It's Who You're With That Really Matters

This week started off fabulously with Tiffany & Kris coming in town for the Dave Matthews concert in Virginia Beach (like 30 min away from Jim and I). They braved the Father's Day traffic and made it to our house Sunday afternoon. It was so fun to show them our new home, and Tiff even brought me my first two houseplants! Don't worry...she said they require almost no care and very little water...just in case I ever get a little forgetful.
Side note - I did have my first gardening adventure this week also! We had 2 big planters on our front porch that had ugly deadish flowers in them. I figured I could handle something like that, so I made the trip to Lowe's (may or may not have called mom to make sure I knew what the tags on the plants meant) and got some pansies petunias (??? one of those pretty cute ones...) and some Miracle Grow and went to town! It's been a few days already and they are still looking fine! Maybe I will find that I inherited Mom's green thumb after all!
Ok, so back to Dave! It was so fun and I was so happy to finally make it to a DMB show. Sad story: One of my favorite college roomates, Stephanie, got me tickets for my birthday my sophomore year. We made the drive to Tampa, etc. and got rained out :( We were devestated! When Steph saw my last post about us going, she texted me and said her and her boyfriend are going this year too! All is well with the Dave portion of our lives now :) Although he never did play Satellite (trust me, we waited...) it was a great time and fun to spend time with Tiff & Kris! Plus we had lawn seats and it was nice to be able to just relax and hang out on a blanket (and not climb over 62,038 people to get out to go to the bathroom)

So...did you notice I am wearing a cardigan in JUNE?!? We aren't in Florida anymore, ya'll! I have been shocked at the coolness at night in Virginia! It is awesome!!! It gets down into the 70's (Brr for us FL folks) at night which is perfect for eating outside and walking the pups (and the sun doesn't set till like 8:30 so I feel like I get so much accomplished!) I originally thought that VA would be kind of chilly...here was my rationale: my sister lives in Virginia. It snows at her house. Therefore it's probably cold most of the time there. Right? WRONG! It also gets SO HOT during the day.

Thank goodness my sweet hubster has worked so hard at getting the pool nice! We have fully begun using the pool...and by "we" I mean Jim, Izzy, and I. Admiral will have no part in water activities. Izzy, on the other hand, has been intrigued from the start and has now become 100% comfortable jumping in after her beloved green Christmas ball, or if we get in...or if she "accidentally" drops her ball in and has to retrieve it (I'm positive she is just trying to save me the trouble of fishing it out). No, really though, she is very good about just going knee-deep unless we say it's ok. But she is so darn cute swimming after that ball that we throw it in for her to cool off anyway.

I am such a proud Momma! She used to be terrified of water (well...everything really, but she has come so far!) I am so happy to know that not only can she swim, she definitely knows where the stairs are in the pool, so I don't have to stress about any accidents! (Not that she stays out of anyones sight for more than like 5 seconds....) Until next time! Xoxo

Home Sweet Home

We made it! Jim and I have been spending the past week starting to get settled in our new home. We arrived last Friday and the work began. Jim's been spending lots of time turning our backyard pond into a pool (it's actually blue now!) and I have been spending lots of time cleaning the house from top to bottom (unfortunately, the renters were less than tidy...plus we had new wood floors finished before we got here, so there was floor dust EVERYWHERE!) But it is looking fabulous now! We are almost box-free and have our bedroom and one guest bedroom (we're about to need it...more on that later!) lookin' good. The office and other guest bedroom are quite another story...but at least we have confined the homeless stuff to certain spaces.



Ok, sorry it's through the screen (didn't want to disturb our visitors, of course) but here is a picture of our BLUE pool! Uhh, by the way, what do you do about ducks living in your pool?  

Last weekend there was a fun little festival in Norfolk called Harborfest. There were "tall ships" (exactly what they sound like) and military vessels from around the world all in the harbor. Plus, we got to see all the other festival things you would ever want - like booths of things you would never buy at a festival (hot tubs!?), quality entertainment (our favorite was the professional yo-yo man) and of course all the fried candy bars you could ever want! We skipped the candy bars, but had a good time wandering around and touring some of the ships!



We're on a boat!

Lots of boats!

