The Teeny Tiniest of an Update

Hello all!
I have every intention of taking pictures of our apartment, maybe even a video. But I keep thinking, "tomorrow, tomorrow, I will pick all the pictures frames up from the floor tomorrow, I will sew that table cover, and buy that bed skirt tomorrow. And then, the apartment will be ready to have pictures taken of it."
I know that's silly, and none of you really care if there are still 15 white photo frames laying on the floor, or a piece of grey fabric pretending to be a "table cloth" But I want the apartment a little more spruced before I go showing everyone. :-)

So, until then, I will give you the smallest of an update, filled mostly with pictures!

Jason graduated from NDSU with a Pharm.D!

We initially drove out with just the Honda Fit. We made it New Hampshire! Welcome!

This was how Jason lived for his first two solo weeks out here. When we had the Uhaul from the move we bought a couch on craigslist for a whopping 90 bucks!

The blow up bed Jay slept on for his solo weeks. 

 

 

 

On our first move we forgot a beer bottle opener. Not a good idea. We used needle-nose pliers.

I was in New Hampshire for only a couple days, then flew back to Minnesota to finish packing and projects. We hauled our self out to the coast. About an hour from Manchester.

This is the Port in Portsmouth, NH

Had some yummy Smuttynose (a local brew) at a Portsmouth restaurant.

 

 

 

 

Look at the beauty that is God's creation.

New Hampshire houses the White Mountains. And there are 48 peaks over 4000. It's an unspoken challenge to complete them all. Some people do it two or three times a year.

We hiked Mt. Osceola

Sitting down to eat lunch. We had read about "black flys" but being Minnesotan didn't think they would be any worse than a mosquito. Wrong! They basically burrowed in, drew blood, and left a welt that itched for days. We will be bringing bug spray next time!

It was an overwhelmingly beautiful view from the top.

The spot to be. It had the remnants of a long forgotten fire station.

Captain?

The trail had a lot of giant rock slabs going at a 30 degree angle. On the way down I slipped. :-(

All the blood.

We live in a city. But less than a mile away is a pretty great park, with a lake in the middle.

And just to leave you with a smile! Jason's grandpa Gil Holle. I love this picture.

On the road!

We are on the road. On the road to New Hampshire! I can't believe we are already doing this. I can't believe my husband has graduated from Pharmacy school. I can't believe we are less than a month away from moving completely to Manchester.

I wish I could take you back to six years ago, when I met Jason for the first time. He sat quietly, just outside a group of people I knew. He was hairy. Like ape hairy. Every hair connecting to another hair,  hairy.  But attractive. Jaw-droppingly so.

I wish I could take you back to that moment he looked at me, really looked at me for the first time.

I wish I could take you to the moment he didn't get in to pharmacy school. And we sat together, quietly crying.

I wish I could take you to the time Jason told me he had been on a waiting list, and he DID get in to Pharmacy school. :-)

I wish I could invite you to go star gazing with us on the night he proposed.

I wish I could have you stand next to us on our wedding day.

I wish I could explain how six years ago I couldn't comprehend where we would be now. I wish I could explain how I knew I would marry this man, though. I knew before we started dating that there was something about this boy.

I wish I could explain how LONG 6 years of Pharmacy school feels. But in the same breath I would have to tell you how QUICKLY it went. How in a blink of an eye I was staring at a handsome man from across the room, then holding his hands, then saying yes to his proposal, then standing beside him promising forever, and now...adventuring forward. If I get to spend forever with this man, it won't be long enough (so cliche right? but so true) 

How did I get so lucky? I have a family that supports and loves us both. I have a husband who wants to love me.

 I  hope I remember all of this on the days I feel too far away from my mom. (Happy Mothers day!) And the moments when Jason and I are fighting about NOTHING, which of course will happen. Every good marriage has a fight about the bed sheets at some point, right?

I'm a lucky girl.

We are on the road!

Thank you Jesus for all of the blessings and lessons you've provided me and Jason.

Twenty Two. Twenty Two? Twenty Two! That's our anniversary date! 5/22/10 

I found these gas signs at a flea market a couple of weekends ago. I fell in love! The guy gave me a great deal too! Twenty bucks for the two signs. 

I put a kindle next to the signs so you can compare. If you don't know the size of an average kindle, its about the size of a book.

This is the bowl I found at a local thrift store. She's a gem, and only 3 bucks!

This is my abnormally sized light bulb. It makes me think of Thomas Edison and innovation and it gets my creative juices really flowing. I found the 400 watt bulb for a 1.00 and had my dad drill a hole in this piece of wood to display it.

Again I used the kindle to compare how crazy big this dust-collector is.

Ahh the cake pan. She is sexy. Like take-my-shirt-off-every-time-she-looks-at-me, sexy. Do you see those lines, those colors, that subtle way she talks you out of your clothes. Oh, I can't wait to bake and carry.

This was once a door. Then we made it in to a coffee table. Take a look.

Do you see that employee only sign? It's an original.

Wood on the bottom.

This is my quilt top. I want to lay on it and rub my fingers up and down it. She is pretty. She is gorgeous. She has an appointment to be quilted 5/9/12. Wish her luck!

A close up on the patterns.

This is a chair I'm working on. She was orange pleather.

There was a giant rip down the middle. I duct-taped it.

Then I measured, measured again, measured once more, and I sewed slip-cover like re-upholstering for it. Doesnt it look great? I'm working on painting the arms right now.

