Slowly but surely...

The house is officially ours!  And we've been non-stop ever since.  And when I say non-stop?  I mean it!  Every.single.night.  I love all the progress we have already made into making the house our home...but I'm going to complain a little bit.  This is exhausting!  My eyes burn when I close them for more than two seconds which makes me not want to open them back up.  I couldn't even put my contacts in this morning!  It was a "glasses, hair in a bun, no make-up" kind of day, which seems more and more frequent as the school year progresses.

But today...I lost it - all of my motivation went out the window.  I had full intentions to do a lot tonight.  That quickly changed because of my Keurig.  See, I have a minor obsession with coffee that has slowly developed over the past year...year and a half.  Every day after work, I have a cup of coffee, catch up on all my favorited tabs on the web, and then do some work.  But today...the move threw a kink in my plans.  My Keurig is at the new house.  All of my coffee mugs and Keurig cups are at the apartment.  I quickly ran to Dunks and got my fix, but it was too late.  My plan to finish packing up the kitchen, fold laundry, clean the bathroom, etc. - gone.  I'm tired - even with the coffee!  So instead?  I came home, sat in bed, and watched re-runs of Friends.

And I'm OK with that.  Everything that needs to get done will get done.  Sometimes I just need to take a breather and often times I forget to do so.

So tonight I'm slowing down.  Relaxing.  Doing nothing.

Tomorrow?  I'm moving over all of my mugs and K-cups to the new house.

Morning Day Date

This past weekend, Jason and I had a morning day date.  Instead of our typical Friday or Saturday night out, we decided to switch it up.  I suggested earlier that week that we venture off to Rockford Park where I go running.  I.love.this.place.  One of the "Small Wonders" of Delaware.  It's absolutely stunning and makes me very nostalgic of my childhood for some reason.  There are always people there - walking their dog, playing baseball, having a picnic, going for a jog, etc.  So instead of sleeping in and lounging around, we went for a hike.  We found a trail that runs alongside the Brandywine River and explored that area for awhile.  Then we hiked up the back hill which leads into the park.  We literally had to climb some parts of this hill a.k.a. small mountain (which was much more than we anticipated)!  Jason had such a blast - he was truly in his element climbing those boulders :)  When we arrived at the top, we were right next to Rockford Tower.  This is one of my favorite places in Delaware - which explains why it is the background of my blog!

When we got back to the car, we decided to explore the area some more...get to know some of the back roads better than we do.  This is one of my favorite things to do - just drive around and get lost.  You always end up somewhere!

After a half hour of driving, we found ourselves at Lucky's Coffee Shop.  I feel like we traveled back in time.  Such a cute diner with great food and service - reminded me of a place my parents would have gone to when they were younger.  We both ordered delicious meals and ended up hanging out and chatting for an hour.  It was nice to just sit, relax and catch up - especially since we've been so busy lately.  We'll definitely be going back soon.

The next few weeks will be extremely busy!  We're closing on our house tomorrow!  FINALLY!  I'll be posting lots and lots about our progress as we get settled in to our new abode :)

Jamaica - no problem!

Three months from now, my husband and I will be here!

Last year, Jason and I went to Jamaica for our honeymoon.  One day while we were on the resort sipping cocktails, we started chatting about how much we loved our 10 day get-away!  Maybe it was the drinks?  Maybe it was Jason's new, acquired mantra Happy Wife, Happy Life?  Regardless, we booked our return trip for our one year anniversary...one year in advance!  When I say we had the best time on our h-moon - that is literally the biggest understatement.  Sometimes I feel like I should be a spokesperson for Sandals Resorts because our experience was unforgettable.

This is not the first time we've booked a trip on a whim.  Since we moved in together in 2010, we have always tried to have one, big trip planned a year. 

#1 & #2:  In 2010?  We drove to Green Bay, Wisconsin on Christmas day for a Packers game.  On the way home, we stopped in Chicago for a few days.
#3 & #4:  In 2011?  We flew to Denver and drove across the entire state of Colorado...twice. 
#5:  In 2012?  We went to Jamaica. 
#6:  In 2013?  So far, we've been to Texas for a long weekend. 

I'm not going to lie...we have already started talking about a two week long road trip during the summer of 2014.  Yes, we're those people.  We just start talking about what we want to do...and an hour later?  Our plane tickets are booked and we're Googling things to do in the area.  We always like to have something to look forward to.  And we always say we aren't spontaneous...ha!

