Tuesday, July 31, 2012

We're Homeowners!

After biting our nails for the past week and having our closing delayed once, we are happy to say that we now officially have our own home!  We'd like to introduce you:
We are just ecstatic beyond belief.  God has been so good to us.  We officially began our house-hunting on March 31.  We must have looked at two dozen houses all together, which included two that I saw without Brian.  We made an offer on June 10 for our house, and a little over a month and a half later, we are thrilled to say it is finally ours.  We got a great deal and paid far less than its market value.  I am a bargain shopper to the core, and I'm happy to say our house was a bargain, too!

Now comes all the hard work, and believe us when we say there is a lot!  But it's quite all right with us.


Monday, July 23, 2012

Birthday With My Husband

Today is my birthday.  This was the second birthday I have ever missed spending at my home in NJ. I spent one summer in Pasadena to complete my training for teaching abroad.  Brian and I did go home two weeks ago, and I celebrated a pre-birthday with my family.

So Brian was all on his own today, and he did just fine.  I was happy to wake up next to him, my first birthday as a married woman.

I could write so much more on this blog.  I want to and have desired to over the past couple of weeks.  I have tons of pictures of my trip home:  my nieces and nephews, my poor mom in her arm sling and boot for her broken foot that were the result of a recent fall.  I have photos of Brian kayaking down the Delaware River as I stood on the bridge above him.  Time has not allowed it, as Brian and I are preparing to move into our own home.  We are ecstatic, but overwhelmed at the same time.  Our apartment is a sea of boxes that continues to grow, and life has been challenging at best as we maneuver through this unfamiliar world of buying a home.  We are grateful for God's blessings in our lives, and we look forward to our new home with pure joy.

I will update more when we are settled in and will show a photo or two.  Please hang in with us as our lives are in a bit of transition right now.

Sunday, July 1, 2012

A Few Random Updates

Our summer has gotten off to a busy start, and I've meant to blog a hundred things by now, but haven't gotten around to it.  I'll just post some pics with a few words of what we've been up to.



Brian finished out his school year one week ago with one last performance at graduation.  Each year, his band performs a live performance of "Pomp and Circumstance".  I like to take pictures of him in action while conducting, so as the graduates marched out and everyone was busy watching them, I scurried over so I could get some better shots of Brian.

Since Brian is now on vacation, we've decided to do one fun thing a week that we don't normally do.  This past week, we went to Claws N' Paws, which is a zoo out near us here in PA.  We went there two summers ago when we were dating, and it was really nice to revisit the place.
 I caught this photo a little too late because my camera was in my bag, but Brian was face to face with this white tiger.  Of course, there is glass there, but as Mr. Tiger got close to Brian, he began to lick the glass.  Was he looking for a snack?  Did Brian look like a tasty treat?

We had to stop and pose with the gorilla painting just as we did two years ago.
Brian and I don't bite, mind you.  I just had to take this photo.  Wouldn't it make a great sign on our front door?










We've been committing this summer to walk 10,000 steps a day.  While we may not get to it every single day, we've gotten off to a great start already.  We get up early, walk 5,000, and then we walk another 5,000 in the evening.  It breaks it up and we miss the hot sun during the day.
I'm a pretty good bargain shopper, but somehow I managed to find these two watermelon slices for a penny each.  The cashier was none too happy with me.  Although they indeed rang up for one cent a piece, she insisted I ought to be charged full price.  I was calm but held my own and said that this is the price that is marked on them and I would not want them otherwise.  (Side note:  Even if a store makes a mistake, I believe it is their duty to honor their mistake.)  She called up a supervisor who took my side and said if that was what they were marked, then I could have them.  Geesh, it made me wonder if the cashier had never found a good deal in her life and didn't want anyone else to have one.  Needless to say, those were some delicious watermelons.  (Oh, by the way, the cashier did ring me up for three watermelons, but I wasn't going to balk at the one cent I was overcharged.)