Oh Christmas Tree

Well, even though our tree has been up since the Sunday after Thanksgiving, I just haven't gotten a chance to blog about it so here we go! We decided to put the tree up in the living room so that it could be seen through the huge window along the front of the house. However, by choosing to put it in there and not the den, we were limited to only getting about a 7 - 8 foot tree since the ceilings in that room are so low. We get to the Christmas tree lot and begin the search for "the tree" you know the one that when you see it you just know its what will soon adorn all your ornaments in your home. At first I didn't see anything that impressed me nothing really seemed to have that wow factor until I stumbled upon about a 10 ft Frasier fur...to which Jordan said "We are not going to reenact the tree scene from Christmas Vacation." So I continued looking around and then saw it, a 8 ft Frasier fur, nicely trimmed, full & shapely, perfect for my Christmas tree vision. Well we got it home and put it in the tree stand and went to haul it inside, as luck would have it we go to stand it up and of course it scraps the ceiling and top is bent over. Needless to say it was taken back outside, cut off and trimmed up to fit just right. Of course I am a little impatient and a bit of a perfectionist, I began arranging ornaments and lights, making sure there weren't any areas without lights or 2 of the same kind of ornament close to each other...Jordan wanted to kill me but what else is new. Everything I've used on the mantle, buffet, and throughout the house is live so I'm being the "heat nazi" and only turning it on when its freezing, in effort to keep it all alive for a few more weeks. All in all I am thoroughly pleased with how the tree turned out, the only thing missing is the bow which I am getting today while home in Montgomery for the weekend celebrating my sister's 19th birthday. I still can't believe my sister is 19, I feel so old! Anyway, I hope everyone is having a wonderful time this holiday season! I'll post more pictures of the house decorations when I get back tomorrow.

Stockings hung with care.

There's no place like home

This past weekend I went home to Montgomery for my dad's 55th birthday (He looks like he's in his 40s). My mom decided to throw a little impromptu get together for my dad's birthday and the UA vs. Miss St game. I of course got into town and we started shopping and getting things prepared, only my mother would have people coming to her house at 5:00 pm and be out shopping til 2:00. We got home and begun the frantic rush to make sure everything was ready, made beds, fluffed pillows, swept floors and stuffed junk into every place that couldn't be seen by company, haha. As my mom, sister, dad & I were all working together it dawned on me that it was just like time had stood still. We all just fell right back into the groove with each other, my sister is a sophomore in college, I am out & living on my own in another city, my parents are 30 years into their life together and yet we all still WANT & LOVE to be together. I truly cherish my family, it is one of the few things in life that never change. I thank GOD for that!

I also got to go spend sunday with my "Maw-Maw & Paw-Paw", any of you who know me, know that my grandparents mean the world to me! My Maw-Maw & I talked about that was going on in our own lives and she caught me up on the events in the lives of my aunts, uncles & cousins. While my Paw-Paw watched the race and napped. He is doing much better, still a little weak. One of the best parts about going home, besides seeing my family, would have to be my aunt "Teesa" (Teresa)'s homemade chocolate pound cake! She is an amazing baker, and always has one of my favorite desserts waiting for me when I arrive. So Maw-Maw, Teesa & I sat around and enjoyed cake, laughter and each other. Its times like these that make me miss my family so much, but it also makes me treasure the time we spend together. I will be heading back home on wednesday for Thanksgiving and can't wait to see everyone again.

I love my life and wouldn't change things, but its always comforting to know that you can always go home and things be just the way they have always been.

Fall

Wow it has been awhile since my last post, so much has been going on. I don't even know where to begin, but I will try! Edie is still doing great she is such a good dog, we got so lucky to end up with her.

We took a trip out to Houston at the beginning of October for the Mississippi State vs. Houston football game. Our wonderful hosts Andrew & Julia Novarini once again showed us a great time and threw a greatTX style tailgate!

Since we hadn't had any official "event" or party at the new house, it was only appropriate that we throw a Halloween Party! Even Edie participated in the fun!

Edie in her Halloween Costume!

Some of our guests!

