Adventures in Unpacking

I had intended to do a long post today about the beautiful new home that we moved into earlier in the summer. However, there are boxes everywhere, the laundry is piling up, and wouldn’t you know it, this house is getting dirty just like the last one! I actually had to swifter the bathroom floor because of the weeks of me doing my hair on a tile floor. I shed a lot, apparently.

There are a few things I’m loving about the new place…

There is enough room in the kitchen to have a TON of boxes… and we were still ok to move around. Sort of. All of these boxes are gone, thank goodness!

I don’t quite love this part – the master bedroom closet came crashing down the day after we moved in. My dear husband went to the home improvement store (our home away from home now) and bought some additional support and was able to reinstall it. We need to do the same for my side of the closet.

 

Husband and I actually eat together at our kitchen table! There’s a dining room table as well, but this is in our breakfast nook in the kitchen. It’s the perfect place to keep the bananas, even though there aren’t any in this picture. The picture frame was from the townhouse and we used it to hang up our keys when we walked in. Not quite sure where it will end up in the new house, so for now, it’s actually leaning against the wall. Just like all the other artwork in the house. It’ll go up eventually.

My brand new gas stove. I love cooking with gas again! I always seemed to burn things on electric.

And of course, my favorite place – the coffee spot. It’s got a place of honor right on the counter, around the corner from our master bedroom. I’m in love.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

 

So we are getting settled, still unpacking boxes and trying to remember where we put a certain thing when we end up needing it. I was organized in the townhouse but it’s hard with so many more places that things can go. It’s a good problem to have, but I need to reinstate my organizing system in the new place!

Adventures in Knowing Your Own Email Address

Apparently, I'm an awful blogger.

I started this blog five months ago and have been blogging away, albeit a bit sporadically. I thought it was awfully quiet, and wondered if anyone was reading anymore. So strange.

When I logged in this morning to post something, I saw that there are 50 comments dating back from the first blog here that were awaiting moderation. For my previous blog, I had comment moderation turned on so I would get an email whenever someone commented here! That way, I could approve it and then answer back and it was a great way to connect with blogging friends!

Um, whoops.

I entered the wrong email into the comment moderation page and so some random person who has "wanderingadventure" at Gmail has been getting your comments.

I am so sorry!

To make up for it, here is a video of a penguin being tickled. Please giggle as much as I did last night when I saw this on Facebook.

Adventure to the Emerald City

In the spirit of awesome ideas, right in the middle of buying a house, Husband and I decided to go on vacation.

Well, we had been planning this vacation since February. And I say "planning" with many air quotes. Because other than picking the time and booking the flights, he and I did nothing but get on the plane to go visit our friends in Seattle.

M and D moved to Seattle in February after D got his dream job. D is Husband's college roommate and best friend, and M is a good friend of mine. They bought a house in South County and we spent many a night of law school, and then the boys' MBA school, over there. We grilled, we watched silly television (see: the Asylum movies [http://www.theasylum.cc/] and FAIL videos), we watched the boys build things. You know, the usual.

So when D got the awesome job that was perfect for him, we were so disappointed they were moving away. Who would we spend our Sunday nights with? Who would build random things with Husband? How could we get along without them?

We are getting along, spending time on our new house of course, but we knew when they moved we would want to go visit them in Seattle. Neither of us had been out there and it seemed like a perfect way to celebrate Husband's 29th birthday in July. We had no idea that it was going to be such a crazy month in our life.

Four days, and we accomplished a ton! M did an amazing job planning out our trip... we didn't lack for any activities! We even did things that other friends who used to live in Seattle said they had never done. This was so much of a success, we are already planning on next trip. There will be whale-watching on the next go-around!

But seriously, this is all we did in four days, with some pictures thrown in for good measure!

-Seattle Underground Tour

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-Theo’s Chocolate Factory Tour

 

-Visit to the Fremont Troll

-Tour of D’s office

-Dinner at Din Tai Fung (dumplings house) to celebrate Husband’s birthday

-Top Pot Doughnuts

-Boeing Tour

-Visit to the Flagship REI store

-Shopping in Bellevue

-Sunset on Alki Beach and view of Seattle skyline at night

 

-Space Needle

 

-Pike’s Market (Flying fish, first Starbuck’s, gum wall, etc.)

-Dinner with family friends

-Cascade Pass day hike (7 mile round trip, 1800 ft elevation gain)

Before…

During…

At the top…

 

 

****************************************

Insanity. But so, so, so much fun. :) We already miss M and D... when can we get that next trip planned?!

Adventures in New Housing!

 

 

We are now homeowners. 

 

They gave us the keys on July 2.

And now I know where every paycheck and bonus are going to go for the foreseeable future. My new house. With which, I am in love.

I'm still working on taking pictures, so I will be doing a proper before and after picture recap. But for those who follow me on Instagram, you have seen the crazy week that we've had - with removing wallpaper that is even more than glued on and trying to paint over it. We're getting there, and the pros are probably coming in next week to help finish the job.

