ready to move. Plus once we move, we a to get a little buddy for Tele. :-) I can't wait to get a 2nd dog. :-)
Life is still keeping us busy, but things and going fairly just a little fast. lol. I can't believe that this time last year, I was working 40 hours a week, finishing up wedding planning, and graduating college. In less than a month, it will be 1 year since our wedding. goodness, time flies. But I'm thrilled with where it is. :-)
Thursday, March 24, 2011
changes, trips, and houses...
The past few weeks have been some of the busiest ones that we had since being married. But all the craziness has brought about incredible changes that are definitely God planned and timed. Since October of last year, I had been contemplating a job change. I liked my job as a counselor, I felt good helping people, but in the space of 1 month, my director, supervisor, and co-worker all left for different positions elsewhere…making my job responsibilities and stress levels considerably higher. I decided that it was time for a change…however…a change to what? Josh and I considered several different options and I began going on interviews. Along the way I found a couple jobs that I was pretty interested in, but when they didn’t happen for me, I began to get discouraged. But I decided that despite my circumstances, I was going to try my best to maintain a good attitude. However, it wasn’t easy to do always, lol. Once we saw the physical effects my stress levels were creating (higher blood pressure and migraines) Josh encouraged me to just quit my job. He reasoned to me that we could afford it and that while things were nice financially with me working, it wasn’t worth the toll it was taking. So, after making it to the 2nd round of the application process of a job I had applied for, I went ahead and gave my notice to my office. Relief and peace were almost instantaneous. I wasn’t sure how everything was going to work out, but I definitely knew I had made the right choice. After all, I told Josh that if I couldn’t find another job, I would be a great housewife J
Well, then this past week happened. J I actually was offered a new position as a Case Manager for Gulf Coast Jewish Family Community Care Services. This means, that I get involved when DCF has determined that a home is no longer safe for a child. I then become responsible for the well being of that child and accompany them to court to verify the improvements or lack thereof that their parents make in order to get them back. When a child then goes back into the home, I make treatment plans for the families and home visits with them for 6 months to make sure things are going well for the family. It’s going to be a pretty big change for me, but a very welcome one. Its better hours (more independently set) and a pretty significant pay increase. The company has a pretty neat history as well. It was originally established to help Jewish refugees and then turned into a child and family services organization. So after 4 months of wondering how things would go or which direction to take, God has finally made things clear and they are better than I thought.
Another pretty big change is that Josh and I are trying to purchase our first home. Since we’re going to be in Lakeland a little longer with Josh pursuing his Master Degree through Southeastern University, we decided to go ahead and take advantage of the low interest rates of the housing market right now. It’s actually cheaper to buy than it is to rent at the moment. So it’s been a lot of fun. We recently changed our realtor and she is a great resource. We’re actually seeing several homes tonight after work, so we’ll see if we like any of them.
Besides my new job change this past week, the next most exciting thing is that Josh and I are finally able to go on vacation. We couldn’t before due to my not being able to get time off work, and since I will have a week in between my current job and new one, we decided to take advantage of it. So we booked tickets to fly to New York for a few days. We wanted to take a really big vacation to sort of make up for not being able to have a honeymoon when we got married. (My grandfather had passed away a few days before our wedding, making us not able to go away) So this trip has been greatly anticipated by both of us for awhile now. We’ll be gone for 4 days, and those four days are going to be packed full of things to do. I’m planning our day to day, while Josh is concentrating on our dinner reservations. He’s definitely a food enthusiast, lol. So far he’s come up with the Russian Tea Room, The Four Seasons, and The BLT steakhouse. He mentioned something about Kobe beef being there, but I was lost looking at the pictures of the restaurants. They are really beautiful. Since Josh has never been to New York, we’ll be doing all the tourist things: statue of liberty, Rockefeller center, central park, Ellis Island, etc…But the thing I’m most excited for is I was able to get us tickets to see the show Mary Poppins on Broadway! J
So this week has been a bit of a blur and I’m sure week will as well, but one thing has been consistently clear, God has opened up doors I never knew were there. And I’m incredibly thankful for his timing and provision.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Valentines gives way to Spring time allergies....