The house has really come together these last 2 months! The outside has been painted and looks GREAT, it is amazing the difference it has made. The inside is only lacking a few final touches, the tile floor in the kitchen and molding in a couple of rooms. (Will post pictures)

New Addition

As luck would have it, the decision on rather or not to have a dog was decided for us last week. We now have a wire hair Terrier (mix) named "Edie". Edie showed up at my office last monday, she was just laying on the patio asleep in the sun. She appeared to be in good shape and seemed like a super friendly little dog that just needed some food and a good bath. My boss wanted to call the human society but I said "No, I'll take her home, feed her and then call" well we all know how that turned out. I brought her home, but not before I went and bought her a bed, chew toy, dog food, shampoo, and bowls. I mean she had to have all that just to stay for the night like I had said she was going to do. So I bathed her and got her all set up in the kitchen in her bed with some fresh food & water, and her new toy. She slept in that bed the entire night, didn't move until the next morning when it was time to get up and go outside. I forgot to mention that when I told Jordan that I was bringing her home for the "night" he just shook his head and said we both know that it won't just be for the "night". Day 2 of Edie's stay went well, we came home to find her in the back yard without any signs of trying to dig out or anything torn up so it was looking more and more like she was fine staying with us. Once we decided that she needed to just stay with us permanently, I took her to the vet to find out how old she was, what breed and the status of her health. Dr. Canant said she was at least a year & half old but now more than three, her health was excellent and that she was a Terrier mix. Edie has gotten use to us and her surroundings quite well, loves when people come over. She is a bit on the attention hog side, if we are on the computer or watching tv she has to be right in the middle of it. All in all, we got lucky because she adopted us and has been wonderful so far! I will post pictures of her as soon as I can find my camera cable.

Settling In

So this past weekend was certainly eventful to say the least. It started out on a good note, Jordan's dad's dog Kayla came to stay the weekend with us while his dad was at the beach. Kayla is a great black lab, well behaved and really 1 of the best dogs I have ever been around, next to mine of course. Our good friends Ben & Claire (soon to be "The Lands") were in town from Austin, TX for the Penn State game, as well as MANY of my friends from high school & college so we of course had a full weekend ahead of us. After dinner at a little Mexican place by our house, we headed downtown to meet up with everyone and start the weekend off right! Of course parking was terrible so we decided to park in the "dirt lot" as the city calls it, at the end of 4th street which is uneven and full of holes. As luck would have it, going to get in the car I step in a hole and fall face first on the ground (no it wasn't too many margaritas). Next thing I know, I am covered in blood and all skint up. We rush home (only after convincing Jordan that I didn't need to go to the ER) I got all cleaned up and went to bed thinking "wow this is going to be worse in the morning" and it was. My face hurt, my neck was sore and I looked like I had been in a bar fight. Most of you know, I can be a little vain at times and this was 1 of those times because all I wanted to do was lay in bed and sleep til it had healed. However, it was game day so that wasn't an option, I had to make the best of the rest of the weekend. My face has healed for the most part I have a little scab on my nose and small cut under my eye which is a vast improvement from Saturday. However, God once again uses things to show me how truly blessed I am. I had to deal with a few minor scrapes on my face for a few days while others have had things happen to them that are permanent. I hope that from here on out I will work on not caring so much about how I look or how others see me, but more on how I see others.

The house is coming along, since football has started we of course only have sundays to work around the house. We have finished everything in the kitchen other than light fixtures, laundry room door, and the floor, which will be done this week! I can't believe that we have gotten so much done in so little time. The exterior should be painted by the end of the month, we keep going back and forth on the paint color. As far as the inside goes we only have to change out 5 more interior doors, put crown molding in the bedrooms, and paint the living room. I can't imagine what we will do with our spare time once this project is done, although I am sure I will find something to occupy my time.

Labor Day Weekend

Well, I hope everyone had a great Labor Day! We certainly did, the weekend started out a little bumpy though. I left work early on friday to run some errands and get things ready for a little birthday party we were throwing that night for our friend Chase. I fought game traffic all afternoon and of course get home, kick it into crazy mode like I always do before people come over. Well a technician from Alagasco was there when I arrived, he was checking our furnace, in 90 degree weather I don't think we were really using it but whatever. He checked it out, had us turn the heat on to make sure everything was working then told us we were good to switch it back to the A/C. However, to our surprise and my frustration, the A/C wouldn't come back on which sent my blood boiling! Here we had a house full of people and no A/C, simply because Alagasco chose that day to come out to check something that we didn't even call for them to do. God always has a way of making you realize the bright side of things, luckily our deck had just been finished (the deck that I wanted us to wait on having done). So after calling Alagasco's emergency line and comtimplating reporting a gas leak, to get them out there anytime over the 3 day holiday weekend we opted for plan B and just had emergency A/C repair come fix it!

