The Honeymoon

The Tuesday after the wedding Nate and I headed off to Playa del Carmen, Mexico for our honeymoon. Playa (as the locals call it) is about an hour south of Cancun and has none of the Spring Break crowd but all of the local culture that Mexico has to offer. The hotel we stayed at was an all-inclusive resort called Playacar Palace. I would HIGHLY recommend this place. The hotel itself was very airy and open, the staff was amazing, the food was pretty darn good, but the location was fabulous! We were literally steps from the beach, half a block from the ferry to Cozumel, and a half block from Avenue de Quinta (5th Avenue) a six block long shopping strip with everything from high end botiques to shops that you thought were a little too, um, local looking. Our days were filled with, literally, whatever we wanted to do. The first two or three days we slept in, walked Avenue de Quinta, played in the ocean, napped, and played chess.

A view of our hotel room's living area. We had a great honeymoon suite with a wonderful balcony right off the bedroom.

I have to tell you about chess! I've never played before but the hotel had this huge chess set with pieces that were at least two feet high. The first day we played Nate showed me how all the pieces moved and then proceeded to kick my butt in the fastest game every played. The next night I did a little better but Nate still easily beat me. By the third night, though, I started holding my own a little and Nate had to pay more attention to his moves as I started to steal a few of his pieces. The last night we played I triumphed! Nate was getting a little cocky and I easily stole his Queen without him evening noticing my move! Then, I was able to take his Knight and he had no way to realiate. Finally, I was able to say check...mate? Sure enough, we looked, and without him evening beginning to fully realize my awesomness I had checked his King. Yes, in five nights I had not only learned the game of chess but the student beat the teacher. Woo Hoo!

The other neat part about playing chess was that the game was always in the same place. So when we played each night we happened to play next to the main outdoor bar. The bar tender, Carlos, was on each night and got to recognize us and our drink order. The time came when our drinks were empty and instead of waiting for us to come back up to the bar for a refill, Carlos brought a second round out to us. By the end of the week Carlos would spot us heading in his direction and begin our drink order while having those at the bar wait a bit longer. Yes, we tipped him well for this service but it was still pretty awesome of him to do so in the first place.

The view of the beach and the ferry to Cozumel from our balcony. Had we jumped we would have landed on the beach. 10 steps later, the ocean!

While we mainly dined at the hotel's restaurants, it being all-inclusive and all, we did get out onto Avenude de Quinta for food, shopping, and people watching. Pretty much every day found us leasurely strolling through the street, stopping to browse or shop some stores, and catching the local sights.

Here's a picture of Avenue de Qunita from where we stopped to have lunch one day. Notice how empty the street is! According to our hotel the area was only at 60% capacity. Definitely a smaller set of tourists.

During our lunch, these gentleman serenaded us. The only song ANY of the players sang (not just these three but any of the number of singers) was La Bamba in Spanish. I guess they figured we gringos would know it and therefore be happier.

Nate really liked this shop. They rolled their own cigars right in front of you. The other neat thing was that the climate was just right enough that they hung the tobacco from the ceiling to dry. When you walked into the shop it smelled like a gentleman's club.

We did get away from Playa on one day. We decided to go to Chi Chen-Itza, which is one of the most well known Mayan cities in Mexico. Our day was definitely an adventure. First, Nate woke up not feeling too well, but knowing how much I wanted to see the ruins (I did offer to stay home that day and head out another day I'd like to add) he said that he'd be just fine and we would continue to see the ruins. Then our 2.5 hour drive (which we knew about) to the ruins turned out to start out by spending about an hour or so picking up other tourists from their hotels on the way to the ruins. Additionally, we stopped for lunch at some buffet place that you know existed just to feed the people going to the ruins. A little different from my idea of heading out to the ruins on a small tour bus and getting meal tickets for the on-site luncheon. So by 1:30pm we had started out on our bus ride, picked up additional tourists, shopped (I didn't buy anything, though) at a gift shop, and had eaten lunch. Notice that there was no actual ruin touring yet. Nope, we didn't get the ruins until 1:45pm.

