Thoughts on Irene

I find it ironic that over the weekend I had set up a series of posts for our home tour. We found ourselves on Thursday getting ready to evacuate for Irene and preparing to not have a home to come back to. This is the first hurricane I've been in. We decided to get up early and leave by 630am Friday morning to get out of town before any major traffic. 

It's a really weird feeling picking and choosing what things are important enough to keep in case we were to lose everything. We got all of our important documents together: Social Security cards, Passports, Marriage License, College degree, cash, etc and then packed what would be difficult to restore. We brought our computers and wedding pictures, my year's worth of contact supply and basically packed a few weeks worth of clothes. We unplugged as much as we could and tried to put items up high in case we had major flood damage.

But to be really honest, it was almost a freeing feeling. A feeling of letting go of all our "stuff." A peace of mind that if we didn't have a house to come back to, we'd be okay. It made me realize that of out of everything we own, we could have let it all go (other than what was in our car). We've learned over time that it's best to prepare ourselves emotionally for the worst. Everything else seems minor after that. 

We had such a great weekend and great weather. We stayed with my parents almost 7 hours from us and got to visit friends we haven't seen since our wedding. We made it home safely around 9 on Sunday night and only had some minor damage to our house and yard. 

But for those that were strongly affected by the hurricane, we continue to pray  for their peace of mind in all this.

Home Tour Part 4

Welcome to our Home!

From the Outside

Fortunately, all of this beautiful shrub work was already here. We just have to mow the lawn, pull weeds and trim the shrubs. Easy enough! You can see the front, side and back doors!

Home Tour Part 3

Welcome to our Home!

Bedrooms

&

Bathroom

The night before we moved in, we decided to paint our bedroom blue to give it a cool feel. It has to be dark because I can’t sleep if there’s light shining in. Our first furniture purchase together was our bedroom suit from Ashley. It’s black with wood grain tops and simply timeless. The curtains we have are the third set I’ve tried – I still don’t love them, but they keep the light out! My friend gave me this cool sign that has the lyrics to the song JM and I walked down the aisle to after we were married. My sister painted the other signs for my nieces to carry instead of flowers at the wedding (they say “Here Comes” “the Bride” on the other side).Notice our his and hers closets? They are so small that JM uses the guest room closet. The quilt on our guest bed was given to me from my church when I graduated high school. The bedroom suit was JM’s grandparent’s first bedroom suit when they were married and I made the headboard pictures out of pillowcases until I know what else to do! We ran our first half-marathon together this past spring, so our medals hang on the mirror! Our bathroom is tiny but I tried to use some French décor. The Eifel Tower picture came from Urban Outfitters and our French dispensers were a wedding gift from Pottery Barn. The lantern from Big Lots sits in our hallway between the dining room and guest room.

Home Tour Part 2

Welcome to our Home!

Dining Room

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Kitchen

Oh! And our Backyard

Once again, most of our furniture has been given to us! I hope to eventually paint our dining room table and chairs black (except for the wood) like our bench seat and the baker’s rack white (depending on our next move). I found this cute wine rack at Good Will for a whopping ¢.98 and my mom gave us this Recipe for Love sign as a gift! We have all white dinnerware and blue glassware (very versatile!). Also, we gift-carded this beautiful tealish clock from Pier 1 next to the baker’s rack. Below it is Java’s quarters. For her, I put a Norman Rockwell picture of some doggy friends at the Vet I also found at Good Will! We love that our house-though small-is very open throughout and has plenty of guest seating! We have a small mud and laundry room beside the kitchen leading to our backyard where we grill almost every dinner. 

Home Tour

Welcome to our Home!

Living Room

&

Sun Room

Most of our furniture (aside from pillows) have been passed down or given to us! All of my green glass was found at Good Will along with the picture of St. Paul’s Cathedral (it’s special to us because we visited there on our honeymoon). All the other artwork is Charleston and Harbor inspired. The blue candles in front of the fireplace are from Target and the vintage red airplane piggy bank was given to JM as a kid. Felt flowers were a gift to me from JM for our 6-month wedding anniversary. The vintage green and yellow stripe sleeping bag was JM’s grandfather’s that we use as a seat cover. I wanted to go for a vintage/eclectic feel in our home. We are so excited to decorate for the seasons – especially Christmas!

