Baby Shower

In September, Mom, Michelle, Betsy, and Rose (my MIL) put together a baby shower for Ross & I! I can finally blog about it  now that I have my camera (and the photos) back!

The shower was absolutely gorgeous and Ross & I had such a great time! The original idea of having a coed shower was due to the fact that we were living away long-distance and only got to visit home and all of friends and family every once in a while. Just days before I mailed the invites, it was official that Ross & I would be moving to Cleveland in a few short weeks! Talk about some last minute scrambling, haha.

The day of the shower was beautiful, good thing too since it was at the park! I really wanted something more casual and relaxed than the formal 'ladies-only' baby shower and it was just as I had pictured! It was sunny and perfect fall weather but *windy*... oh the wind!!.... poor mom & michelle didn't get to put out half of the decor they worked so hard on because the wind kept knocking things over.

I tried my best to get some good photos but didn't get as many as I would've liked! Here's us 3 girls... excuse the 'wind-blown' look :) Hence the reason Michelle and I both wore our hair up that day!

After about 15 takes, Luca is finally looking in the right direction :) I'm getting my bff, Ang, trained on how to use my camera... she was my pseudo-photographer! haha

Here are a few shots of the decor... the cookie table (yum!) and some of the prize gift baskets for the winners of the scavenger hunt (created by mom and turned out to be a real success!), a crossword puzzle (thanks to michelle) and some Ross & Kristin Trivia (also thanks to michelle, mom and rose) that even I didn't know all the answers to!! haha

Before the shower started, my girlfriends surprised me with their gift...

They actually engraved the back of the wagon with their initials and yes, though they may not technically be my sisters, through 15 years of friendship, they will most certainly be aunts to my baby girl :) I love them dearly and baby girl is going to be so spoiled by them!

Not sure what the intense conversation is here but this photo makes me laugh.... (dad is laughing in the background too!! haha)...

Rose, my MIL, brought along some way-too-many goodies for the kiddos of the shower. She bought this pinata where you pull one string at a time to finally crack it open. It was more like.... pull every string at once than all the candy jammed the opening. I poked my finger in to fix it and it all came pouring out!!! There was enough candy for 50 kids. literally. But alas, there were only 5 kids old enough for this. Sorry parents!! It was not my idea to load your kids up with sugar before you headed home!! haha but it was all in good fun. I hope.

Aunt Beth was the only one to remember to get a photo of just Ross & I!! Big failure on my part :/

And lastly, after the night was over and all was cleaned up, Michelle remembered to grab a photo of the 3 of us siblings! Yay!!

So after about 5 minutes of this...

 

We finally got one....

I'm not even sure what was so funny :) haha

The shower was more than I could have ever asked for and I know Mom, Michelle and Betsy spent so much time planning it!! So many people pitched in to help as well and I couldn't have asked for more. It was over the top and we received so many great gifts to help us get ready for Baby Girl!!!

I'm finally putting the nursery together this week and keep telling Ross I'm gonna go play with all my new toys! They are mine, right?! No? Oh well. I shall adore everything in the meantime until she arrives :)

Countdown: 6 weeks, 2 days!

*Kristin*

Hello Hello!

Hello there! Sorry I've been M.I.A. for so long but I never felt like updating on nothing :) Anyway, it's been quite a few months since I've blogged so I thought I'd give an update on how things have been going here!

Life is pretty 'ho hum' lately, in a good, calm, relaxing, 'finding ourselves' kind-of-way, but also in a boring, uneventful, waiting-for-things-to-happen kind-of-way. I have my ups and downs. I really like our life here and wouldn't change it, it's been a great experience so far, but I still feel like we're 'waiting' for things to happen. We're still trying to meet people and force ourselvse to have a social life (it's nonexistent!). And recently for the past few months, we've been trying to find a house.

The house hunt has been down right frustrating. We've done everything from expanding our search to more parts of town, stretching our budget (with no luck) and doing everything to try to find something. Now we're just going to sit back and wait to see what new listings come on the market. I feel like we'll know when it's 'the one' and that it'll all work out on it's own. So I'm trying to tell myself to stop thinking about it! It's not that I hate our apartment, I just hate the rent payment going nowhere every month!

