Our New Home

I took a few photos this morning of our new place with all of the furniture that my parents brought to us, and I give all the credit to my mom (and her interior decorating skills) for the awesome way that it all turned out:

We're still working on a few details but I absolutely cannot believe how much we got accomplished in a day.  Thank you so much, mom and dad, you truly made our move a million times easier.  We love you!!!

Another Fun Filled Wedding Weekend

This past weekend we had another couple in our group of friends that tied the knot.  On Saturday, Jason & Maggie had a beautiful ceremony and reception in Ormond Beach - which is about 1 hour south of Jacksonville.

The celebration started on Friday when a few of our friends flew/drove to Jacksonville to stay the night before the actual wedding festivities.  Here are a few pictures we got while we were out on Friday night:

Fun times with some of our friends from home - that haven't moved to Jacksonville.  We're still hoping that they'll all make the move, much like all of the other 40 Gulf Breeze graduates that have made the move over the years (including Paul and I).

The ceremony started at 4:00 on Saturday so Paul and I headed down to Ormond around 1:30 or so, allowing ourselves plenty of time to drive down.  Any opportunity that we have to drive down A1A we jump on it.  It takes a bit more time but why not take the scenic route if you can.

The ceremony was at the Ormond Beach Museum & Gardens, which is absolutely beautiful if you haven't had the opportunity to check it out.  They have the most amazing greenery and the flowers were already blooming.  It really was breathtaking.  Here are some pictures we got:

(My new camera has a panoramic view so this was my first try - I think it turned out pretty darn good)

It was such a sweet ceremony!

After the ceremony we headed to the reception at the Ormond Beach Country Club and I took a lot less pictures than usual but here's a couple that I did get:

It was such a special wedding - congratulations Jason & Maggie!!!

In other big news, when we got home from the wedding on Saturday night my parents were at our new place with a U-Haul full of our furniture.  We knew that they were making the trip over so it wasn't a surprise but it was a really special treat to see them both (and Riley & Bailey) and to get to spend all day Sunday just me and my parents (Paul had to work).

Warning: I'm going to get a little sappy here so if you're prone to cry (like me) then stop reading now. 

Once again my parents have gone out of their way to make life so much easier for one of their kids.  Paul and I weren't sure when we were going to be able to take time off to make the drive home to get our "stuff" so my parents decided that they would bring it to us.  We can't thank them enough for everything that they do to make sure that we're happy and to make sure that we know that we're loved.  I am truly blessed to have the parents that I do - they always put others first (especially their kids) and whatever the task ahead, they manage to do it with a smile and a caring spirit.  I have such love and admiration for my mom and dad and I have NO idea what I would be without them.  I love you so much, momma & daddy.

Happy Monday!!!

The Koi Pond

I finally took some pictures of our Koi Pond out front of the new place.

So without further ado:

If you look really close in the last one, you can see Teddy Bear looking at me through the sliding glass window.  I could just eat him up!!!

Speaking of Teddy, I couldn't close this post without showing our most recent picture of him:

He had his eyes closed because of the flash...how cute is that???

Happy Thursday!!!

Our New Place

Paul, Teddy Bear, and I are officially moved out of our old place and comfortably settled in our new place - and it only took about a week and a half.  We're very blessed that our old landlord gave us plenty of time to move out and get the place cleaned up before she decides whether or not to give us our deposit back (we're keeping our fingers crossed). 

Sunday was our last day to get stuff cleaned up at the old place and as I expected I cried my eyes out.  It was so crazy to see our first home so empty - it was as if we'd never even been there.  After Paul gave me some much needed time to myself he said "just think of all the memories we built here...I can't even imagine what memories are to come in our new place".  I swear, I have the sweetest, most caring and understanding husband in the whole world.  How does he know just what I need to hear when I need to hear it?

Okay, enough of the sappy stuff.  Without further ado, here are some photos of the new place - and keep in mind that we still have some furniture at my parents house that we'll get moved in as soon as we can:

The Dining Room - the master bedroom is off to the right and the guest bedroom is off to the left.  That's also a sliding glass door straight through that leads to the back yard.

The HUGE Kitchen - which I love, love, love.  It even has a dishwasher - YIPPEE!!!

The Dining Room, again - but this view is a little farther away.

The Living Room - we're going to be exchanging the twin bed for the couch and matching love seat

The Front Door - our front door is a sliding glass door which is to the right in this picture.  You can also see the kitchen in the background.

The View from the Back Door - this is what the house looks like if you enter through the back yard.  I love the bright red wall!

The Guest Bedroom - so far we've been using this room as a storage room until we get the extra bedroom furniture

The Guest Bathroom - or as we also call it, "Paul's Bathroom".  It's so nice having 2 bathrooms to get ready in the morning.

The Master Bedroom - sorry about the bed not being made but we took these photos the other morning before we really started our day.

The Master Bath - this is just one view of the master bath

The Walk In Closet - another great aspect of the house is the huge walk in closet in the master bedroom.  It's really gonna be great for storage.

The Master Bathroom - this one was taken from inside the walk in closet

We stayed in the our new place all weekend and we're really started to fall in love with it.  It has so many things that we never knew we were missing in the old place: a yard, a dishwasher, a brand new bathtub, a second bedroom, a second bathroom, quiet neighbors, a Koi pond (which I forgot to take a picture of), a front and back porch, and the list goes on.

After all is said and done, as sad as we were to move from our first little home as a familiy, we're really excited to see what new memories are to come in our new BIGGER home!

Big News of the Week --- We're Moving!!!

Yep, that's right, we have decided to move from our lovely beach bungalow that we've been living in for the past 3 years.  We're not going far though - we're only moving 1 street over from where we are now but the new place has so many more things that we've been missing out on living in our current place.

Paul and I have been tossing around the idea of moving for quite some time but I don't think either of us thought we would really do it - but here we are, really doing it. 

We've been through so much these past 3 years and we've built so many wonderful memories in our little 1 bed/1 bath pirate ship.
Just to name a few of the Big Memories:
(1) It was the first place that Paul and I officially lived together
(2) We got engaged while living there - and to add to that it was at the beach right outside of our place
(3) We got married while living there - and celebrated our first anniversary
(4) We adopted Teddy Bear while living there

I mean really, how could you not love this place:

(ours is the apartment on the bottom floor)

(the view from the front yard facing the ocean)

(the dining area)

(the living area)

(the kitchen)

See what I mean about it being our little pirate ship?  You gotta love the all wood walls!!!

We couldn't have asked for a better place to live while experiencing so many "firsts" with one another and although we're super excited for a bigger place, I know that I'm going to shed a few tears come moving day.

On a happier note, I'll be sure to post a few pictures of our new place once we've settle in, but for now here is a list of the things we're most excited about (in no particular order):

1. 2 Full Bedrooms and 2 Full Bathrooms
2. A HUGE Kitchen - that's been recently updated
3. A Big Yard for Teddy Bear
4. A Newly Remodled Master Bath with a Brand New Tub
5. A Dishwasher
6. An upstairs neighbor that is about middle aged who does not stay up until all hours of the night (no offense to our current upstairs neighbor - hee, hee)

And the list could go on, and on, and on.

We really are excited so keep an eye out for pictures of the new place in the near future.

Happy Tuesday!!!