This past Valentines Day was Josh and mine's 2nd Valentines Day together, and our 1st one married. The weeks before Valentines were both pretty stressful work-wise for both of us. We both needed a break. So we decided to take a trip to Sarasota. Its an hour and a half away from us, so its far enough away that its different from home, but close enough that we aren't too tired to make the drive after crazy work weeks. So we got a sitter for our puppy Tele and we headed over to Sarasota for a weekend trip. Josh had even made reservations for us at the Ritz Carlton for dinner. :-) And since we're newlyweds, we had chocolate covered strawberries sent up to our room, compliments of the hotel. :-) The weekend was just what we needed and was wonderful. :-)
A few years ago when I started college, I started getting really sick with chronic migraines. I would have one for 6 days at times, making me unable to read and even sick to my stomach several times a week. It was pretty miserable. After 5 months of misery and TONS of tests, meds, and visits to the doctor (including CAT scans to make sure I didn't have some sort of brain tumor)...I found out that one of the several reasons I was getting so sick, was because I had developed some pretty bad allergies to pretty much the entire world, lol. Even walking from my dorm to my college classes, I would end up breaking out in hives (there were oak trees covering my entire campus). So I started allergy shots and after two years, the shots cut the list in half of what I was allergic too. They were amazing. So between my allergist and chiropractor visits, my migraines finally stopped and even now have gone down from 3-4 times a week to now maybe 4 times a month. The change was wonderful. All this to say...I'm a HUGE fan of allergy shots. I think that they are super beneficial. So, when I met Josh, I noticed that he got a lot of colds and sinus infections. So I mentioned to him while he was popping Zicam right and left, that maybe he had allergy problems too. Josh didn't think too much of it at the time. Now fast forward to last month...Josh was going to the doctor again for yet another sinus infection. To which his doctor said that if you get more than 2-3 sinus infections a year, you may want to see an allergist....Josh averaged about 5-6 a year. So a visit to the allergist was set up. While there, the allergist discovered that Josh actually did have allergy issues...in fact...he had never seen someone react so quickly or swell up so severeley. lol. They test 120 items on your back and up to 40 on your arm afterwards....Josh was so allergic to ALL the trees that he was tested that the welts blended all together and it looked like one large welt. The doctor asked Josh how he was even functioning, lol. So now Josh will be starting allergy shots and I am getting back on them in order to finish out the treatment. In like 6 months, I'm sure we will both have much more energy and feel all around much better. So its pretty exciting. However, throughout this discovery...I realized that because we both have pretty signifcant allergies....our kids someday are going to be the sick one, lol. That child everyone sees that constantly has a cough or a cold, lol. And I will be the mother with the purrell in my pocket, purse, and car, lol. Josh says that its nonsense, that our kids will not be the sick ones...that they will be the resilient ones, lol. We'll see someday :-)
A few years ago when I started college, I started getting really sick with chronic migraines. I would have one for 6 days at times, making me unable to read and even sick to my stomach several times a week. It was pretty miserable. After 5 months of misery and TONS of tests, meds, and visits to the doctor (including CAT scans to make sure I didn't have some sort of brain tumor)...I found out that one of the several reasons I was getting so sick, was because I had developed some pretty bad allergies to pretty much the entire world, lol. Even walking from my dorm to my college classes, I would end up breaking out in hives (there were oak trees covering my entire campus). So I started allergy shots and after two years, the shots cut the list in half of what I was allergic too. They were amazing. So between my allergist and chiropractor visits, my migraines finally stopped and even now have gone down from 3-4 times a week to now maybe 4 times a month. The change was wonderful. All this to say...I'm a HUGE fan of allergy shots. I think that they are super beneficial. So, when I met Josh, I noticed that he got a lot of colds and sinus infections. So I mentioned to him while he was popping Zicam right and left, that maybe he had allergy problems too. Josh didn't think too much of it at the time. Now fast forward to last month...Josh was going to the doctor again for yet another sinus infection. To which his doctor said that if you get more than 2-3 sinus infections a year, you may want to see an allergist....Josh averaged about 5-6 a year. So a visit to the allergist was set up. While there, the allergist discovered that Josh actually did have allergy issues...in fact...he had never seen someone react so quickly or swell up so severeley. lol. They test 120 items on your back and up to 40 on your arm afterwards....Josh was so allergic to ALL the trees that he was tested that the welts blended all together and it looked like one large welt. The doctor asked Josh how he was even functioning, lol. So now Josh will be starting allergy shots and I am getting back on them in order to finish out the treatment. In like 6 months, I'm sure we will both have much more energy and feel all around much better. So its pretty exciting. However, throughout this discovery...I realized that because we both have pretty signifcant allergies....our kids someday are going to be the sick one, lol. That child everyone sees that constantly has a cough or a cold, lol. And I will be the mother with the purrell in my pocket, purse, and car, lol. Josh says that its nonsense, that our kids will not be the sick ones...that they will be the resilient ones, lol. We'll see someday :-)
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Surprises...