Anyway - I.cannot.wait.for.Jamaica. Sunshine, champagne, and my sweet man for our anniversarymoon is what I'm looking forward to the most this summer (oh yea...that AND my sister is having twins too!).  As of today, I'm officially back on my bridal boot camp diet so that I look and feel beach ready for the trip...minus the bridal part.

Here's to sunshiny weather!

Let the moving preparations begin!

This weekend, it sorta-kinda hit us that we are moving soon.  So on Saturday, my husband and I decided to get the ball rolling.  I had the brilliant idea of "let's start packing!" as much stuff as possible.  An hour later?  I'd say 40% of our stuff was packed, walls were empty, holes were spackled.  I didn't take into consideration that we would be living amongst boxes for the next 12 days...oops!

On Sunday, we then decided to take a field trip to Lowe's to pick out our paint colors.  We're going to be repainting the interior of the house before we move in all of our furniture.  I think I'm most excited for the bathrooms.  Yes, the bathrooms - more than one!!!  We have two themes going that I absolutely love - I'll share them another time.

Other than paint colors, we wanted to buy our stair runner, hallway runner and living room (all matchy-matchy).  But of course, the style we wanted doesn't exist any more.  We paced around the store debating back and forth -  should we spend more money on a different style? OR should we figure it out later?  After two plus hours of being in Lowe's - we decided we'd figure it out later.

On the way home, I threw out the idea of going to Home Depot - two major hardware stores in one day?  Every girl's dream!  And what do you know?  There it was.  The stair runner and the hallway runner.  Not only did they both exist, but they were 1/2 the price of Lowe's and we could take them home that day!  Downside?  There was not a matching rug for the living room.  I'm not too worried about it.  I'm already searching the Web for the perfect rug  (confession:  I love online shopping).

This weekend is our last weekend in the apartment.  We plan on doing some fun things non-house related.  Picnic in the park.  Walk with Tyger.  Rita's?  Hopefully this nice weather continues!

We're moving on up!

Welcome to my blog.

I've been thinking about blogging forever.  I haven't quite found the reason to start until recently.  But now that we have a major life event coming our way, I want to start documenting it (other than the major social networking sites).

We bought a house!

A lovely house. And it happened fast too.  My husband and I have been browsing for the past few months.  We had a timeline set in place (because I'm a timeline type of person) and we were actually looking to purchase something in late summer/early fall 2013.  But then March rolled around and house after house started popping up on my Zillow app.  Look at this one babe!  My husband would look at the pictures, nod, and give me a reassuring smile which said "not yet."  Usually I would show him houses way out of our budget.  Or I would show him houses that were not fit for our commute.  He knew.  He knew I was itching to get out of our small apartment.  Our two bedroom "home" had served it's purpose.

We decided to get a real estate agent.  Just in case something popped up and we needed to make moves...we would be able to.  We spent a few Sundays going to open houses in different parts of the city.  After we finally decided the exact location of where we wanted to be, we knew it was just a matter of time.

Then it happened.

The ideal house for us went on the market.  We called up our agent and set up a showing.  There was an open house that Sunday, but we wanted to get in before hand.  The house was awesome.  Everything we were looking for give or take a few, minor things.  When we left, we found out that someone else had put an offer in.  Disappointed?  Of course.  But I fully believe in the saying that "everything happens for a reason," and this was one of those times.  Everything with this house was moving way too fast.  Faster than we wanted.  And we just had a feeling that it wasn't the one.  Apparently...when you know...you know...

So we waited and waited.  And then it happened (again)!

The ideal house for us went on the market.  We called up our agent and set up a showing.  There was an open house that Sunday, but we wanted to get in before hand.  The house was awesome.  Everything we were looking for give or take a few, minor things.  Sound familiar?  Yea.  But this time?  We knew.  As I was walking through the house, I truly imagined us living there.  Raising a family.  Hanging out with our dog in the backyard.  Family dinners in the dining room. (I know...I know... - the sappy stuff).  But I saw it.  I got that feeling.  This is it...this is the one.

So?  We put an offer in and we got it :)

We'll be settling April 19th.  Stay tuned for future posts about our life in the Small Wonder State.