Thanksgiving 2012

 

Thanksgiving is tomorrow and we’re planning on driving up to Pennsylvania in the morning to enjoy the holiday with both sets of our parents.   We are lucky that both families can get together at once and enjoy each other’s company, which also means Adam and I don’t have to go running back and forth between two houses.   I’m looking forward to relaxing, catching up with everyone and enjoying the beginning of the holiday season!

It’s hard to believe that another Thanksgiving is here...last year on the day before Thanksgiving I was rushing around like a chicken…errr Turkey….with my head cut off trying to get everything ready to host the first big holiday at our house.  Now, another year has come and gone in the blink of an eye.  I try not to get all mushy, but here are just some of the things I’m thankful for this year:

-          An amazing family that is supportive of our endeavors.  This year, both my Grammie and Adam’s Grandma passed away, but we were so lucky to have grandmothers like that in our lives.  We both truly come from incredible families.

-          A wonderful husband who is there to listen, give me advice, fix things, cheer me up, make me laugh and give me a hug when it’s needed

-          Although I might not enjoy it all the time, I’m thankful for a dependable job

-          Great friends

-          A beautiful house that has provided us with lots of projects over the past 18 months

-          One little dog that always manages to make me laugh (even when he’s pooping on the basement floor or barking incessantly)

I hope everyone who reads the blog has a great Thanksgiving. 

Hurricane Sandy

Last week, the weather forecasters started hyping a hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean that looked as though it was going to hit the east coast.  By Friday afternoon, the office was officially in a frenzy as we covered computers and claims files in plastic and put sandbags in front of all of the doors.  For those of you who don't know, I really like weather-related stuff.  When I was in elementary school, I used to watch the weather channel and hope that one day I would be a meteorologist.

On Saturday, Adam and I went to the Penn State game with his parents.  While we were there, they issued evacuation orders for alot of the Delaware coast.  I started to get a little bit worried, but still figured it was all just weatherman hype.  On Sunday morning, we got up early and went to the store in Pennsylvania to pick up a few things because I knew Delaware stores would be crazy.  We drove home and settled in for the "storm of the century".  Around 7:00 on Sunday night, my boss called and said the office would be closed on Monday.  Cue happy dance!

When we woke up on Monday morning, it was raining, but there was really no wind.  Throughout the day, the wind picked up little by little and I watched nervously as the trees in the backyard swayed back and forth.  I issued a few prayers that they wouldn't topple over onto our house.  By Monday night, the lights were flickering and I was sure that the house would be powerless by Tuesday morning.  To my surprise, we woke up on Tuesday with power and just some extra leaves on the porch.  The office was closed again, so I spent the day reading and doing some things around the house.  Luckily, Adam's parents house on Rehoboth Bay made it through the flooding unscathed.

So thanks, Sandy for keeping my power on, for not knocking down any trees in our yard; and, for a four day weekend

Vacation

 

 

Over Columbus Day week, Adam and I took our first big vacation since our honeymoon almost three years ago and went to Tybee Island, Georgia.  On Friday evening, we started the long drive and after an overnight stay in Richmond, we finished the drive on Saturday.  We arrived at our condo on Saturday evening, unpacked the car and settled in for a week of relaxation.

 

 

 On Sunday, the weather was a perfect 85 degrees and sunny.  We spent the day walking on the beach, laying by the pool and sitting on the oceanfront balcony reading.  On Monday, we woke up to cooler temperatures and a rainy forecast, so we decided to drive into Savannah for the day.  After finding a place to park, we bought tickets for a trolley tour, and proceeded to learn about the city for the next 90 minutes.  After the tour, we wandered around, got some sandwiches and headed down to the riverfront to check out the touristy shops.  By that time, it was raining and we were umbrella-less, so we decided to go back to the condo. 

 

 

On Tuesday and Wednesday, we followed the same relaxing routines with walks on the beach and reading.  By Thursday, we were ready to get out and do something, so we bought tickets for an hour-long dolphin tour, which quickly became my favorite part of our trip!  We went out in a big open boat and the dolphins literally swam up right next to  us.  It was gorgeous day with a cool breeze and I managed to not get motion sick, so I’d call it a success.

 

 

 

 

 

We spent our last day of vacation soaking up the sun and the surf and being depressed that we had to go home.  After our day in Savannah, I really wanted to go to the Pink House Restaurant, but unfortunately, there were no open reservations.  When I got out of the shower on Friday afternoon, Adam surprised me and told me that he was able to get us reservations for dinner.  We got dressed up and drove into the city for an amazing dinner and then walked around a couple of the Savannah squares.  By Saturday morning, it was time to load up the car and get going and after 11 hours, we finally made it back to Delaware.