The movers come July 22 to take care of the heavy stuff, and hoping that many boxes will be moved over there before hand.

I think we've rearranged the room assignments a few times and we haven't even moved in yet!

We have a four bedroom, 2.5 bath in a one and a half story in a suburb of St. Louis. There's a great yard and as soon as the wallpaper comes down and our colors go up, it will be amazing. There's a large living room and dining room right off the foyer and a sitting room off the open kitchen and breakfast nook. The master bedroom and bathroom are on the first floor and the walk in closet is huge. It's pretty much why I bought the house. ;) Upstairs, we've got three bedrooms and a bathroom so Husband will get an office, I'll get a craft room with open shelving and there will be a guest room next to the guest bathroom.

It's pretty much perfect. I'm in love!

P.S. Did I mention that he carried me over the threshold on Tuesday afternoon, once we got the keys? It was pretty darn adorable.

Adventures in Surprise Wedding Showers

Warning: the people you are about to see are professionals. Don't try this at home.

I would NEVER suggest that anyone do what I'm about to tell you I did last month. Seriously, only highly trained professionals should attempt this particular feat.

I'm an event planner. I work on non-profit events for my day job and weddings for my side job. I do LOTS of events each year. And I love them! Give me some time to create a timeline, set up some decor items, and I'm a happy camper. It's fun!

However, what I don't love is the last minute nature of events. I've learned over 6.5 years to go more with the flow, because you have to be flexible in my line of work.

When my mother-in-law told me her longtime friend asked her and me to plan a last-minute wedding shower for her future daughter-in-law when the couple was in St. Louis over Memorial Day weekend, and oh by the way, it’s a surprise, I was a little worried. Well, a LOT worried. I had lots going on… like another celebration I could mention here.

But an evite sent out, a timeline created, cover story concocted, and supplies purchased the day after the graduation party, and we were set. A surprise wedding shower with Cardinal touches was a go. 

Baseball cookies from a local grocery store. So much easier to pick these up instead of making them ourselves!

Gus’ Pretzels makes fabulous pretzels in crazy shapes – including the Cardinals’ logo!

Popcorn in individual containers.

What’s a wedding shower without mimosas? Strawberries just completed the red look.

The sister of the groom made chocolate covered strawberries which were yummy!

The dessert table.

The mantel was decorated for the occasion.

Baseballs and peanuts!

Cracker Jacks and centerpieces.

The bride-to-be was VERY surprised. She thought she was coming to my MIL’s house for beer and pie.

The couple with their gifts. He left pretty quickly after this picture to hang out with my husband while we had the party.

The bride-to-be with her adorable flower girl.

The planner and the bride-to-be!

Other guests…

And with her maid of honor.

 

While she was very surprised, I think she truly enjoyed herself once she was handed an adult beverage! She received some beautiful gifts and we had a lovely time hanging out before the wedding this past weekend. It was a great celebration.

Law School Graduation Party Details

I jokingly said that I had been planning this party since Husband’s first day of law school. In reality, I started the Pinterest board sometime last year.  I ended up hiring a caterer to do the heavy lifting and had specialized cupcakes delivered to the apartment’s club house for the big day. That saved us a LOT of work. Having someone set up the food, ask my guests if they wanted another drink, and clean up at the end of the day? Totally worth the price.

You have to display the diploma! Plus, beautiful white carnations in a SLU blue vase.

White carnations with blue and white beans made a perfect centerpiece.

Diploma cookies!

What’s a St. Louis celebration without toasted ravioli?

Food set up.

Blue pom poms and crepe paper to complete the look.

The congrats banner made a great backdrop for photos.

Vanilla bourbon cupcakes from The Sweet Divine. Custom made flavor the graduate!

He even got special cupcakes just for him.

Chocolate raspberry cupcakes were the other flavor of the day.

Most of his presents were cards… and beer. Very apropos for a law school graduation.

Adventures in Law School Graduation

I am going to go out on a limb that I was the most proud wife of all time on Thursday, May 16. At the Chaivetz Arena, my husband officially accepted publicly his diploma as a Juris Doctor. An official lawyer.
It's beside the fact that he already had his real diploma at home, framed, and his gold bar membership card in his pocket.

This was Graduation Day.

It was a big deal! We had family in town - his parents, my mom, my brother, my cousin from KC and the nephew. Unfortunately, his brother and girlfriend had to work but they ended up coming to the party over the weekend so we could celebrate. But to be surrounded by all the SLU blue and the excitement for a graduate school commencement ceremony, it was amazing.

And yes, there were tears. I have never been more proud of my husband. He looked SO handsome in that beautiful black robe with blue and white master's hood. And that mortarboard! That's what did me in. That cap and the tassel. It was so official and final.

Although, I will admit, it's a bit strange that he had to take off from work that day to come to the ceremony. Kind of funny, but pretty darn awesome that he had a job already!

Now on to our next big adventure... :)