On the way to the ruins we saw this contruction site. A tad bit more lose on the safety culture than what I'm used to at work.

We finally got to the Chi Chen-Itza ruins and proceeded to get a guided tour by our tour guide. We learned about the importance of the snake to the Mayan people (the snake takes 360 days before it sheds its skin then five days to shed it's skin - where we get our 365 day calendar), the importance of the sun and equinox in relationship to the temple (as the year passes the sun sets further and further down the side of the temple - when it's planting season the sun shines on the snake statue at the bottom of the temple), the importance of the warrior from the Tuloc influence (the majority of the stones in the various buildings had carvings of the different types of warriors on them), among other things. Our guide was full of knowledge and really funny. He even made a cute little joke when we saw an iguana. "How do you tell the boy iguanas from the girl iguanas? The boys go like this (he nodded his head yes) and the girls go like this (he shook his head no). :-) About this time the sickness that Nate had felt earlier started to rear its ugly head. On the last ruin (the ball field - where they held ceremonial games) Nate had to step away and keep from throwing up. Due to shade and lots of water he kept his stomach down, but I knew it was time to leave the ruins and go sit a spell before the bumpy ride back. I think Nate felt better by doing so, but sleeping on the way home definitely did the trick. Rest was the plan for the end of the evening (and since we didn't get back until 8pm that's all we had time for) and by the next morning Nate was pretty much right as rain.

Nate and I in front of the main ceremonial temple. When explorers found it the jungle had taken over and trees and such were growing out of the sides of it. Archeologists used stones from two of the sides to completely rebuild the other two sides so we would have an idea of what the temple looked like.

Again, honeymoon-itis (or laziness) hit and we spent Saturday and Sunday sleeping in, playing in the ocean, and people watching. I have to interject that playing in the ocean was AWESOME!!! The first few days we were there the wind was really blowing and the waves were huge. So of course we had to jump them. I usually lasted an hour or so and then one too many big waves would knock me over getting water up my nose (salt water in the nose really hurts!) and I'd have to call Uncle and go sit on the beach for a while. The last few days we were there the waves were a lot calmer but every once in a while a sneaky one would come through and shove me to shore. Nate got a huge kick out of this. :-)

Well, early early Monday morning the sickness that Nate had came to settle in my system. I guess on the one hand I was lucky as I didn't have all the symptoms Nate had, but on the other hand the symptoms I had were much worse. I started throwing up at 1am Monday morning and proceeded to throw up every two hours from then on. At 12pm Nate finally decided that there was something really wrong and so he called the hotel's doctor to make a visit. One shot in the backside later and the nausea went from every two to every three or so hours. At 8pm I had a pretty bad episode that included breathing difficulties, so back the doctor came. This time with two shots in the backside. Yippee! One of the shots hurt so bad that it took me a good five minutes before I could do anything but moan. The funny part (yep, I see humor in everything) was that I had Nate make me an ice pack for one of the second shots. Since Nate had to pack for the flight home the next day I kept rearranging the ice pack until eventually I got it in a spot where the cold felt really good. About an hour later Nate wanted to make sure that the ice wasn't too close to my skin so as not to cause a cold burn. I twisted my hip and that's when we found out that the arrangement that had felt so good meant I was literally sitting on the ice. Needless to say Nate removed the ice pack :-) Oddly enough it took another two weeks for the one side of my backside to feel better. As I felt a HUGE knot I can only imagine I got some sort of muscle bruise from the shot that was just stubborn and didn't want to go away.

Me, Monday afternoon, not feeling well.