Overall, it was a great vacation and gave us a chance to relax and unwind. I'm already looking forward to the next one!

 

 

DIY Planter Boxes

A few weeks ago when Adam was out of town in Austin, my Mom came to visit and spend the day with me.  While we were out, we saw some adorable planter boxes that I thought would look great on the front porch.  The downside?  They were $50 each.  Unable to fork over $100 for two wooden boxes, I went home and began researching.  Before long, I came across this tutorial.

I mentioned the idea to Adam when he got home from his trip and while he didn't seem incredibly excited about yet another project, he agreed to look at the plans.  On Sunday, we went over to 84 Lumber to pick up the wood we needed for the job.  We came home and got to work and within three hours, we had all of the wood cut (I even used the electric saw)  and one box put together.  We called in quits just in time to watch the Steelers game and finished the second box the next day.

Over the course of the next week, I painted the boxes Soldier Blue with milk paint and finished up with three coats of sealer to protect the wood from the elements.  Last night, Adam lined the boxes to prevent the dirt from slipping through the cracks and today I was finally able to put plants in them!

I am happy with the statement they make in the front of our house and I'm pretty sure they could withstand a category five hurricane or a fall from a ten story building.  The best news of all?  We were able to build both of the boxes for about $40...less than the cost of one of planter boxes I saw for sale.  Ours our alot more attractive, plus, we're proud of the work we put into them.

What do you think? By the way, can you find the praying mantis that photobombed my picture?

Baby Got Back(splash)

On the Saturday of Labor Day weekend, we ventured to a huge tile store (The Tile Shop) in Wilmington with a plan to pick up some beige-colored penny tiles for our kitchen backsplash project. However, once we started perusing the many different options the store had to offer, we decided to go with a bronze hexagon mosaic tile instead. After receiving much instruction from an employee and cashing in on their Labor Day sale, we headed home with $200 worth of tiles and materials for our project.

Following much preparation the next day (covering countertops, removing switch plates, laying out materials) we were FINALLY able to start tiling. While Adam worked on attaching the tiles to the wall, I concentrated on making the necessary cuts and being OCD about how everything was lining up. Two hours later, we had only covered about a foot and a half of wall space next to the fridge and I began to get worried that the backsplash wouldn’t be finished before Christmas.

Luckily, we started getting in the groove, and by 10:00 that night, we had completed almost the entire job. On Monday morning, we woke up bright and early at 10:00 to finish up the tiles. By 5:00, we were ready to re-prep the kitchen and get our grout on. While Adam smushed grout into every crack and crevice, I followed behind wiping off all of the excess grout and doing damage control (aka vacuuming stray grout from the floors and counters). If you’ve never worked with grout before, it’s a messy process.

An hour in, we were both covered in a mixture of grout, water and sweat. What a perfect time for the in-laws to show up on their way home from the beach to check us out in all of our grouting glory! By the time we finished the grout and cleaned up (again), it was 10:00 and we were pooped. However, the backsplash looks fairly good overall and I think we’ll be pretty happy with it! I’m also extremely thankful we’ll be on vacation over our next long holiday weekend.

Adam's 27th

Yesterday, Adam turned 27. While we were at his birthday dinner, I kept thinking how fast this year has flown. I literally feel like I went to bed on his 26th birthday and woke up and it’s September 12th again. Anyway, it’s always great to take a day out and celebrate the amazing guy I get to call my husband.

Here are some of the big moments of year 26:

- Accomplished MANY home improvement projects including: installing tile (in our guest bathroom and for our kitchen backsplash); painting kitchen cabinets; installing crown molding…and many, many more things
- Quit the job he’s had since he graduated from college
- Became a partner in a start-up with his old boss
- Said a sad goodbye to a grandmother and grandmother-in-law
- Sold his little red Hyundai
- Put up with me for another year (now THAT’S an accomplishment)

We are looking forward to celebrating his birthday a little bit more with family this weekend. Adam, I can’t wait to see what 27 has in store for you!

Summertime

Last weekend Adam and I went down to Rehoboth to take care of a few things at his parent’s beach house. It was a welcome break after busy and stressful summer. I’ve been feeling down lately about work and Adam has been working some insane hours with his new start-up. He encouraged me to take the day off on Friday and make it a three day weekend, so on Friday morning, we packed up the new car for it’s first road trip and made the 90 minute drive down to slower lower.

I spent the day on Friday relaxing with a book outside while Adam finished up some work. On Saturday, we hit the road and took a scenic drive to Bethany Beach where we browsed some of the shops, walked along the boardwalk and soaked up the absolutely gorgeous weather. That night, we went to Lewes to admire the amazing houses and ended the night at our favorite Italian restaurant. By Sunday, it was time to pack up and head back home again.

