Happenings.

In my previous post, I mentioned how shoots of grass were popping up in our yard. Well, look at it now:
It was getting a little too long. In fact, our neighbor came and cut it for us. The same neighbor also gave us a house warming gift. See the below fern. Since then, we have bought dwarf trees, lantana, marigolds, begonia, and other plants that require watering, sun & soil. Andrew and I had a good ole' time planting them. We hope they live.

To our delight, our master bedroom furniture arrived a few weeks ago. Below are three pictures of the bedroom completely furnished. We bought the rugs at Bed, Bath & Beyond and the furniture was a floor set at Johnny Janosik. It had a few dents and scratches. However, that is bound to happen anyway. So, it didn't matter to us!

The other day, we hung a few pictures. I'm especially excited about the three I hung in the kitchen. The white frames are from Ikea and I adore how they compliment the white trim. The first picture is of a sunset we witnessed one night at Roaring Point, the second one is of the "suicidal duck" in front of Niagara Falls, and the third one is of the sunset and bridge in New York the night Andrew proposed to me. Dear to my heart. Also, please note the rug in front of the sink - Aunt Suzanne gave that to me as a wedding gift after I had eyed it in a store while shopping with her. How surprising and sweet!


And here is our office:

And this is me and my chaperone...

She is extremely excited about our new home.

Who would have thought?

Before

After

The other day, Andrew and I were driving up to our house to drop off some of his clothes and things. As we rounded the bend into our neighborhood, I exclaimed, "GRASS!!!" Andrew, startled, took a look and smiled broadly. We had lift-off. Our grass was finally sprouting - tiny blades were sticking up out of the crusty soil here and there. Our yard looked like it had a bit of a beard growing. We had waited for several weeks to see even the smallest hint of growth and it came in a split second. AND the green weed has progressively thickened over the past two days. Who would have thought that I would be so thrilled to see grass grow?

***Just so that there is no misunderstanding (because you never know how someone might read what I've written) - I am not moving into the house until we're married. However, I often go to the house with Andrew AND a chaperone to help out with miscellaneous things.

Our house!

Welcome to OUR house! There isn't any grass growing yet. So, our front yard is a bit of a mud pit. However, we hope to see green stalks popping up shortly and possibly some shrubbery getting added to this delightful yard.

Walk on up our sidewalk, enter the front door (ring the doorbell if you want) and...

You'll see our living room. Straight ahead is our...

kitchen! And it's yellow. Beautiful, bright yellow with black appliances. I absolutely adore it.

Down the hall, first door on the right is where YOU will stay if you come visit. It's a pale green room which I hope to decorate in the most inviting way possible. So, if you have anything you'd like to see in your guest bedroom, please tell.

Immediately across from your guest bedroom is the guest bathroom. It is stocked with Dove soap, soft towels, and other bathroom necessities for your convenience.

While you are snug as a bug in your guest bedroom, your hosts will be staying in the master bedroom, which is the last door on the right. My closet is the bigger one.

Last, but not least, is our office - which is painted half in red and has chair molding running along the edge (compliments of my dad). However, this picture was taken while it was still being painted, so, unfortunately, you don't get to see the end product (yet).

In fact, all of these pictures were taken some time ago. As of today, the house looks much more like a lived in home. Andrew spent his first night there last night. Mostly all the rooms are now furnished. And we put up two blinds today to take care of any peeping toms.

That is that.

Priorities.

Out of all the wedding planning, the search and then purchase of our home has been, by far, the most exciting. Ever since Andrew closed on his house, I've been to it over a dozen times cleaning, painting, organizing, visiting the empty rooms with a friend, or just driving past to gaze at it with the realization that in 54 days I'll be living there. The general wedding planning tasks have all taken the back seat and the house has claimed "shotgun." Andrew has been very adamant about his moving in and thus, most of our free time is spent working towards that goal. Unfortunately, as a result of continually working on readying the home, I've been tossing and turning at night thinking about ALL the other tasks outside of being a homeowner that need to be finished before May 29. Consequently, it has been a real struggle for me to know which priority - time with my fiance, family, friends, school, learning to cook, job, church, Bible studies, wedding plans, house - should take precedent.

Despite our bare walls, our house is beautiful. Each day as it takes shape, I grow more and more thrilled. Once the hardwood floors were in and the paint on the walls, the potential I saw for the home became reality. I've always loved color and it's a delight to be able to put it on the walls of my own home. For the kitchen, I chose a yellow that my Aunt Suzanne has in her kitchen - Yukon Gold. For our bedroom, I chose a rich blue - Brookside, for the office, a vibrant red - Cocktail Dress, and for our guest bedroom - Pale Moss Green. We chose to not paint the living room and keep it a contractor white. We'll adorn the walls with cheerful things though. Also, the laundry room is on hold for the moment. However, I anticipate a light orange color covering those walls in the near future (yay).

I've had lots of help and am extremely thankful for it. Mrs. Seipp graciously helped me cut in most of the rooms, Sarah also cut in, my mom cleaned all my hard wood floors and painted, my dad put in chair molding around our office, Hope helped me clean out the cabinets, and Luke and Michelle helped move a few pieces of furniture from Lewes. Family is the best.

I am so grateful that my husband-to-be is providing such a wonderful little house for me to live in. I look forward to inviting ya'll over in the upcoming years.

Task #35 completed.

I'm getting married in 68 days!

I've read that invitations are supposed to go out 6-8 weeks prior to your wedding date. However, I sent them out yesterday.

All 109 of them.

My faithful printer that worked alongside me through the entire process.

Here they come!

(-:

Baby!

Cutie-patootie!

I was able to hold Jasper the other night and earnestly did not want to give him up at the end of the night. He's a warm bundle of wonderfulness.

I'm getting married.

In all the business of the season, I never got around to posting some engagement pictures. So, here are a few belated pictures of The United States Merchant Marine Academy on December 17, 2010 (a noteworthy day).