Finally, Tuesday morning arrived and it was time to come home. We both admitted that while we'd had a lot of fun in Mexico we were both excited to come home to our new house, our familar bed, and normal American food. So while we definitely recommend Mexico to people we also recommend taking anti-biotics, being extremely careful about not drinking any water, and not getting too upset with a day of sickness. Turns out EVERYONE we've talked to that has been to Mexico has gotten sick at least one day. Um, why didn't we hear these stories BEFORE we booked the honeymoon?! :-)

The sun rise from our hotel room on the last day of our honeymoon.

Now we're home and enjoying married life! I hope you've enjoyed these wedding posts as I've thoroughly enjoyed writing about all our activities. I suppose it'll be back to 'normal life' posts here on out, but I hope you stick around to read what we're up to. I enjoy reading about your lives as well!

Wedding & Reception

Our wedding was held at my hometown parish Christ the King Catholic Church in Richland, WA. I remember seeing many of my friends walking down the same aisle wondering if I would ever have my day, wondering what they were thinking as they walked down the aisle, and wondering how they felt as they said their wedding vows. I can't believe it was actually my turn! Walking down the aisle I thought I would feel nervous or I'd start crying as soon as I saw Nate. Tears of happiness, of course. Instead I was smiling so hard my jaw hurt. :-) It's funny what I remember walking down and what I don't. For instance I vividly remember seeing Steph and Krista (with their husbands and kids) who are some of my sorority sisters, I remember my cousin Mindy mouthing that she thought my dress looked great (she took me out on my first wedding dress shopping trip where I actually tried on a dress), I remember seeing some of my hometown friends (like Jenny, Michael and Emily, and Caryn and Scott), and I remember co-workers (Didi and Randy, Lori, Susan, and Sheri). However, I don't remember seeing my Mom or Grandmothers, Nate's parents or Grandparents, or many other friends and family members. I'm actually a little embarrassed that I don't remember seeing my Mom. (blush) My only thought is that with her in the front row I was so focused on Nate that I didn't turn in her direction. That's my story at least.

When I finally did get to Nate I realized that instead of gazing directly into his eyes the entire walk, I'd instead been smiling and waving at people. It was like my happiness came not only through getting married to Nate, but being surrounded by all the people in my life who bring me joy. I wanted them to experience, or at least see, how blessed I felt (and how great it was) that they were attending my wedding.

Saying our vows to each other.

Everyone says that every wedding has that moment. The one moment that makes a wedding so special. Well, my moment was humor caused by my niece. See Haylee was supposed to be my cute little bell ringer/flower girl who would start the bridal party procession by ringing a bell to signal the start of the wedding. Instead, the day of the wedding Haylee decided that she'd rather be playing in the Child Care room instead of walking down the aisle. After a few tears from being pulled away from the toys it was decided that Haylee would just walk down the aisle with my Mom when my Mom was being seated (by my brother, no less) and there just wouldn't be a flower girl. So then I make my big entrance and the wedding starts. At this time Haylee decided that since she'd been at the alter during the rehearsal it was perfectly fine for her to sit on the alter during the wedding. I didn't mind this as Haylee sat at Katie's (her mom's) feet and just chilled. Well, that worked for a little while. Then Haylee decided that the view was better if she lied down and if she started whine a little. Once that position's novelty wore off Haylee decided that she'd lie down with her feet on the top steps of the alter and her head at the bottom of the alter and her whining would turn louder. At this point Fr. Champeux was asking Nate and I questions (such as do you vow to allow God into your marriage) and we'd reply yes. Haylee decided that this would be the perfect time to start whining so loud she was drowning out Fr. Katie decided she'd had enough as motioned for Bo (Katie's boyfriend) to take Haylee to the Crying Room. The moment was perfect. Just as Fr. asked us the all important question of "Do you vow to loving accept children into your lives?" Bo picked up Haylee and Haylee began to scream at the top of her lungs "MMMOOMMMMMYYYYY!!!!!" Our audience saw the humor and we heard everyone laugh. Of course, Nate and I laughed too before responding with a very loud "YES!".

Our first kiss as husband and wife. Yep, Nate had to be reminded that we were in church.

