Around here

I cannot believe how gorgeous it is here. Sunsets over the Glades are the best.

We did a lot of exploring last weekend, including the library and plant shopping.

Still thinking about whether or not to let MK out onto the balcony. She’s hell on screens.

Jason’s birthday was Wednesday! He celebrated by going to work and the DMV. I stuck an unlit candle in a piece of Publix apple pie and sang Happy Birthday because I hadn’t found the box with my lighter yet. Do we know how to party or what?

The unpacking process continues. I finally found my spatulas this week, so was able to cook actual food.

I love the arches and little details here. It seems less like a cookie cutter apartment and more like a place with character.

#MyDetailsClass Pre-Class Prompt (try saying that three times)

My friend Megan is teaching a class about getting more of YOU in your scrapbooks. She, along with Kristin of rukristin, will provide prompts to get you inspired to scrap about yourself. They’ll share two different takes on each prompt, one from the past and one from right now. I think that’s one of the coolest part of the class. Exploring the past and making connections with the present is absolutely one of my favorite things about this hobby.

The pre-class prompt is “Thinking” so I jotted down a few things on my mind right now.

Loving this response to the Honey Maid ads.
It’s the day before Jason’s birthday!
Planning which boxes to tackle next.
Prepping food for the week.
Still not quite believing that we’re actually here.
Adjusting to a new morning routine.
Missing scrapbooking.
Studying the Anglo Saxon Chronicle.
Loving having him home an extra two hours a day.
Wondering what the big deal is about GOT.
Hoping to get to take advantage of my big bath tub this week.
Relieved that my knee is getting closer to normal.
Thinking I’ll try working out on Wednesday.
Taking walks around the track in the meantime.
Laughing at texts from my sister.
Needing to talk to Melissa.
Craving green things in my home and in my tummy.

I think things like this are really interesting to look back on. When I was writing Friday’s post about our move, I had a lot of fun taking a little trip down Memory Lane and remembering things that were on my mind a couple of years ago. I think that has given me a renewed love for this blog and memory keeping in general. I won’t have a lot of spare time to make pages for a bit, but I can certainly take a couple of minutes to jot things down.

Several of the ladies in the class are doing a blog hop with their takes on the pre-class materials. Check them out here.

Around here

We have officially been in our new apartment for six days now. It has been a whirlwind!

My sister flew in last Thursday to help with the move. She hasn’t visited since 2006, so needless to say, I was ridiculously happy. I made broccoli casserole at her request. We spent Friday finishing packing and loading the truck with boxes.

Saturday we moved. It went surprisingly well actually. And by “surprisingly well”, I mean we got through it alive. I only had one tiny meltdown. You never realize how much stuff you have until you move, and even though we decluttered a lot of things before the move, it was still very overwhelming. Especially carrying it all up three flights of stairs. Our movers were great though. We made it through relatively unscathed, except for my knee. And lots of bruises.

Sunday we went to Hatsumi fair at the Morikami. We’ve been wanting to take J for years, so it was very cool to show her what we’ve been yammering about for so long.

Monday we had fancy doughnuts, went to IKEA, and to the beach- twice. It sounds like a lot, but it was surprisingly relaxing. It was a lot of fun being tourists in our new city.

On Tuesday Jason gave Jamie skateboarding lessons. I think she had fun- except for the falling and hurting her arm part. We did not have a great week for injuries… She flew back home that night.

Jason went back to work on Wednesday and I started the unpacking process. I can’t wait to have everything unpacked so I can start on the fun stuff like picking out more plants! Right now I have most of the kitchen and some of our bedroom unpacked. I want to finish up those rooms today and figure out storage for the bathrooms. The bathrooms here are… different. Storage here in general will be a challenge, but we’ll figure it out.

I’m so excited to be in our new place! And the very best part is that I get my husband back. No more two hour a day commute! We could not be more thrilled. 🙂

It’s hard for me to believe that during the time I’ve had this blog, I’ve lived in three different houses! I was looking through my archives and found a few posts on the subject.

Finding out we had to leave our first place together.

Thoughts on Home and the stresses of moving.

Our last move.

2012’s Week In the Life was all about unpacking from the last move, especially Monday. I am extraordinarily grateful that MK has handled this move So Much Better than the last one. We’re all mostly sleeping through the night, which is fabulous.

Back in August when I was getting the itch to move (but hadn’t yet convinced Jason)

Apartment hunting in December. (The last picture is the complex we’re living in now)

I love love love having the blog to look back on!

One year ago…

We were recovering from this.