It feels like life has been moving a mile a minute for us over the past year with house projects, family events, graduate school, work, overtime and starting new jobs. Now that things are finally starting to settle down (at least for me), I’m starting to look toward what’s next for me. Even though I complained about it, after being out of school for six months, I’m really starting to miss it. I’m so thankful that I have someone there to listen to my frustrations and encourage me to try new things. While I figure out the next step, I’m going to attempt to stay positive, roll with the punches and relax while I can because you never know what’s around the corner.

Goodbye Elantra

Adam has been driving a little red Hyundai since I met him six years ago. When I first started dating him, I thought he was so cool because his car was only a year old and it had a manual transmission (ooo lah lah), plus it was bright red. Sometimes he would pick me up at my apartment, take me to get ice cream and then we would sit in the car, listen to the radio and talk with the windows down. When he graduated and moved to Baltimore and I was still in Newark, I remember working on schoolwork and looking out the window waiting for his little red car to turn onto my street.

Four years ago, when we took a family vacation to Hilton Head, he taught me to drive it so that I could contribute to the 10 hour drive (alot of people have attempted to teach me how to drive stick shift and I pretty much just hate it). When I took my turn at the wheel sometime in Virginia, there was bumper to bumper traffic, I stalled in the middle of 95 with a huge truck behind me and I was so freaked out that I couldn’t get it started again. After that, I never got behind the wheel of the Hyundai again.

Since buying the house, we’ve noticed that we sometimes have a need for a car that can haul more stuff. In January, we went to the car show in Harrisburg and checked out a bunch of crossover SUVs, but didn’t really get around to researching and test driving any until about a month ago. Last weekend, we decided to put the Hyundai on Craigslist to see if anyone would be interested. Luckily, we found a couple in Newark interested in it and yesterday, Adam signed over the title. Hopefully this weekend we’ll go pick up our new car.

Adam always says that I get too attached to inanimate objects (i.e. I was almost in tears when I traded in my Honda a few years ago), but after spending a lot of time in that car with him, I’m definitely going to miss it (and the lack of car payment).

Moving Out

The past few months have been bittersweet as my Grandmother prepared to move out of her house and into a retirement community. For me, 825 Green Lane is the only house I have been visiting my entire life. Growing up, we would come from wherever we might have been living at that particular time and as soon as you walked in, the place just felt like a second home. It’s also the last place I saw my Grandfather the way I remember him.

When we were little, we would spend hours swinging on the tire swing that hung from the huge tree in the backyard, begging a parent, aunt or uncle to push us higher or spin us faster. Sometimes, someone would set up croquet and we would all run around playing. It was the perfect yard for playing soccer, picking vegetables in Grandma’s garden and catching fireflies.

Inside, the entire family would get together for Thanksgiving and everyone would make a huge circle around the kitchen and say a prayer before dinner. You could always count on Grandma to sit down and play Dominoes, Scrabble, Rummikub, or cards around the kitchen table. In the living room, my sisters and I spent hours watching our favorite movie, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers….I’m sure today the three of us could probably recite the words to most of the songs. The baby grand piano always sat in the corner, waiting for someone to sit and play hymns or Christmas carols. Upstairs, the little plaid room had two matching twin beds for my sister, Sally and me.

When I left the house on Saturday for the last time, I had so many mixed emotions, but I am really happy that Grandma is going to be living in such a nice place with so many opportunities to do things and meet new people. I know that 825 Green Lane is just a house, it’s the people that were inside of it and the memories that were made there that made it so special.

Ch-ch-changes

A couple months ago, Adam called me from the airport when he was on his way home from a work trip in Austin, Texas. His boss, he informed me, was planning on leaving the current company and starting his own business. He asked Adam to join him as one of its founders. As he told me about this new opportunity, I couldn’t help but think that we had just gotten settled in Newark with our house the way we wanted it and the bank account back to where it had been before we wrote the check for the down payment. We were enjoying life, settled into jobs and done with grad school. I was happy in the routine daily life. Why does it always seem that when you’re just getting comfortable, something changes?

Adam and I discussed this opportunity for hours, researching what it would mean for him and for us as a couple and a future family. While he was still happy in his job, he wasn’t sure that it was leading him where he wanted to go. From the beginning, I was worried about stability of this new position, as well as the fact that there is a chance this idea could fail. I was focused on the negative aspects of the opportunity, while he was dreaming about all of the future possibilities.

A few weeks ago, my opinion started to shift when I saw how excited Adam was about this new adventure. I realized that I have to trust his judgment and know that he would never purposely do anything to jeopardize our stability. He deserves to be challenged in his career. So, after five years in his current company, he is switching gears and becoming one of the founders of a new start-up.

We know it is going to be a crazy year, but we’re looking forward to all of the opportunities ahead.