After we were (finally!) married we stayed after to take pictures together while everyone else headed over to the reception at the Richland Community Center. When Nate and I first started wedding planning I just 'assumed' that we'd see each other beforehand and take pictures as that's what everyone did and it was just logistically easier. Nate had other ideas. He wanted to wait to take pictures until afterward so as to see me the first time walking down the aisle. Looking back, I'm so glad we did this. Not seeing him made the day just a little bit more special. Especially since when I got to the alter Nate's eyes kept bugging out and he just kept repeating "You look so gorgeous", "Wow, you look amazing", and "I love you so much". Hearing those words, especially when I felt just like a beautiful princess, were exactly what I needed to hear.

Once we got to the reception we did something a little different than what I'd seen at other weddings. I was worried about the timing of the ceremony (2:30pm) and when to have dinner. I thought having dinner right away (at around 3:30pm) would be just too early for people. So what to do between the time they arrived, the time we arrived, and the time dinner could reasonably be served. I've seen it done where appetizers are passed and people just chat before dinner but I wasn't really a fan of that. I decided that we should get as many 'photo opportunities' done as early as possible so that the photographer didn't need to hang around for three or four hours at the reception before any real staged photos were taken. So that meant that the dancing needed to start off right away. Nate and I walked into the reception area, were announced as Nate & Teresa Carstens for the first time and we immediately went into our first dance together (Come Away With Me by Nora Jones - honestly, we chose it because it was the only waltz song on the CD the dance instructor gave us that wasn't country!). We'd been taking lessons and had a choreographed dance which I was really thankful for. Instead of just swaying like high schoolers I think we entertained people a little. Nate did a FANTASTIC job. Six weeks prior he had to be taught how to count to music and how to move his feet. At the reception he knew all the steps and didn't miss a turn. I, on the other hand, totally goofed. :-) Oh, well, it made for a fun moment.

Our first dance together as husband and wife.

The next 'staged' thing we did was the Father-Daughter dance. I knew that my Dad didn't really want to be up on stage as the center focus for an entire song so I thought up the idea of doing a Parent's Dance. Basically my Dad and I danced while Nate and my Mom danced (to Forever Young by Rod Stewart) and then half-way through the song I dropped my Dad off and danced with Dave, Nate's Dad. Since Nate's Mom, Linda, had a stroke a few years ago and is wheel-chair bound she decided she didn't want to go out on the dance floor so Nate went over to his Mom and had a one-on-one Mother-Son conversation with her. I thought it worked out great.

Dad and I dancing and Nate and Mom dancing during the Parent's Dance.

Once the two dances ended Nate and I pulled people out on to the dance floor in the hopes to open up dancing to everyone. Once a few couples were out there, Nate and I made our exit for additional non-church pictures. We got some great shots down by the river which I can't wait to see! At this time people started wondering out on the back patio of the reception site and asked to take pictures with us. That was helpful as it got a bunch of pictures taken that we wanted to have taken but didn't require us to move much. :-)

Once these pictures were over it turned out to be dinner time. Since we had three types of snack items on each table (chocolate covered raisins, non perils (mints), and chex mix), plus people had been munching on the many appetizers (Italian pinwheels, ham/asparagus roll-ups, brie and caramel, shrimp, etc) I didn't want to have too big of a dinner. We had a baked potato bar with all the trimmings and a mixed green salad on the side. I was worried people wouldn't think this was enough but I've had quite a few people tell me afterwards that they liked the smaller, but continuous options throughout the night instead of just one big dinner and that being the only food. Nate and I tried to get some down-time to eat (I'd made sure there was a table just for two) but people, as they waited for the food line to get smaller, kept stopping by to say 'hi'. We didn't mind this as we were excited to see people, but it was funny. Take a bite, chew, chew, quickly swallow, smile, hello, chat, take a bite, chew, quickly swallow, etc. I think I got half of a potato down and called it good. Oh, well, everyone said that I wouldn't eat at the reception and they were right!