The weekend did get much better though because saturday was GAME DAY and that made everything seem to fall in place! We have great seats even if they are for the Alabama games. The rest of the weekend was spent relaxing, doing some work around the house and hanging out with friends. I love a good 3 day weekend because it just means a 4 day work week and its back to the weekend again! Today is also the birthday of a good friend of mine, Claire Taylor....Happy Birthday!

Anne, Dan & Claire...on Anne's 22nd B-Day!

Ahh the Weekends

This past weekend we took a little day trip to Atlanta, instead of working from sun up to sun down like we usually do. We went to IKEA, to get our new couch for the office and ate at The Vortex (best hamburgers ever). I had never realized just how important weekends were until I got a "real" job and had to work 5 days a week. Its like your weekends are free for you to do whatever you want, whenever you want. I LOVE my job, but I will say I so look forward to the weekends now. Next weekend we will be spending ours, tailgating and at the Alabama vs. San Jose State game! My favorite time of the year is definitely fall because it means college football, even though I'm not big on the actual game I am big on tailgating haha. I hope "The Corner" is rock'n this weekend, can't believe I won't be there WDE.

HOUSE UPDATE: Jordan has been talking about a deck since day 1 of moving into this house, so wouldn't you know its being built this week. The contractor starts today and hopes to have it done by thursday. The inside is almost done, just a few finishing touches left. More pictures to come.

Like Sands in an hour glass...

These are the days of our lives. No, I do not watch that show. Those lines just seem to apply to life these days. Yesterday was officially a month that we have been in the new house and in my opinion we have gotten a TON accomplished but still have a TON to do! Update, the granite is in and looks amazing! We went with ubatuba in the kitchen and hall bath (left picture), St Cecilia in the master bath, I am happy with everything so far! The back splash is being grouted today and the mirror & light fixture will be hung in the bathroom today as well, so pictures tonight! The floors in the den are being done this week and they couldn't be done soon enough! We can finally unpack, and place furniture in there which will make it feel like a house, not a construction zone. I promise this blog won't be consumed with what we are doing in the house, I just get carried away sometimes, talking about everything. In other news, we got our Alabama football tickets yesterday and Jordan is more excited than a kid at Christmas. Yes, me an avid Auburn fan for the past 24 years will be attending Alabama games this year. The bright side is I have a ticket for the Iron Bowl and WILL BE cheering for Auburn! Hopefully my Auburn fans won't disown me. My grandfather is still getting over pneumonia, continue to pray for Paw-Paw & Maw-Maw. While you are sending up prayers, say one for my sweet awesome wonderful proverbs 31 mother, lately she has not been feeling like the "Super Woman" she is. After going to the doctor monday, they found some things and want to run some more tests to see what's going on. So please pray that its nothing and that she will be feeling better in no time! My mother is more than just my mom she is my best friend, so I won't accept anything other than a good report from the doctors! My dad is also such an AWESOME role model to me of how you should live your life, treat your spouse and love your family! I feel so blessed to have the parents I have, they truly are my rock! Anyway we booked a little impromptu 3 day getaway cruise yesterday. Jordan came home and I had the information laying on the counter where I had booked it, and to be honest I don't know if he was more excited about the cruise or the not having to spend a weekend working on the house, haha we shall see.

The Next Chapter

This past week and weekend have certainly been eventful. My "Paw-Paw" was taken to the hospital because of what was thought to be a blood clot in his lung, but turned out to be pneumonia which is the better of the 2. He stayed in the hospital Friday through Monday, he home now resting and recovering. GOD IS GOOD! My cousin Brittney also graduated from college, so PROUD of her! We had a blowout in honor of her accomplishment, and I was still recovering from it yesterday. Haha, its true as you get older it gets harder and harder to party like you use to. My other cousin Heath and his wife Kellie welcomed the birth of their 3rd child, Natalie Kate Reese on Monday! Well update on the house, things are really moving along, granite comes tomorrow!!!!! Floors are next, we hope to have those done by the beginning of next week. We got the den painted and are working on the hallway & foyer. Once our floors are done in the den we can move furniture out of the living room & dining room and really make it feel like home. I can't wait to be done painting because I think I have arthritis in my hands after the past month. On my way back to Tuscaloosa Sunday I stopped at Greystone Antiques and found several great items, thanks to the wonderful Evan Harless. I went specifically for a mirror and 2 lamps that I had talked with Evan about buying, well I got in there and started wondering around, looking at all the different booths wanting ALOT of what I saw. For nearly 2 hours I kept taking stuff up to the front and making a "pile" as the cashier put it, I finally decided to call it quits and pay so I could get back home to Tuscaloosa. Well, I got in the car and began heading back, already thinking about where I would put this or that, when it occurred to me that the 2 lamps I went to buy were the only thing I didn't make it out of the store with. Which makes me laugh because its something only I would do, but bright side is it gives me a reason to go back and take Jordan! As far as my job goes, I am loving it! Many of you know I am now working for MRD, doing marketing & property management which are 2 things that fit me perfectly! The only downside to this move to Tuscaloosa is that I can't wear any of my clothes anymore, I HAVE TO get back into the gym and eating properly! This move has put about 10 pds. on me, working on the house and running to get fast food or being in an office where there is always someone bringing in food is getting the best of me. So everyone stay on top of me to get in shape! Well that's all for now, I will post pictures tomorrow, promise!