Yep, we moved on Jason’s birthday last year. Not by choice, it just worked out that way. It was… a day. We will forever be grateful to our friend Robert for helping us move. We literally could not have done it without him!

We started the day out by bringing a carload of things that we didn’t want to move in the big truck. We had our first breakfast at the new place.

It was a long day. Moving a whole condo full of stuff is not easy, especially with only three people. But we got almost everything knocked out that day. At some point that afternoon the IKEA guys delivered our new bed, mattress, and couch. And after moving boxes and furniture all day, Jason put the couch and bed together too. It blows my mind how hard he worked! (I would have gladly slept on the floor that night, but he wanted it all DONE).

So that was our Moving Day.

It’s crazy to think of this time last year and how incredibly stressful it was. In the space of a month and a half, my mom had surgery and we went to Nashville to be with her. Our landlord offered us a great deal on our condo, then turned around and sold it to someone else. We found a new apartment and had less than two weeks to move. Jason was offered a new job in a different town and left his job of 17 years. So many changes in such a short time!

But we made it through, because that’s what we do. We are Team Awesome. 🙂

“Jason Is Great” Week

I was a week late in celebrating Jason’s birthday. I am a bad wife. 😛 In my defense, his birthday was the day after we moved and we had already planned to celebrate it later than the actual day.

Here are a few of the highlights…

I made this. It’s my first piece of “homemade home decor”. I’m not really into the whole handmade scene, but I’m definitely willing to dip my toe in. And the more I see, the more excited I get to start making fun stuff for our new place.

(Frame is from Target. Fonts are American Typewriter and Lobster 1.4)

I also made Sausage Pasta from this recipe from All Recipes. My photos were bad, definitely not blog-worthy. One of Jason’s favorite recipes.

I made this lemon cake recipe from Ina Garten. It was good, but a lot more lemony than I was expecting. I guess that happens when you use real lemons 😛 Unfortunately it was way too much cake for us and I had to toss most of it. Note to self- half all future baking.

I also made Fish Tacos. So tasty 🙂

The last Favorite Meal I made consisted of Apricot Dijon Chicken and Broccoli gratin.

The “week” ended up stretching a little longer than expected, but it was nice getting to cook all of his favorite meals.

As for presents, he was going back and forth between an Apple TV, the TiVo Premiere and a bluetooth for the car. He ended up going with the Motorola Roadster 2. He’s really liking it and it helps a lot on the longer commute. He’s able to use Siri to call and text me, and listen to Pandora through the radio.

I think overall it was an okay birthday experience. I didn’t get to do everything I wanted to, but I think our cheaper holidays make us more creative. And I can mark off one more thing on my 52 in 52 list.

I…

I saw this post on Becky Higgoins’ blog and I got the urge to write this down Right Now. With everything that’s happened the past month, I’ve been a bit too busy living life, and not so much with the documenting feelings and such. So here goes…

I was going to sleep in a little today, but need to be up and dressed for the maintenance man’s visit.

I am hearing strange noises from outside. Maybe downstairs neighbors? So odd having downstairs neighbors…

I think I need to find my Eat Clean Diet book today… also my nail clippers and 124 other vitally important things.

I wonder where my pots and pans are.

I wish my new home didn’t smell like Petco.

I save every random bit of paper, including Jason’s farewell luncheon receipt from yesterday.

I always miss Jason a bit during the day, but especially this week.

I can’t imagine what that strange noise is… sounds like Miss Kitty coughing up a hairball but I know it’s not.

I believe I will get things unpacked and put away… eventually…

I promise that next week will be the long-awaited Jason Is Great Week featuring lots of tasty food, swimming, and other fun things.

I love having the first semi-normal evening last night in weeks. We took a short walk, sprawled on the bed reading mail, talked, ate, watched TV, and then I did the Speed Scrap at SDD. Normal. No life altering decisions to be made. No carrying heavy things up flights of stairs. Awesome night 🙂

Thoughts on Home

After looking at the apartments one more time Saturday we are feeling so much better. We are solidifying plans and moving forward. This road is bumpy sometimes and I need to be more aware of the extraordinary amount of stress that Jason is under. It’s my turn to be his rock now and it’s hard for both of us to be going through such extreme changes in such a short time. We are creatures of habit. Though we love travel and adventure, we also love having our home base. We need that. And now that sense of comfort is being threatened and we just need to regroup.
But we have each other and that’s the most important thing. Home is where we are together. Wherever that is. Whatever else is going on outside. Home is our retreat. Home is what we make it.