Home Tour: the Beginning

Welcome to our Home!

Just beginning

These are pictures as we were moving in.

Backpacking Roan Mountain

Here are some overdue pictures from our weekend backpacking trip on Roan Mountain. It was a grueling hike covering 30 miles for the weekend (remember - we carried everything with us). The first day we hiked straight up the mountain. There was a point that I questioned whether or not I liked backpacking anymore. But I really felt like I had strength all weekend to push through at even the hardest moments. Before we left, I prayed that God would help me to stay positive throughout the trip and it made a world of a difference soaking everything in with a clear mind and joyful heart. The second day was a much easier and shorter hike. We got to our site by the afternoon and had plenty of time to rest and meet other hikers on the way. We hiked out at 5am Sunday morning to see the sunrise. We left in moonlight and under the stars hiking with our headlamps. My body had a hard time getting up when I barely slept through the night and we started directly on an incline. But it was well worth the early morning to watch the sun rise over the horizon and breathe in God's beautiful creation. 

Another backpacking weekend!

We are leaving today for the NC mountains to once again spend a weekend backpacking in God's beautiful creation. I'm so blessed to have a husband and family and friends that really respect and enjoy the outdoors! Everything we need is on our back. I love it!
I pray that I can just focus in on the little things that go easily unnoticed and I can just listen for what God wants to show me and speak in me!

Awareness is what I ask for.
Patience.
And most of all joy in His presence!

I love these kind of weekends!

Everything is ready to be packed!

Gear

Food

Music at the Beach

Yesterday before JM went to work, he told me that I needed to be ready for our date at 530! It was a pleasant surprise. I didn't know he had something planned and I was so excited! A few weeks before I wrote down all the free and local events in the city. I love summer events and the best part is that most of them are free. Well, I looked through my checklist and saw I wrote down the VA Symphony. Apparently JM didn't know that it was on my list, he heard about it on the radio on his way to work. So when he came home for lunch I asked if we were going to see the symphony and he said yes, how'd you know? The funny thing is that JM's surprises usually get spoiled somehow. He's not very good at keeping secrets from me. But, the special part was that the symphony was playing in an amphitheater right next to VA beach! An outdoor concert and the music for the night - DISNEY! We dressed to impress! What a fantastic date! Perfect I'd say!

I love that my husband makes me laugh!

We are taking care of our last bits and boxes of unpacking. Yesterday JM turns the corner with a box: "Did I ever show you these?" I just started laughing because I knew then and there he was going to start playing with  these guys:

Clearly staged in action

The funny part is that he looked like he was 6 again dressing and staging his GI Joe's. I don't think they're much different than Barbies, but JM strongly disagrees! The cool part is that these were his dad's when he was a little boy! So vintage! I really wish I knew JM as a child. He still has the wildest and most creative imagination. For that reason, our nieces love to play with Uncle John Mark!

My first Cruise

I got to experience my first cruise this past week. We left out of Jacksonville, FL - so JM and I had time to visit an old roommate Jessica and her hubby Russ! It was lovely! So on to...

Cruising

We took a 5-day Carnival Cruise to Key West and Nassau where we went to Atlantis!

HERE WE ARE

 Leaving the port in Jacksonville:

Snorkeling in this deliciously smooth water:

Watching beautiful sunsets:

Sharing a dance at the Captain's dinner:

Smiling with my beautiful sister-n-law Jessica:

Enjoying some peaceful time with my birthday gift:

So,

We had wonderful food, delicious desserts, kind service, chocolate covered key lime pie, fantastic shows and over all a wonderful, resting and peaceful vacation with family!
(Wish you could have been there too)

The End.