After dinner seemed mostly done we went over to cut the cake. I LOVED my cake. A friend Jill made the cake and did a FANTASTIC job. Again, people came up to me afterwards to say that not only was the cake pretty but it tasted so yummy. Imagine that. A yummy tasting wedding cake. :-) Another reason I loved my cake was the cake topper. There's a story there. See, my cake topper is a salt and pepper shaker. I have this weird thing (that I like to call manners thank you) where the salt and pepper shaker should always be passed together at the dinner table. The shakers are 'married' and therefore don't get passed by themselves. My friends think it's hilarious to go to a restaurant and move one of the shakers to the other side of the table as soon as we sit down. Last year for a Christmas gag gift Karen and Jessica found magnetic salt and pepper shakes that were painted to look like a Bride and Groom and magnetically kissed. I loved the gift so much that when I started thinking about cake toppers I knew these were the ones.

Nate play-acting at shoving cake into my mouth. It was play-acting because I'd given him 'the look' right beforehand so he knew that my pretty, pretty dress was not to have cake on it. :-)

After the cake cutting Nate's two old roommates from MIT organized a little game for us to play. Basically we each had cards that said "Me" or "Him/Her". We faced opposite of each other and then were asked questions like "Who does the cooking", "Who wants more kids", "Who's the boss of the family" and we rose whatever sign had our answer. I think we agreed on all but one question (who wants more kids) but it was funny to hear the audience laugh at what we'd chosen. I would definitely like to see this game played again!

Playing the game from Blaise and Valerie.

I had to post this. All the technology all in one place. :-)

After the game ended it was time to kick back and party. Nate and I would dance, say hello to people, say good-bye to others, and just thoroughly enjoy ourselves. I guess the perfect moment was when I noticed that Ben, Karen, Andrew, Jessica, Nate, and I were on the dance floor all by ourselves. I was in the midst of best friends, I was married to the man I love, the wedding and reception were one of the greatest moments of my life I'd experienced, and I was just absolutely filled with happiness. How much better can it get than that?!

Well, all nights must end and eventually this one did. I gotta say it was a great day, though. The weather was one of the warmest and sunniest days we've had yet this year, everyone I talked to was filled with joy and laughter, Nate was finally mine (all mine!) and the only thing that went 'wrong' was that we ran out of cups a half hour or so before the reception ended. All in all, an absolutely perfect day to start our lives together.

Nate & Teresa - the very happy couple!

* A special thanks to Laura for posting these pictures on Facebook. Without her this blog wouldn't have happened and I would still not have seen any wedding pictures! Thanks Laura!

Getting Ready to be Married

From everything I'd heard from friends and family about their own experiences I figured that the day of the wedding I'd be a nervous wreck always on the verge of tears. I was happily suprised to find out that my feelings were pretty much the exact opposite. The morning of the wedding I woke up in a great mood. About 15 minutes before the alarm went off I found myself playing on my iPhone just waiting for time to pass. After getting up, showering, and getting dressed I met my mom at the door to help carry my wedding dress down my stairs. Every time I look at that dress I just remember how gosh-darn pretty I felt. :-) Anyway, after mom helped me get the dress in the car (it was huge!) we were off to get our hair down at Rumor's Salon.

Once at the Salon we met up with Karen (best friend and bridesmaid) and walked in to see Lupe (my hair dresser). Funny story...Karen bought me and her coffee for the day. As my mom has also bought me a pop my hands were full with the veil, tiara, and pop so Karen brought in my coffee which she set down alongside her coffee on the hair salons table. Lupe started talking to us and then started to drink from Karen's cup. Turns out that Lupe also went for Starbucks that day and since she saw Karen holding one cup (mine) and the other cup empty she assumed the other cup was hers. It was a really funny moment when Lupe realized her mistake. Perhaps a moment that you had to be there for, but a funny one just the same.