Once we find a house, I'm hoping that'll help us to meet some people/neighbors. Or if we'd continue our church hunt, that would help too. I feel like right now we're stuck in some 'waiting' limbo, waiting to find a church, waiting to find a house, waiting to meet friends, etc. Ross & I are not very proactive in any of those areas, and I think we need to force ourselves to come out of our shells... eek!

Our jobs are going well. Ross is extremely busy at work and holding down the fort for the labor relations team this summer, thanks to some reorganizational changes. His schedule at work makes me reconsider buying another fixer-upper :) My job is going really well too. My dept. got a new manager last month so there's been some adjustments there. Now if only I could get used to my 7am-4pm work schedule, life would be good. Is it possible to reinvent myself as a morning person?!!  :)

As for the church hunt, so many people have given good suggestions about what churches to try, etc. but after about 10 churches we'd given up. I guess it's time to get back on that bandwagon with full force ahead! Of course, it would help if we knew what part of town we might settle down into one day :) Again...the waiting! I don't want to become attached to a church here then move 40 minutes away. Ack! Our house hunt has GOT to come to an end so we can figure out where to lay down some roots.

As for now, I'm looking forward to coming home in March for Michelle's baby shower and am very excited to be home for 4 days and being able to focus on visiting with just my friends and family. Xmas break was fun when Ross & I came home but was way too chaotic. Halfway through our stay we were burnt out, exhausted and didn't get to truly enjoy the time we had left in Pgh. So I'm happy to have some time to myself in March to spend in Pittsburgh. Ross is actually visiting Pgh next week (he has a seminar for work in Pgh) so he'll get to spend some time with his own family and friends. Unfortunately, it's so much easier when we visit Pgh by ourselves but at least we both agree it's easier :) haha And while he's gone next week, I'll be planning a few chick flick movie nights and junk food extravaganza. Call me excited!!

Talking about junk food though, Ross & I have finally started to do something about our unhealthy eating habits! Although we weren't ever truly horrible, we thought it was finally time to start working out and planning better dinners again. It feels great to finally be doing something about it and not just talking/whining about it. And we're not quitting this time. We've got an all-inclusive beach vaca to Punta Cana planned in May with our best friends staring us down! Bring it on Punta Cana....bring it on! When our friends asked us back in July if we'd be interested in going, we couldn't turn it down! We're justifying it as our 5-year anniversary gift to ourselves. 5 YEARS. Holy cow. When did that happen?!

So yes, our 'ho hum' life is going well. We have so much to be thankful for and lots of things to look forward to for this year. I have a feeling it will be a big year... new house? new friends? new church? Here's to hoping :)

Camping Labor Day Weekend 2012

It's been a week since Ross & I came home from camping with our friends over Labor Day weekend, but that just makes me want to reminisce even though I have a ton of great pictures to remember it by (on facebook in case you hadn't noticed)!! A few of the highlights:

- Camping in the mountains of North Carolina (near Boone)...gorgeous area all around! Can't wait to go back one day!

- The chaos of figuring out our tent sites at the campground, long story, but Ang & I were victorious in the end :) Go Team... um......Portuesi Seibert?!!!

- Touring Linville Caverns and Linville Falls, experiencing 'total darkness' in Linville Caverns, only 2 places in the world you can experience that and we were in one of 'em :)  (fun fact: apparently it would take 2 months to go completely blind, but psychiatrists say it would only take 2-3 weeks to go crazy) Final Conclusion: Yes, it was dark  (not the whole tour, just that one moment :)

- As usual, we played card games, and yet another game of never-ending Phase 10, to which 3 of us finally ditched out in hopes of gaining back our sanity

- Ross & I got to use our brand new tent. OH THE ROOM WE HAD :) Even Dakota had her own spot in the corner with her bed. She was great, we'd go to bed at night, and she'd immediately go lay down in her bed. I'd cover her with a blanket to keep her warm (since her new habit is burying herself at home) and she'd sleep until morning. And as usual per our faithful Marmot brand, the tent stayed dry through the rain!