Our Eventful Saturday

When I wrote yesterday's blog I forgot to talk about what happened on Saturday when we were at Lowes, our 2nd home. Well, that morning we got up and anxiously awaited the At&t guy's arrival to install our Internet. We were suppose to go car shopping for me that morning and had to meet a dealer by 12:00 to look at 2 different cars. Well seeing that the At&t guy wasn't there, he was 2 hours past his "scheduled" time. I went ahead and went to meet the dealer to look and test drive cars while Jordan stayed and waited on the installer (I will write about my car shopping later). Well, the Internet was installed and we decided to go on to Lowes, our 2nd home. We took Jordan's car since its bigger and we could fit more stuff in it. We get in Lowes and we are having paint mixed and going down the list of stuff we needed, as someone comes over the speaker and says "Will the owner of a silver 4runner with the license place JCM2 please come to the front desk" we get to customer service and Jordan says "oh is my alarm going off" and the manager said "Oh no, sorry sir its much worse than just your alarm". Someone had pulled through the parking space and hit Jordan's car, almost ripping the bumper off. God is good though, the person who did it came in the store to find out the owner and take responsibility for it. It will be fixed, but I know there will be some sort of story to tell until it is returned back to its original condition. Although it has had me thinking, if it hadn't been for the At&t guy being late, we would have been in my car at Lowes and I certainly couldn't have traded it in anytime soon if the guy had hit it. Everything happens for a reason, good or bad.

Old to New

Well we have gotten all moved in, not completely unpacked but getting there. At&t Uverse came saturday to hook our Internet up FINALLY, cable tomorrow THANK GOD! You never realize how much you use something until you don't have it, although we certainly have gotten alot more accomplished by not having the distractions. So we have finished the master bedroom (Chocolate walls), and waiting on the new granite for the master bath and then it will be complete. The office, guest bedroom (Orange walls) and hall bath are done too. I will post pictures of everything! Our new doors are 1 of my favorite things so far. I have never painted, taped or sanded so much in all my life, as I have the past 3 weeks, but everything is really coming together! We are waiting on our counter tops for the kitchen and bath rooms, which is giving me time to find other projects or as Jordan says "spend more money" haha. I believe it or not, did refinish a piece of furniture instead of buying something new to put our tv on. We were over at friend's, having wine the other night and as we were leaving saw this old record player console, it had speakers at the bottom and a lift up top where the record player was (pictures will be posted). Well Jordan and I looked at each other and thought "hmm what could we do to this". So I took all the record player parts out, tore off the front, side & back that covered the speakers, sanded it down, primed it and painted it. It is now black, with new hardware and you won't believe how it looks, I was so surprised at how we transformed this old record player into a modern entertainment table. Anne is staying with us this week while she finishes her internship before graduation, she "checked-in" last night and said her bed & accommodations were superb, haha. She just doesn't realize I will have a paint brush in her hand or unpacking boxes in no time, just kidding. Anyway, I am going to post those pictures and see what yall think!

Update

Well I am new to this whole blog thing, but my best friend Anne started one and it got me to thinking that maybe I should as well. We will see how long & often I get to it. I will give everybody a little recap as to what has been happening lately in the life of Dan. I have in the last month, moved to Tuscaloosa, began a new job and started remodeling a new house. I know everyone is thinking "moving! What?!" well yes I have, I am now living up here in Tuscaloosa and working in property management. I do miss Montgomery and my family & friends, but I will be back all the time.

As far as the house remodel, Jordan bought another house closer to downtown (for work, less traffic) so we have gone from a brand new house to a house built in the late 60's, so needless to say, OUTDATED! We are painting every room, changing out all the doors, hardware, fixtures, counter tops, floors etc. Giving the front of the house a face lift with changing the colors and landscaping! I will update and post pictures of projects as they are completed, probably even get opinions from time to time on things.