Soon after Katie (sister and maid of honor), Haylee (niece and flower girl), Grandma, and Auntie Sue showed up and the hair procession began. It took a little over an hour (we had to start over half-way through) but Lupe did a great job on my hair. I thought it looked fantastic! Tammy also did a fabulous job on Karen and Katie's hair as they both looked to sophisticated in their up-dos. Once hair was finished we (Karen, Katie, Mom, and myself) went over to Serendipity Salon to have our make-up done. Again, the girls at the salon did a fanstastic job. I had wanted to look like a glamorous me, but still me, and I think the job Megan did fit me to a tee. It was awesome! The photographer also showed up for some candit shots and I can't wait to see those!

After make-up was done we found ourselves running behind schedule on getting to the church. Isn't it funny how some things just work out. At the rehearsal Father Champeoux mentioned that a funeral had been schedule before our wedding (two very opposite emotions don'tcha think?) and where we had originally been able to get to the church around 11am we now wouldn't be able to get in until noon. Oddly enough, the guys ended up not getting to the church until 12:15 and we girls didn't make it there until 12:30pm. So my plans of an 11am hang-out would have fallen through funeral or no funeral!

Once we got to the church it was smooth sailing from there. We girls got dressed in one room while the guys got dressed in another. Then it was picture madness as we tried to get as many pictures done as possible before the ceremony without Nate or I seeing each other. When I originally started looking at photographers I just assumed that Nate and I would see each other beforehand as it seemed to make picture taking easier and that's what 'everybody' did. I'm so glad we didn't follow the trend! Seeing Nate for the first time when I walked down the aisle made the moment so much more special! Anyways - wedding post will come later. This is the pre-wedding post!

Finally I'm all dressed up with make-up and hair done and people are starting to show up, so I end up just chilling in the Brides Room/Daycare Room. It was actually really enjoyable. Haylee was in there playing make believe, and the rest of us (me, Karen, Katie, and Bo Katie's boyfriend) were just chillin'. At this point I wasn't nervous, anxious, or anything. Well, I guess you could say it was the calm before the excitement. I really thought I'd be on the verge of tears (only time that happened was on the drive from hair to make-up and it was just a quick tear-up, nothing big) and hyperventilating or something. Nope. Calm as a cucumber. I was just passing the time until I could hold Nate's hand and say "I do". In a way, I'm glad I was this way. By this time I was 100% ready to be Nate's wife without any hesitation, regret, or nervousness. I can't remember now if I posted this or not but I believe a big part of the reason I didn't have 'issues' is because I had a MAJOR break-down on Wednesday. Or at least major for me. I was nervous, grumpy, emotional, teary, and just plain cold-feeted the Wednesday before. After a long day I finally met up with Nate and we went on a walk along the river. That quiet time did the trick and I got my head on right. I really feel that this moment let me be happy, excited Teresa as I walked down the aisle. I'm completely thankful for that. Now, as I see that this post is starting to ramble a bit I'll stop writing and just add a few pictures. Check back in the next few days for wedding, reception, and honeymoon pictures!

Mom making sure I look pretty while Haylee takes pictures. She LOVES the camera and manages to end up taking some pretty good ones. You just have to weed through lots of feet and sky.

My dress tended to want to bump oddly at the waistline. It took some dress fluffing to make the poof go away. Here mom is checking the poof out to make sure all looks well.

Katie hanging out before the wedding.

Me sitting and relaxing before the big moment!

