Just Because...I Like This Song!

Can we pretend that airplanes
In the night sky
Are like shooting stars
I could really use a wish right now (wish right now, wish right now)
Can we pretend that airplanes
In the night sky
Are like shooting stars
I could really use a wish right now (wish right now, wish right now)

Kitchen and Landscaping Complete!

I can't believe that tomorrow will be our final house walk through and that on Monday we are settling. I am looking forward to the many adventures my husband and I will share in this home.

Here are some of the final pictures of the construction:
(Below you can see the newly added landscaping and our paved driveway).

(Pictured next is my dream kitchen in reality--right now it's really dusty).

When I first saw our new kitchen put together for the first time it took my breath away (literally).

If you ever saw my current home you would know that I have a hallway for a kitchen. Having more than one person in my current kitchen would be considered crowded. There are only 4 cabinets that are easily accessible (minus the ones above the fridge and stove) that we have to store pots and food in. In fact, our oven has become a second source of storage for us.

So, when I saw all the cabinets and all the space you would understand how a kitchen can take ones breath away. I got so excited that I made my sister meet me at my house to see my kitchen (and it's a good thing she lives so close now).

Congrats Jeff!

I am extremely proud of my husband today and the last 2 years of work at Kadix Systems. Today his boss promoted him to Associate Director and I am ecstatic for him. I'm glad he is at a company that both acknowledges his hard work and the time and commitment he puts into his job.

Congrats Jeff! It won't be long until people are calling you Mr. President. (Well of course that's because you married Madam President!!!!)

(President from the television series 24)

Happy Birthday Nicholas!

My nephew Nicholas turned 1 on May 18th. I can't believe how a year has gone by so quickly. I am extremely proud of my brother for raising such a happy and sweet son.

My brother made sure for Nicholas' birthday to have signs and decorations hanging for him when he woke up (just like how our mom and dad use to do it). Jason took him to Chuck-e-Cheese during the day and then we all met at my moms afterwards to celebrate with Nicholas. He got a lot of great gifts, but he enjoyed the boxes and wrapping paper the most!

Here is a picture of my bother and Nicholas at Chuck-e-Cheese:

Leveling of Land and Installation of Tile

I can't believe we are settling in two weeks. This whole process has seemed to go by so fast, not that I'm complaining...but there is much to be done like packing, painting, and decorating. Can't wait!

You can see a complete 360 of our house below in the next four pictures.

Our lot actually goes past the neighbor’s house that is in front of us (not sure yet what we are going to do with that piece of land yet):

Here is the upstairs bathroom:

Cabinets Are In and Siding is Up!

After Jeff's Birthday we took his family to see the progress of the house. The best thing about our location is that we are only 3 minutes from pops house, 5 minutes from my sisters and brother-in-law's house, and 4 minutes from our friend Katy and Dustin's new house.

Below is a picture of us finally together in front of the home (and you can see a bit of the siding in this picture):

My new kitchen finally a ton of place to store stuff (no more storing pots and pans in the oven):

My gorgeous counter tops:

Happy Birthday Jeff!

My husband celebrated his 29th birthday this past Monday. Boy how time flies I actually met Jeff when he was 23 and I can't believe he is only one year away from the big 30.

On Sunday we celebrated Jeff's birthday with his family by enjoying some steamed crabs and ice cream cake. During the dinner Jeff found out he was never breast fed, so of course his uncle said he could fix that:

(LOL as you can see Jeff's face turned completely red, when he saw his uncle with two balloons under his shirt!)

Jeff, Happy Birthday and I love you.

Brad Paisely Concert

This past weekend my sister Michael and I went to the Brad Paisley concert in Bristow, VA the concert was a lot of fun, but very eventful.

• Bathroom lines were very long that we actually witnessed a woman running behind the Porter-Potty to go to the bathroom. (It’s obvious they needed to purchase more porter potties, especially entering one that was almost filled to the top).
  
• We stood out in the rain for over 3 hours before they allowed us to enter the stadium. Good thing we brought ponchos.