This week I had my first solo errand-running adventure! I just am not used to getting on the interstate (or highways, or any big roads for that matter....) to go anywhere except out of town. Now I get on them just to go to Target!! Geez! I am thinking I may have to have a post-it with exit number reminders for all of the important places (Chick-fil-A, Target, dog parks, etc.). Anyway, my trip probably was twice as long as it should have been with all of my wrong turns and shopping center confusion. Not to mention that the "blinds specialists" at Lowe's took 4 employees over an hour to put in my blinds order (I don't think they had ever done it before). Luckily, there was a Marshall's right across from Lowe's so I could have a little retail therapy after all the blinds confusion (I tried to make it just for house stuff, I promise!)

Last night, Jim's friend, Abby, was in town so we had a fun dinner with her and her boyfriend. Our other newly married couple friends who also just moved from PC, Nicky and Levi, and another Navy friend, Edwin also got to come. It is so nice to have people we (ok, actually Jim) know here in town! I am especially excited to have a girlfriend to go shopping and decorate with, because Jim is less than excited about our frequent Bed, Bath, & Beyond trips, and Nicky is having the same trouble with Levi...weird, right?

Up next on our fun radar is the Dave Matthews Band concert tomorrow night! More importantly, Tiffany & Kris are coming to go with us AND will be our very first house guests! I am so so excited to be living close enough for a weekend trip. This will be the closest my sister and I have lived in over 10 years! More on the concert next week...for now I've got some furniture rearranging to do while jamming to DMB in preparation for tomorrow! Yay!


Next Stop: Portsmouth!

This week Jim and I have had a great time hanging out in Georgia with friends and family! We got into Marietta Saturday night after saying goodbye to my parents & grandmother in Panama City. It didn't take long for the adventures to begin though...I started noticing sparks followed by flying black chunks coming from the U-Haul trailer and sure enough, one of the tires had blown while Jim was driving. Thankfully, we were able to pull off at an exit and we were only about 45 minutes away from Jim's Mom's house - our destination. It was late at night, so Jim sent me home with the pups while he waited for the repair. All went well though and we all made it to Marietta safe and sound!

Sunday and Monday we got to visit with Jim's sister Kate & her husband Tate in their town of Dalton. They cooked Thai food for us (their specialty, so good!) and we went to a little festival downtown. They have three dogs of their own, so it was quite the zoo at their house with our two added! One of their dogs, Beans, is Izzy's long lost twin, so it's fun to watch them play together!

Izzy and her twin, Beans (Izzy's on the right!)

Over the next few days, we visited some friends (and saw their new little ones!) and had a beverage day of tours at the World of Coca Cola and Sweetwater Brewery in Atlanta. We had to get our Sweetwater fill before we make it to Virginia since they don't sell it there! We also hiked Kennesaw Mountain, which is a historic little spot that was the site of a Civil War battle and is conveniently located right behind Mom's house! Izzy was already a pro at the Kennesaw Mountain hike, but we took Addy this time, and he had a great time too. I think Jim underestimates his athletic ability :) 

Jim and Admiral at the top of Kennesaw Mountain

Izzy and I taking a break on the way up

Today we set off for Virginia and made it to Durham, North Carolina before stopping at a hotel for the night. We want to be all rested up and ready to start settling in when we arrive in Portsmouth tomorrow! As of tomorrow I will be a Virginia resident!

The Big Move!

The day has come...not like we had to wait long, it's only our two-week-aversary! The movers are here and packing up Jim and I's things for the move to Virginia. The plan right now is that the truck will get there in about two weeks, so we also have a U-Haul so we will have a bed and a table (the only important things, right?) and some other necessities like cookware, plenty of clothes & shoes, and of course, dog beds & a few squeaky balls for Izzy in her new big backyard. We will be leaving Panama City this weekend and heading to Georgia to visit some of Jim's family and friends along the way. It will be so fun to see them again without wedding stress and break up the long drive to Virginia too!

Although we've already worked on a lot of updates for our new home from Panama City, there's still plenty to do there and it will be nice to have a blank canvas with not a lot of furniture for a few days. Ok, I'm not completely thrilled about a week of being furnitureless and having limited outfit options, but it's all part of the adventure! Our first project is new blinds for sure, but I have a feeling I'll be getting pretty acquainted with the Lowe's staff for lots of other house projects that will come up. I am so excited to be able to start using all of our fabulous wedding gifts (thanks, yall!) and decorating rooms and making a little garden and meeting the neighbors and so many more things! I just can't wait to see our new house (yes, I haven't even seen it in person yet haha!) and start making a home with Jim and the puppies!