Rehearsal and Rehearsal Dinner

Tonight we had the wedding rehearsal and then went back to my parent's house for the rehearsal dinner. The rehearsal was nice but a little stressful. It was nice Father Tom and Carol (the wedding coordinator) knew their jobs so well that they could corral people in the right spot and lead us through everything we needed to do. It was a little stressful because I have a three-year old niece, who's the flower girl, who was a little rambunctious. Thank goodness Father is cool with kids and Haylee didn't bother him. It was also a little stressful because rehearsing made the 'big day' that much closer. Like butterflies in your stomach before a good interview. You know you want the job, you know you'll get the job, but you still get a little nervous. :-)

After the rehearsal we went back to my parent's house where I was met by probably 30 people milling around in the living room. Within 20 minutes another 30 had showed up for a big ole' party of 60 people. My mom's co-worker had the great idea of having the actual dinner in the garage. See, my parent's had just finished moving into their newly built HUGE house that happened to have a six-bay garage. Instead of trying to cram 60 people into the living room, dining room, and kitchen with not enough space for everyone her co-worker thought about renting tables and chairs and using tarps to hide one bay while everyone ate in the other two. It was perfect!!! The casual atmosphere (along with a little booze) made everyone feel right at home and before long people were laughing and having a great time. A really neat way to end the day and start the wedding festivities.

Father Tom explaining the ceremony while I hold Haylee and Nate tries to be cool.


Nate and I repeating the pretend vows. We got to hear and say the first part of everything, but that's as far as we got.

Ben, Karen, and Rick. Ben flew all the way from Missouri to be at the wedding. He's a dear friend that moved away two years ago and is sorely missed. I can't wait for the day I hear that he's moving back. Karen is my bestest friend since first grade. Rick is an awesome friend who's always good for a great game of Kube.

One view of the garage. The blue tarps hid the third garage bay with all the garage stuff. You can see drink tables in the background with the lighted vases.

Nate and I enjoying dinner with family and friends. Going around the circle there's Nate's Grandma Sylvia, Nate, Haylee, me, Valerie (Nate's college friend), her son Jonathon, and the back of Connie's head (Nate's Mom's caretaker). The other table includes Nate's cousin Kila, Aunts and Uncles Bev and Bruce with Max and Claudia, and Nate's Dad David sitting second from the right. Yes, there's a quiz.

Another view of the room. The garage idea REALLY turned out great!

Our New House

We bought a house!!!

Nate and I started seriously looking at buying a house back in November, 2009. We quickly found that we had slightly different ideas of what we were looking for and that a compromise would be needed. Nate wanted a house that required some fixing-up to give him some home projects as well as a good bargain. I wanted a house that was pretty much move-in ready with only cosmetic changes. We got pretty discouraged during the house hunting as homes were either so much of a disaster I wanted to disinfect myself after walking through them, or so perfect that there wasn't hardly anything to fix. We came close to buying a house once but after putting in a bid the owners wouldn't counter-offer as low as we wanted. I look at that as a blessing in disguise because had we decided to accept their offer we wouldn't have the awesome house we have today. We got this house on a lark, too. One weekend in January we decided to scrap all the houses and criteria we'd had so far and to just start fresh. Well, that Sunday I happened to see this house online and thought that taking a quick look prior to scrapping our plans and starting over wouldn't be a problem. We looked and loved it. Made a bid that night! The month-long process to actually own the home was nerve-racking but I'm so glad we came though it. Our house is just awesome and I can't wait to move into it.

We're a wee bit crazy with this, though. Two weeks before the wedding we moved Nate out of his duplex and into the house. A week before the wedding we moved 90% of my stuff. So the two weekends before the wedding were 10 hour days each of moving, taking furniture to Goodwill, putting everything in its spot, and just trying to remain sane. We made it, though! So without further ado, here's our house!

The front view of the house. There's a flagpole without a flag that will soon come down.

A view of the living room with the dining room in the background.

A veiw of the living room with the guest bathroom door open. Note the fireplace on the right side behind the brown chair.

Our dining room. The window is actually a part of a Bay Window.

A view of the kitchen. The TV from the living room is seen above the counter and the dining toom chair is seen on the right-hand side.

The Master Bedroom. Still a work in progress. :-)

The Master Bathroom with a really nice sized walk-in closet, which is filled to the brim with random stuff so the door remains closed.

Our garage. Nate did an AWESOME job on getting everything into a semblance of order for easy dealings later on.