• I got a man removed from the concert; because he was so drunk that he almost punched my sister in the face throwing a ball (not to mention Michael kept getting hit in the head with the ball when it came back down from the crowd). The man fell on a family of two kids trying to catch these balls that the mother asked us to quickly pop the balls when the man was not looking. So, with the help of the people next to us we popped two balls and I put them on top of my bag. The man was so out of control that he literally crawled all the way from the second row to behind my chair and pulled my bag towards him to steals the balls back. Not to mention he decided to flash three teenage girls. Because of all the commotion we missed the entire first concert in fear of this 300 pound man falling on top of us. Without telling my sister (because I had enough), I stood up and walked straight to security and told them they needed to do something about this man. Luckily, a few seconds later the family that was next to us father came over and revealed he was an off duty cop and he agreed the man needed to be removed, because he was drunk and out of control. Security came and removed him and everybody applauded.


• The best part of the night was when Brad Paisley walked 3 feet from both my sister and I to sing a few songs in the audience.
  

Overall the concert was great and I am so glad to have a sister, who is my best friend, to do stuff like this with me.

Here are some images from that night:


Here is picture of Michael and I with Brad Paisley in the background (unfortunately from all the rain we look like drown rats):

Jeff's Graduation!

First off I must say how proud I am of my husband for getting his masters. I know at times it wasn't easy, especially when there are other things he would have rather done, but he did it and he got his Masters in Information Assurance.

The night before his graduation, we went to his graduation banquet with Matt and his wife Rebecca. Matt was also graduating with Jeff the next day and he was receiving his Bachelors in Accounting. Congratulations Matt!

Here are some pictures of that night:


Jeff pictured here with Matt (who was also one of his groomsmen):

The next day Jeff's family (MIL, Uncle Dave, and Pop) and my family (Mom, Michael, Jason, Paige, and Nicholas) went to see Jeff graduate. It was great seeing Jeff receive his diploma in full regalia.

Here are some photos of the big event:

UMUC Graduation at the Comcast Center:


Paige and Michael clapping for Jeff:


Me with the Graduate:

Dry Wall is Up!

The drywall is up, so now we have walls and ceilings! It looks great and I just love how open the floor plan is. I can't wait to entertain in our new house and there are rumors that my family wants me to host Thanksgiving and Christmas at my house this year (but of course if that happens, I will recruit the help of my mom, since she is the expert at cooking holiday meals…and I wouldn’t want it any other way).

So here some more picture of our new house:


Me in the loft area:

Jeff in the morning room:
Some of our family room, kitchen, and morning room:

More Progress on Our House!

We were told to stop by our house to make sure all electrical, phone, and network outlets were installed in the correct place. So, since we were already there we decided to take some more pictures....

Front of the house complete with brick:

Our grinder pump (feel free to ask us what it is—we got a whole lesson on it):

Stairs going upstairs and hall closet to the right:

Jeff taking a bath:

Our garage:

Initial Walk Through Day!

On May 6th, we had our initial walk through with our project manager. Our PM walked us through the house explaining the foundation and all the energy efficient stuff that goes into our house. During our walk through, we also got to point out all the places we would love to have a plasma TV mounted one day, so he could mount extra pieces of wood where needed.

The best part of that day was actually seeing the brick on our house being put up!


I just love the look of a brick house!

Doors, Windows, and Stairs...Oh My!

At the end of April the doors, windows, and stairs were installed/built in our house. With the stairs installed, we finally got to see the top floor of our house and I must say....I CAN'T WAIT! I am looking forward to the day where my closet is in the same room as my bedroom once again. (If you didn't know my clothes are in my office closet, since Jeff has so many clothes and shoes in our bedroom closet that my stuff couldn't fit).

Front of Our House:

Side View of Our House:
(If you look real closely to the picture below, you may see someone waving at you).

Other Side of Our House:

Future place of Our Deck:

Basment Stairs:

The Framing of Our House!