- Ross & I also felt spoiled having the crossover with so much room and power! (mwahaha) Somehow we managed to completely fill it up with stuff, but it's still a car we're both going to love for years to come and for hopefully many more adventures :)

And last but NOT LEAST:

- Mr. Monopoly (aka mean Park Ranger with a mustache that we nicknamed) threatening to give us a $250 ticket for having our cooler with alcohol in our car when pulling into an area to go see Elk Falls!!! Apparrently we drove onto an Air Force Reservation Land which prohibits alcohol and weapons. So sorry we didn't see your rusted, dinky sign and that you barely noticed our ALABAMA (aka tourist) license plate. And then questioned if we were even 21 years old AFTER looking at Ross' LICENSE, registration & insurance. Wow. Deuche-bag. Yes, Mr. Monopoly, I can call you whatever I want, at least we had some great laughs for the rest of the weekend!! :)  (aka....Mr. Monopoly park ranger says 'do not pass go, do not collect money, go directly to Jail') hahahaha    but we never did get to see those falls.... o well! We were lucky we had to head back to the campsite anyway, b/c then it started pouring down rain and we were there in the knick of time to salvage most things!!

*Kristin*

Gearing Up for North Carolina!

Everything is in full swing for camping this weekend!! Not only do I love camping and my friends, but combine the 2 and the fact that I hardly see them anymore, you can bet that I'm 10x's more excited than usual! And I'm pretty sure Ross is looking forward to it too :) Of course, my friends & I have been constantly checking the weather, and even though it's calling for rain, I can't help but not care (it always changes anyways!). I'd rather be sitting under the rain canopy with my closest friends than sitting at home by myself with beautiful weather. It's nothing we haven't dealt with before in the past :) Especiallly last labor day weekend when we were drenched after the last night of camping. Said trip would've been better if Ross & I put the rainfly on our tent properly, aka having dry shelter throughout the night rather than waking up with water everywhere! But have no fear....we know for a fact that our tent stays dry through monsoons(!). It's part of the reason we so highly reccomend Marmot tents :) So no rain is gonna ruin our trip this time!

We did lots of shopping for food and drinks this weekend, b/c no camping trip is complete without lots of food!! ...and drink. And am I alone in thinking that all road trips require candy and snacks?! Ross never thinks so! haha ...more candy for myself.  We're gearing up and ready to go. Only 4 days until we set off!! The weekend will surely go by too fast but hopefully with lots of pictures to remember it by....

A Whirlwind Weekend

This weekend had flown by, just like I knew it would! But I was lucky to be able to see almost everyone when I was home, and enjoy every minute of it. Sorry for the long post and countless photos...but you know me, I update rarely on here, and rather just cram it all into one post :)

Thursday night my flight arrived around 4:00pm and I was off to pick up Ross from his seminar downtown to head to my parent's house for dinner. One thing I DON'T miss about Pittsburgh?? The constant roadwork & heavy rush hour traffic .... it took me over an hour and a half to drive from the airport to downtown to my parents. Absolutely absurd! Also thanks to an accident on greentree hill...what else is new?!

There, we got to see my whole family. We celebrated an early father's day and even got to celebrate my birthday early , to my surprise :)

Clockwise from bottom: Cupcakes Michelle made for dad & grandpa to celebrate father's day; Stephen carrying out my birthday cake;  me blowing out candles; Ross showing off a picture on his phone that he got with some furries (he was staying downtown all week for his seminar and got quite the eyeful of the furries convention!); Mom, Grandma and Betsy talking; Grandma & Grandpa; My Birthday Cake..made by Michelle!; Ross & I posing for a picture; Stephen & Mike; Michelle watching dad enjoy his cupcake :)

On Friday, Ross had one day left of his seminar, so he was stuck at work all day. I was off to get a mani/pedi with Ang, aka The Bride :)  I really should get pedi's more often, they are so enjoyable!! After that, I headed out to lunch with mom and Michelle. Once I fought Wexford traffic (again...roadwork is to blame), it was time for me to head downtown to pick up Ross (since I had the rental car).

That morning, I had a voicemail from Southern Nuclear and was eager to hear back from them about a job offer. So I waited and waited all day, until the exact moment I picked up Ross, they were calling me back. I got the job offer over the phone and gladly accepted.  How funny it is that I got a job while out of town! I was especially ecstatic after thinking that I blew the interview and wrote it off as...."I gave it my best shot!" Who would have thought?!

Friday night was the rehearsal dinner for Mike & Ang's wedding.  Another collage to celebrate the occasion :) I guess the only curse of being the photographer is that I'm not in any of the pics! oops! lol But I had fun playing around with my dslr.