Its been awhile since my last post. The past two months have gone by in an instant, yet at the same time, have felt decades long.
Our first Christmas married was absolutely wonderful. Josh and I had decked out the entire house with Christmas decor...down to the soap dishes in the bathrooms, place mats on the table, and hand towels in the kitchen. Everywhere you looked there was something screaming "Its Christmas time!" Our tree was 9ft tall, and we strung lighted garland around all 4 walls in our living room...we really out did oursevles, lol. But 4 trips to the store, 3,000 lights, 115 ornaments, 5 rolls of ribbon, 2 dozen cinnamon candles, and countless dropping of little pine needles later...my house was filled with the smell of fresh pine and cinnamon, aglow with christmas lights and candles, lavished with beautiful ribbon, and ready for our first Christmas together. It really was so much fun. :-)
Due to my being on call for work, (thankfully I didn't get any hospital calls on Christmas day) we had to stay in Lakeland for the week of Christmas. So on Christmas morning, Josh and I woke up and decided to give Tele (our puppy) the toys that we had wrapped for him. It was so cute. My dog LOVES new toys. He had never got so many new toys at one time before, it overwhelmed him. He ran back and forth to each toy, bringing each thing to Josh or I to play fetch. It was really fun to see him get so excited. Then Josh and I gave each other our gifts. My darling husband had bought me a diamond necklace (the pendant is a circle) that I had wanted for a long time. I was thrilled, and have worn it everyday since. I then gave Josh the leather messenger bag/briefcase that I had found for him. He had been looking for one for a long time and I was so excited when I had found this one. It looks great and smells wonderful. He was super excited about it.
After presents, we made a big breakfast of homemade french toast with the thickest cut of maplewood smoked bacon I've ever seen, lol. It was almost like cooking up little steaks for breakfast. Since this was the first Christmas either of us had ever spent apart from family, we wanted to really make the day special. After breakfast we brought out blankets and pillows and settled on the living room floor to watch "A Christmas story" That movie has been a christmas tradition in both our families for years and one we definately want to keep :-) The rest of the day was spent watching movies, skyping with family, and taking a wonderful and rare, middle of the day nap and stayed in pajamas all day. Until we made turkey cutlets, green beans, and potato's for dinner. It was a such a relaxing and fun day. The next day we went and saw the Moscow Russian Nutcracker Ballet!! It was absolutely beautiful.
Though we both missed having family with us on Christmas day, having our first Christmas as newlyweds with just us ended up being very special. I'm glad it all worked out the way it did. :-)
For New Years, we drove up to Marianna to have Christmas with Josh's family. We stayed a week and got the chance to relax and enjoy family and dear friends. We also got to give Betty her birthday present that we had been keeping secret from her for two whole months, lol. Jay, Josh, and myself, had come up witht he idea to get Betty a little Yorkie puppy for her birthday. :-) She had been talking about wanting a puppy for a little while, so we found a breeder in Lakeland and we kept the puppy at our house the first two months to get it its puppy shots, and begin the training process. Tele LOVED having the puppy as a new playmate. She was only 2 pounds, and he was 60lbs, so she was about the size of his head! But much to our relief, he very quickly learned how to play gentle with her and they became fast friends.
So once we went up for New Years, we were able to surprise Betty with Penny :-) it was a lot of fun to give her to her. And Jay had princess heart shaped food and water bowls waiting for the new Princess Penny :-) along with little outfits, toys, and a new dog bed. Needless to say, Penny is being lavished with love and attention. :-)
Another surprise that occured was one for me regarding my job. In the space of a month in a half, my director, supervisor, and co-worker each left our department. All for seperate reasons, and were positive send offs, however, work has been CRAZY because of the sudden changes. My work load has nearly tripled, making for increcibly stressful weeks and very tired days, both mentally, emotionally, and physically. However, the new staff that have come abroad, are all super friendly and eager to learn their new responsibilites. I just hope I can survive until they all get the swing of things. Its been a rough couple of months. I'm pretty drained. But at there's job security right? :-)
Despite stressful work circumstances, life has still been stable and full of contentment. Each day thats been a struggle for me, there is Josh standing beside me telling me that someway, everything is going to work out. Telling me that he believes in me, telling me that I'm beautiful even when my hair is thrown in a pony tail and make up hastily applied because I'm running late. He's right there, starting and ending my day with a hug. I'm so thankful for the person he is and for how God is providing for us during this beginning season of our life.