That is a teeny-tiny update on what I'm working on and purchasing. 

Have a great week! 

-megs

The Schedule.

Thursday is my last day of work!!

And here is the schedule before the move

Thursday May 3rd: Go to midnight showing of the Avengers in the twin cities
Friday May 4th: Recover from midnight movie (because I'm not as young as I used to be)
Saturday May 5th: Bach Party for Anna Hagemeyer at her cabin somewhere in Minnesota...

Sunday May 6th: Return from said party
Monday May 7th-Wednesday May 9th: Work my butt off and get some projects done. (Hutch, table, chair, chair, chair, etc)
Thursday May 10th: Head up to Fargo to watch Jason get hooded (which is not some gangsta term)
Friday May 11th: Remain in Fargo and watch Jason graduate!
Saturday May 12th: Return from Fargo
Sunday May 13th: Drive with Jason to NH
Friday May 18th: Fly back from NH
Saturday May 19th: Attend a ballet show in Chanhassen then go to after party.
Sunday May 20th-June 1: Nothing but packing and working on projects. yes!
Friday June 1st: Get Jason from airport and attend a wedding rehersal
Saturday June 2nd: Participate in the wedding of two great people
Sunday June 3rd: Get uhaul, pack it in multiple locations
Monday June 4th: Cry, cry some more, say goodbye. Get in truck and cry a little more. Make it all the way to Illinois before I stop crying.

Manchester, Photos, and, Bringing It!

Hello All!

Long time no blog?

Yeah, having limited internet really cuts in to my ability to share. But I'm here today, and I'm ready to tell you everything I know.

Let's start with a Manchester update. Well, a New Hampshire update in general. We have decided on a city we are going to live in. We picked Manchester. We can't give you a reason why really.  We just had to make a decision so we could get an apartment, and we decided on Manchester. If we get out there and don't like it, I'm sure we will consider moving.

We scoured craigslist for apartments. And we finally decided on one we would apply for. We paid our application fees, and our holding fee, waited, and a couple days later we were notified that the apartment was ours! Now, in the couple of days it took us to hear back from the apartment complex I read some reviews about the apartment that gave me the heebejeebes.  Things like "This place has bedbugs" or "the roaches run and hide when you turn the lights on." What?? That is too much for me! But Jason and I talked with people, and we both agree that we can't walk away from this place until we actually see it.  Originally when we applied we said we wanted to do a 12 month lease, but since we were a little nervous, we asked if we could a 6 month lease.  The managers were just fine with that! So we have a two bedroom apartment with a 6 month lease. No worries. If we hate it, it's only 6 months!

http://www.colonialvillage-apts.com/  --this is the website, take a look! It "looks" really nice.



This is our floorplan. Not too shabby right?

 



 We are moving out to New Hampshire the first week of June. And we've given ourselves a week. Three days to drive out there, and then a handful of days to get organized and settled. yay!


On Saturday March 24th, Jason and I had a "beloved" session with the wonderful Megan Eckers of Wildlove Photography. Check out her great, witty, emotional, sentimental blog. http://wildlovephoto.com/blog/
I orignally made the appointment for the session as motivation to get my unexercised butt in motion. It worked! I didn't lose as much weight as I had hoped I would, but I feel comfortable and confident in my body. Especially when my husband holds me in his arms, or looks at me with those eyes of his! Look...

Jason and I had a fantastic time with Megan! She had us laughing, she had me crying my eyes out, she had us kissing till our lips were sore. (okay, maybe not that much smooching) She asked us to tell her about the other person, she gave us "what if" scenarios, and she led us in games with each other. It was a great day. She was never watching the time, or hurrying us along. She just stood behind her camera, patiently drawing us out and closer to each other.

I haven't told too many people this, but I started p90x almost 30 days ago. I'm Loving It! I was nervous that I wouldn't keep going.  I did not want to tell everyone and then give up and be laughed at! I can see and feel it working. I Know I'm "bringing it" every morning at 0430. I know I am going to FIT in to those pants again!

thanks for reading,

megs

New Hampshire Contact

Jason and I were recently in South Carolina visitng my aunt (my dad's sister) and her family. They have a beautiful home, nestled deep in the woods, four dogs running around outside, and a house full of laughs and good food! It was a fantastic mini getaway. 

While we were there we joined them at a Mardi Gras party at their church.  And a couple from their church recently moved to South Carolina from New Hampshire! They were so excited that we were moving there and kept coming over to us during the night to tell us little tid-bits about the state and ask us more questions.  We ended the night with a promise from them that they would provide us with contact information for their daughter-in-law. We got an email the next day! I have contacted her yet, but it's nice to know that somebody out there is willing to help us. It makes it that much more real too.

Less than 100 days!

-Megs

Blogging

I have been living at my parents house for the last eight months, with Jason dropping in from a rotation every now and then.

My parents use a Verizon MiFi card for their internet.  It is limited to 5GB.  With six people using it this month we quickly used over 4GB in 12 days.  Now we are not allowed to use the internet unless we absolutely have to. Needless to say, blogging has been slow because of it. Be back soon, or next month maybe!

Here is some slightly more exciting news. Jason and I recently started subscribing to Consumer Reports. We received our first article this week, and one of the stories was about cars. I kid you not, Jason flipped open the magazine and it's a giant picture of an ORANGE HONDA FIT! It rates something like 2 times more than the average.  I can't explain what that means to you without having the magazine in front of me. But it was nice to see that all of my research paid off, and that even Consumer Reports likes my car!