Next up, the BIG DAY! Mike & Ang's wedding :) The entire day was a success and a lot of fun. To be in the wedding party with all of my best friends and Ross as a groomsmen was such a treat! Sadly, I didn't want to worry about carrying around the dslr, so I only brought our point and shoot camera. Photoshop can only fix so much, so excuse the awful photo quality...our point-and-shoot is on it's last leg!

I only took pictures that morning at the salon, and later after dinner. My parents and Ross' parents were both invited to the wedding so we got a chance to get pictures with them as well! Enjoy our 3rd and final collage :)

Clockwise: Steph at the salon with our feast of food and drinks!; Ang getting her hair done; Ross & I with mom & dad at the wedding; Ross & I linking arms to take a sip of our "angelina" drinks; Ross & I with mom & dad S.; Mom & I at the wedding; Kris & I taking a candid photo; Kris & I taking a photo with the bride at the end of the night; Ross, Ray and Ken having some cigar time after the wedding; Me & my besties, Kris & Steph; Ang and her final updo; Ross & I at the wedding :)

It was an exceptional night. Most of my friends and I stayed at the hotel after the wedding which gave us even more time to catch up, but it was a long day, and we all headed to bed around 1:00am. Of course, I was sad the day was over but my heart has never felt so full with all of the love I have for my friends and family. The weekend couldn't have been better!

*Kristin*

One Bachelorette, One Last Farewell

So much has happened since my last blog post, I have a lot of catching up to do! But first, before updating on Alabama, let's pick up where I left off...finishing my last day at Westinghouse. Once I left there and a few emotional goodbyes, I was on my way to a fun-filled weekend with my best girlfriends for Ang's Bachelorette Party!

It was such a great weekend and I can't stop reliving it :) We got to Ang's Friday night just in time to watch the Pen's victory for game 5. Saturday we had everything planned and kept secret from Ang. First was lunch, then off to another one of our bridesmaid's houses for a Passion Party. If you've never heard, just google it! It was hilarious to say the least ;) After that, we headed into Bethesda for dinner and hit up some bars for drinks and dancing the night away. I stole a few pics from facebook to share :)

It was funny how many times we were asked who the bride was!!! Umm...just look for the girl with the feathered boa, sash, tiara, lighted up shot glass and more! HA! She was all decked out :)

My best girls for life! Miss you girls already....

 And one shot of me and the bride :)

What a great weekend! We might've even outdone the guy's bachelor party that same weekend (but in different towns), but I won't judge :P   It was a weekend to never forget, and even though it was a weekend meant for Ang, it was the best way for me to be ready to go off to Alabama... spending time with the girls I love most and have known for most of my life! *tear* Can't wait to see them in June for the big wedding!

*Kristin*

Saying Farewell

Well today is my last day at Westinghouse, and it's hitting me a lot harder than I thought it would. I guess saying goodbye is never easy, no matter how close or distant you are to people, but I think what's hardest is saying goodbye to familiar faces and not knowing what's to come next. Yesterday, all of my coworkers got together with a farewell cake for me, and it was the sweetest thing. I was blown away that they all took time out of their day to celebrate with me and to give me a going away gift. I truly feel appreciated here, and they all keep gushing about how much they'll miss me. *blush* ....hopefully I will have greener pastures ahead!

After I leave here today, I'm on my way to a very exciting weekend in Bethesda, MD, celebrating my best friends bachelorette party! It's going to be a great time, but also bittersweet, as it'll be the last big 'Hooray' with my closest friends. Friends that have stuck with me since middle school, high school, college and so on! I know we'll all keep in touch and that I'll never lose them, but knowing that we won't have anymore camping outtings together or an impromptu weeknight dinner together just plain hurts.

On another note, I am looking forward to the fact that I will be with Ross soon, but that's about it! I've become quite the 'debbie downer' about moving south, after all of my optimism the past few months, it's finally worn thin. I'm ready to say "THIS SUCKS." I know Ross & I will have an exciting adventure ahead of ourselves and make the most out of it, but some days I just don't know. It'll be good for us too, I guess I just want to get over the hump of moving, and finally get settled down there.

Anywho. Enough pessimism for one day :) Let's go forth and do great things!!

*Kristin*

Two Steps Back, One Step Forward

So here's the latest update....Mr. and Mrs. Schmuck found a serious issue with the house that was never noted in our home inspection when we bought the house. But for the good news(!!), they've decided to not walk away from the deal. Right now, time is more valuable than money for us, and I'm happy they are still sticking around, on one condition..... they've asked for $5,000 to fix the problem. Now, that may seem like a lot of money, until you hear what they are going to have to deal with after they close on the house...