2010 was an inspiring year for me, I can't wait to see what comes with 2011. :-)
Our first Christmas married was absolutely wonderful. Josh and I had decked out the entire house with Christmas decor...down to the soap dishes in the bathrooms, place mats on the table, and hand towels in the kitchen. Everywhere you looked there was something screaming "Its Christmas time!" Our tree was 9ft tall, and we strung lighted garland around all 4 walls in our living room...we really out did oursevles, lol. But 4 trips to the store, 3,000 lights, 115 ornaments, 5 rolls of ribbon, 2 dozen cinnamon candles, and countless dropping of little pine needles later...my house was filled with the smell of fresh pine and cinnamon, aglow with christmas lights and candles, lavished with beautiful ribbon, and ready for our first Christmas together. It really was so much fun. :-)
Due to my being on call for work, (thankfully I didn't get any hospital calls on Christmas day) we had to stay in Lakeland for the week of Christmas. So on Christmas morning, Josh and I woke up and decided to give Tele (our puppy) the toys that we had wrapped for him. It was so cute. My dog LOVES new toys. He had never got so many new toys at one time before, it overwhelmed him. He ran back and forth to each toy, bringing each thing to Josh or I to play fetch. It was really fun to see him get so excited. Then Josh and I gave each other our gifts. My darling husband had bought me a diamond necklace (the pendant is a circle) that I had wanted for a long time. I was thrilled, and have worn it everyday since. I then gave Josh the leather messenger bag/briefcase that I had found for him. He had been looking for one for a long time and I was so excited when I had found this one. It looks great and smells wonderful. He was super excited about it.
After presents, we made a big breakfast of homemade french toast with the thickest cut of maplewood smoked bacon I've ever seen, lol. It was almost like cooking up little steaks for breakfast. Since this was the first Christmas either of us had ever spent apart from family, we wanted to really make the day special. After breakfast we brought out blankets and pillows and settled on the living room floor to watch "A Christmas story" That movie has been a christmas tradition in both our families for years and one we definately want to keep :-) The rest of the day was spent watching movies, skyping with family, and taking a wonderful and rare, middle of the day nap and stayed in pajamas all day. Until we made turkey cutlets, green beans, and potato's for dinner. It was a such a relaxing and fun day. The next day we went and saw the Moscow Russian Nutcracker Ballet!! It was absolutely beautiful.
Though we both missed having family with us on Christmas day, having our first Christmas as newlyweds with just us ended up being very special. I'm glad it all worked out the way it did. :-)
For New Years, we drove up to Marianna to have Christmas with Josh's family. We stayed a week and got the chance to relax and enjoy family and dear friends. We also got to give Betty her birthday present that we had been keeping secret from her for two whole months, lol. Jay, Josh, and myself, had come up witht he idea to get Betty a little Yorkie puppy for her birthday. :-) She had been talking about wanting a puppy for a little while, so we found a breeder in Lakeland and we kept the puppy at our house the first two months to get it its puppy shots, and begin the training process. Tele LOVED having the puppy as a new playmate. She was only 2 pounds, and he was 60lbs, so she was about the size of his head! But much to our relief, he very quickly learned how to play gentle with her and they became fast friends.
So once we went up for New Years, we were able to surprise Betty with Penny :-) it was a lot of fun to give her to her. And Jay had princess heart shaped food and water bowls waiting for the new Princess Penny :-) along with little outfits, toys, and a new dog bed. Needless to say, Penny is being lavished with love and attention. :-)
Another surprise that occured was one for me regarding my job. In the space of a month in a half, my director, supervisor, and co-worker each left our department. All for seperate reasons, and were positive send offs, however, work has been CRAZY because of the sudden changes. My work load has nearly tripled, making for increcibly stressful weeks and very tired days, both mentally, emotionally, and physically. However, the new staff that have come abroad, are all super friendly and eager to learn their new responsibilites. I just hope I can survive until they all get the swing of things. Its been a rough couple of months. I'm pretty drained. But at there's job security right? :-)
Despite stressful work circumstances, life has still been stable and full of contentment. Each day thats been a struggle for me, there is Josh standing beside me telling me that someway, everything is going to work out. Telling me that he believes in me, telling me that I'm beautiful even when my hair is thrown in a pony tail and make up hastily applied because I'm running late. He's right there, starting and ending my day with a hug. I'm so thankful for the person he is and for how God is providing for us during this beginning season of our life.
2010 was an inspiring year for me, I can't wait to see what comes with 2011. :-)
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