Last week Jeff and I drove by our new home site just to see if any visual progress was made. As we're about to turn down our street we could actually see a glimpse of our house from far away. Jeff and I couldn't believe it. The frame of our house was up in less then a week. It's actually starting to feel very real now seeing the house all put together.

Here are some pictures of our house:

Jeff's Graduation Present

Almost 2 years ago, I graduated with my Masters in Information Systems at UMBC. For a while, I was talking about getting another dog to keep Lucy, our pug, company during the day (Lucy at that time started not to hear or see well, so I thought the company might do her some well). I wanted another pug, but Jeff as much as he had grown to love Lucy didn't think he could handle two dogs snoring at night and snorting in his face. Jeff's grandfather always had beagles, so he wanted to get a beagle. I told him we could always get a puggle, but he said "no, we don't really need another dog." Little did I know that almost a year later, Jeff would drive all the way up to Northern Pennsylvania to get a puggle.

That night he came home very late, after spending the entire day with his friend in PA (oh so I thought), that I rushed upstairs to meet him at the door. There Jeff was holding in his hands this wrinkly and adorable puggle puppy. I quickly said "What is that?" He said "Look we compromised; it's a puggle - part beagle / part pug. Congrats on your masters. I'm so proud of you."

Zoey has been a great addition to our family -- it was totally worth getting my masters. LOL

Here is a picture of Zoey on her first night home:


Now that Jeff is graduating with his Masters in Information Assurance on May 15th. I had to think of something very special to do for him also. I asked Jeff if he would like another puggle, but he didn't go for that one.

After 3 months of researching and planning, I decided on the perfect graduation gift. I decided to get Jeff a pool table with a ping pong conversion top to put in our new basement.

Last week (when Jeff finished his last assignment), I told Jeff what his gift was and that I wanted him to come with me to pick it out. He was so thrilled to hear he was getting a pool table that he quickly started doing research.

We ended up purchasing the pool table on the first night we went out (after negotiating a wall cue rack, upgraded felt, the ultimate accessory kit, delivery, and installation all for free). It was a done deal...almost. After purchasing the table, Jeff noticed that the guy charged us $5.00 too much. Instead of refunding us the money, Jeff got the salesman to give us pool table cover valued at $115.00 for the $5.00 extra we spent.

Here is a picture of Jeff's graduation present:


Jeff - I'm so proud of you. Congrats. I love you.

Foundation Construction Part 3

Spoke to our project manager today and he said within the next two weeks the frame of our house will go up!

Pictured below are more construction work to the foundation:

Below is our basement and to the left of the picture you will see our basement door walk out on the side of house.
Below I am pictured on the side of our house where the stairs are for our basement exit.

Appliances Check!

When we purchased our new house we got to choose a double oven, microwave, and dish washer at a much upgraded selection for almost FREE! We had the option to go through our building company and also get a refrigerator and washer/dryer, but both Jeff and I opted to go purchase those units on our own.

We both wanted very specific things in our refrigerator and washer/dryer, so before even buying our new house we use to use the phrase "in our next house" a lot. So, today after seeing our favorite fridge go on sale at Best Buy this weekend, we decided to mark one more thing off "Our List to Do before We Move."

So below is what I call the "SUPER FRIDGE":

I LOVE THIS FRIDGE! It comes complete with French doors, a ice and filtered water dispenser (a must for Jeff), very spacious, energy star qualified (to save some money), and an LCD touch screen (for both of us). Plus it got great reviews from both customers and professional critics (researched by Jeff).

With the LCD screen: You can also access a calendar, check your schedule, read nutrition facts, showcase personal photos, and even check unit conversions for those last minute cooking emergencies.

Jeff also pointed out how the freezer is also child proof, because the handle needs to be lifted up and then pulled to be open. I love it-Jeff thinking in advance!

And finally below is what I call the "STEAMERS TO THE MAX":

Both the washer and dryer steams clothes (less ironing) and can fit up to two queen comforters (less loads)! We also purchased the pedestals for extra storage and the fact they sit up higher, so we don't have to bend over to get clothes out.

I am so excited to see our purchases in our new house!