It's a fairly lengthy story, you can read on if you're curious, otherwise, your welcome to skip to the end :)
Apparently, their home inspector noted a very minor amount of rust coming from the furnace. They thought it was better to check it out fully with a contractor (or 3...since no one could give them a clear answer!) and lo and behold, some or most of the venting in the slab/underneath the house is rusting or corroded (not quite clear how extensive the problem is yet). Since we have no basement, the original owners built the floor ventilation underneath the slab.

Solution #1: Rip up all of the floors and foundation and redo all the underground ventilation. Now $5,000 doesn't seem like such an absurd request, does it? Not once you start thinking everything that the project entails.

Solution #2: My dad suggested an alternative, which wouldn't require ripping up all of the foundation, but those are answers we don't quite have yet and are still working on.

Ross & I were completely caught off guard from what they found, as was our Realtor. I had the worst gut feeling that they were going to walk away Friday afternoon. Of course, none of us had the slightest idea of the problem, otherwise, it would've been disclosed to the Buyer in the beginning. I'm frustrated that our home inspector did not find the problem when we bought the house, but then again, I'm happy that we did not have to deal with it, and fortunate that Ross & I are selling the house and never got around to putting new floors in the entire house (not realizing what was lurking underneath)! If we would've stayed there for the 5-7 years like we planned, we would be a lot worse off. So that is, of course, the upside to all of this. Also on the plus side, the rest of the home inspection came back quite well :)

So all in all, Ross & I have a few days to give them our final answer. In the meantime, my dad is trying to find our own contractor to come out and take a look. Otherwise, we'll take their word for it from their contractors' documentation.

So it's been a hell of weekend and an unbelievable amount of stress on Friday. I'm glad the weekend is over and the closing is still set for April 30th. So now I can move forward with my move :)  Thanks for the prayers!!

On another unrelated note, buried between all of this house business, was my best friends Bridal Shower on Saturday, which I think went fairly well and hope everyone had a great time. We had a ton of great food (lots of which I'll be eating for the rest of the week....HELLO leftovers :), a few games that provided comedic relief, and my friend received a ton of great gifts. Only 3 weeks until the Bachelorette Party and I can't wait to live it up!! Hopefully a little less 'PG-rated' style :P

*Kristin*

Keeping Busy

One thing I won't miss about Pittsburgh...the rain! It's been pouring down here all night, and so far, all day. I had my umbrella break on me on my way into work this morning, which in turn forced me to run in my high heels to get into the building semi-dry, while juggling my heavy purse that was carrying my work laptop and a box I had to mail to Ross later. What a morning!

But regardless, it's weird being back home in an empty house. I have many things to accomplish though, luckily, so I'm definitely keeping busy.

The house, for one, needs to be put on the market soon. My father-in-law and a local handyman he's friends with are finishing up a few last minute projects on the house to get it in tip-top shape before we list it. There were just a few unfinished things that Ross & I never got around to which will make quite a difference for open-houses, so I'm happy they are finishing them for us! I'm even a little jealous that we didn't do these things sooner!! Once they finish up, I can't wait to get it on the market, and see what kind of feedback we get. Hopefully we get a quick offer, but I'm also telling myself to not get my hopes up just so I'm not disappointed if we don't, and I have to stay here longer than planned. Either way, I'm anxious to get the house listed!

Secondly, my best friend is getting married in June, so me and her other bridesmaids, also my other closest girlfriends, are planning her shower, which will be at the end of March (which I just realized is only 1 month away!). So I'll be busy getting all the final details planned. I'm so excited to get to host this for her and it's so much fun having my other girlfriends be a part of it to help me with the planning! It'll be a great day and I can't wait!!

Other than that, I guess I'm enjoying some of my free time, not having any obligations to cook dinner, watching any chick flicks that I want, etc. :) I gotta live it up a bit because I know Ross is! ...As he keeps insisting the apartment is an all-out Bachelor Pad until I move down. Thanks hun! So this road goes 2 ways!

But for now, I'll keep on dreaming of the warm weather Ross is enjoying, and dreaming of the Caramel Brownie Chunk ice cream I have waiting for me at home for dinner :) Who says that's not a balanced meal?!

-Kristin