Our nest :: And why we call it Narnia

I've been more than a little hesitant to post a photo of our house.  Why, you ask?  Well, because the front looked very much like this:

 

In fact, it did look like this up until a few days ago.  Adam and I went on a date night to Macaroni Grill, where we wrote on the table and prioritized all our many projects we'd like to get accomplished around the house.  He was quite surprised that at the top of my list was the yard!  (Good thing we talked about it, right??) 

We've had quite a few friends come to visit, and the question we often receive is, "How do we get to the front door?"  We call it Narnia because it was like a forest you had to get through in order to find it.  I'd been waiting on a little name for our house, and I think that just fits perfectly.  :-)

After FOURTEEN bags of leaves and a pile of brush like this...

We've ended up with this as our final product--just in time to put Christmas lights out front!  We worked together three hours on Sunday afternoon, and then Adam worked yesterday for a couple more, and I went out to help bag even more leaves for about an hour.  So between the two of us, we worked about 10 hours on the yard!  It was fun to do together, and I think too, it helps to have such a visible change for all of our work.  We can now see our front door and step out on our porch and see up and down the street.  We love it!

Wedding weekend: Ordinary things

Wedding weekend started when work ended on Wednesday.  We signed our lease Thursday and I got my car inspected.  I loved this day, because we got to do ordinary things.

Adam and I got to go to the grocery store in the middle of the day together, and I wanted to tell everyone we saw in every aisle that we were getting married in two days!  I was pretty much dancing around Albertsons.  :-)

This excited look is pretty much how I looked all weekend, I think!  This was after we'd written some big fat checks and signed our names 25 times each, on three different documents.  That's a lot of signing!  I will post a photo of the house when we have some good "before" and "after" photos of the front.  It needs some major yard work, but we are so excited and thankful to be moving into a great little house!

Thursday afternoon I went up to help my mom, aunt and our friend Kathy decorate the stage up at church.  This is Kathy standing in front of the baptistry trying to make the lanterns work.  It was a fun afternoon!

That night, Adam ate with his mom, dad and brother who'd just gotten in town, and I ate with my parents and my dad's dad, Pops.  It had been three or four years since I'd seen him, and although he is much more frail, he is just precious.  

Pops' favorite thing is Blue Bell ice cream, which he can't get in Virginia.  Laura and Anna dropped some off for us about the same time Adam and his parents came over to see all of our gifts.  It was a great way to end the day--with my old and new family all in one room!

Back in the Groove

Hi!  We're baaaaaack!

We spent last week in Maui having a lot of fun exploring the island.  There were numerous beaches to walk, waves to catch and sunsets to see.  We ate some really great food, laughed a lot and enjoyed our week of uninterrupted time together (although, I think we both have to admit that it's a great thing, it will take some getting used to!).

One of my old bosses gave us a card at the reception letting us know that they were buying us dinner one night at their favorite restaurant in Maui.  I just texted her to let her know what night would work best, and she made the reservations on the outdoor patio so we would be sure to catch this beautiful sunset.  It was a very thoughtful and practical gift, and we enjoyed it immensely!

We arrived back in Dallas one week later and spent Sunday afternoon at my parents opening 35 more gifts.  It took us almost two hours to open everything.  We grabbed a few items to put in Adam's (our) apartment for the next three weeks before we move into our rent house. 

Praise the Lord we know where we're living next!  This was a huge weight off my shoulders to have a contract signed on Thursday before our wedding.  (Yes, two days before our wedding, we got my car inspected and signed a rental contract--talk about being a practical grown up!)

My mom was so right when she told me I wouldn't want to go back to work on Monday.  I'm so glad I took her advice and didn't go back yesterday.  We spent it doing laundry, Mom and I got to catch up at lunch, then she came to visit Camp Paulson, and we took her over to peek through the windows at the rental. It was so fun to just relax and do normal things! 

Last night after trying out our new waffle maker, we made a trip to Home Depot, TC's Shaved Ice and made a big haul at the grocery store.  We have three meals planned this week and food for it in the fridge.  This makes my little try-to-be-organized heart happy.  :-) 

I have many posts from the wedding festivities to catch up on.  I keep replaying the wedding and reception in my mind, and Adam and I continue to talk about how much fun we had.  I am beginning to dig out from vacation mode and am slowly but surely returning phone calls from friends and hearing what all I missed this last week. 

Amanda has recapped the weekend from her sweet point of view on her blog here. 

Our photographer, Jess Graham Barfield has given us a teaser of the fabulous photos that are to come on her blog here.

I think Adam and I have already learned a lot about each other in the last 10 days--quirks we didn't know we had and funny things we say.  So far, it's been great.  We are learning to laugh a lot and we are already shocked at the amount of free time we have since we don't have to go home at night!  I'm sure we will fill up that time soon enough, so for now we are enjoying learning about married life together.  :-)

Our new room



Adam and I have been in total "nesting" moods the past few weeks.  We are cleaning out, cleaning up and clearing out lots of things in his place and mine.  I think this is how we both are processing a big change that's about to occur in our lives in oh...T-minus FOUR DAYS! 

Since I will be moving into Adam's apartment when we get back from our Honeymoon, last night we put all of our new bedding out and hung that big piece of iron on the wall.  {Really, Adam hung it.  I stuffed pillows and fluffed.} 

He was so calm when I said, "Ok, first we have to put on a dustruffle."  He quickly learned what a dustruffle was, and the we put it on.  I was running in and out of his room, into the den, grabbing sheets and pillows and jumping around.  I'm just a little excited to get settled, don't ya think?!  Adam is quite enjoying the fact that he can tell me how comfy the bed is before I can enjoy it, too!

I haven't moved any clothes, and I'd like to add a bedside table and lamp, but I'm just waiting until after we get back.  Who knows what the weather will be like come October, so I will just bring some clothes over then.  Then it's a month of "Camp Paulson," as we're coming to know it, before our leases run out and we get a place that the two of us can put together with each other.  I think Adam's quickly realized that this next phase will involve a lot of "honeydos."  :-)

We have one more day that's just the two of us before family arrives for our wedding weekend.  I was driving home last night thrilled with the idea that those days of 30 minute drives alone in the dark are almost behind me! 

Happy Wedding Week!