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*

Closing Progress & Seibert Visit

So we're 2 weeks down in the closing, 2 weeks to go :)

Right now, we're just waiting on getting the appraisal back. We should hopefully hear from them in the next day or two and I'm curious to hear what they have to say. On one hand, the house is move-in ready and doesn't need much work. But on the other hand, Ross & I see huge potential of what it could be!! I'll try my best to not get carried away :) We certainly wouldn't want to put more work into the house than it's even worth.

We gave our 60-day notification to our apartment office so we have the apartment until before Thanksgiving. That'll give us time to hire pros to replace the furnace before we move in and get an electrician to look at a few things.

Other than that, we're sitting pretty. I'm surprised at how much easier this closing has been than the first one, so far. *...as I'm knocking on wood* :)

In other news, Ross' parents were here visiting last week. It was so nice to have visitors and something to look forward to throughout the week! For their week visit, I think we got out quite a bit to explore -- we took them to the annual Greek Food Festival held last weekend, rented a pontoon boat one day and fished (sadly, no catches, even with my breadball fish bait, boo!), showed them our house, visited the Barber Motorsports Museum, visited the Saturday farmer's market that's held downtown, ate at the Whistle Stop Cafe, checked out the local County Fair and more! *whoo* I'm tired just thinking about everything we did :) I think we explored more of B'ham with them in a week than we've done since we've lived here! It was a whirlwind week and they left just in time for the fall weather to set in. It's officially chilly today (aka, high's in the mid-70's :) haha. Yes, it's chilly. There, I said it. I had to use the heat in my car this morning... ha.

Now Ross & I are back to our normal routines. This week, we are revving up for the Walking Dead Season 4 premiere next Sunday! We are in marathon-mode catching up on all of season 3 in the next 7 days! I tell ya... it's a hard life we live....

-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 :)

Living the Life

It's been 3 weeks since I last posted and things have sure changed since then.

I got over the hump of starting my new job at Southern Nuclear Co. as a Sr. Admin Asst. The first week was long, chaotic and a typical 'first week' where you just want to get it over with! (at least for me anyway :) On top of starting a new job, Ross' 'rents were also in town to visit. It was so much fun to have visitors, to have company to grill out with, show them around our town, etc. I didn't take many pics but here is one of Ross' and his dad:

I didn't get a full family picture but they'll be back in September along with Ross' brother and hopefully I'll be more diligent in getting pictures that time :) They were here for the full week so even though it was tiring to be starting a new job and having company, it was great to see them!

I've now finished my 3rd week of the job and I'm pretty happy with it so far! It feels good to be back working and having a schedule again. My coworkers are great (and sociable!). They are all so friendly (which I also contribute to southern hospitality :) but they are so easy to get along with and work with. My boss travels every week (and depending, my managers travel quite a bit too) so I really only see him on Mondays and Fridays, but he's great to work for as well. The girl I replaced is still working in our dept. but she was promoted. She's only 20 ft. away if I ever have questions, which is awesome but also hard to not rely on! haha Quite the opposite of what I had at Westinghouse with no one to train me! She held my position for 6 years so I have a lot to live up to!! But I feel like I'm catching on quickly (hopefully!) and will be on my way to enjoying my job even more once I know all the answers...like I once did at WEC :)

My 2nd week on the job I caught a small cold, mainly congestion, finally got over it this week and then gave it Ross as an anniversary gift :) I'm so sweet....I know! So now he's down and out. We planned on going out for dinner for our anniv. gift but we're gonna wait until he's better so he can actually taste things! I still can't believe it's been 4 years(!) and how much we've done in those years. NEVER would I have guessed we'd end up in Alabama one day, but so far, so good :) I think we're both enjoying our independence and exploring. And I'm really enjoying the apt. (more than I ever imagined) and not having to worry about fixing things. I guess that house flip really did take it out on me. And we have a pool, which is a nice little perk :)

We have a trip planned over labor day weekend to go camping with our Pgh friends, so looking forward to that is keeping me going :) My mom & dad and grandparents are visiting a week after that, and then Ross' family is back near the end of Sept., so we have a busy September month to look forward to! And hopefully many pics to share from all of that!

*Kristin*

Quick Hello

I should be getting ready for church, but instead I thought I'd drop in and say 'Hi!'  Ross & I are excited for his parent's visit this week. They will be here today thru saturday. I plan on getting lots of photos which I hope to share with you later. We don't have many plans set in stone, but it will be nice to have visitors this week :)

On top of that, I start my new job tomorrow. Good thing I passed the background check, drug test, referral check, and the 567 true-or-false Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. That test was a doozy! Of course there is no right or wrong answer, but once I googled it, I was intrigued but how much it can tell about a person. I wish I could see my test results. I wonder if they've figured out how weird I am :) Or special. That's what I'll call it :) Anywho, work starts tomorrow and I'm thankful to be busy with the in-laws today so that I don't have time to be nervous. I'm anxious to get the first WEEK over with b/c it's always the hardest!

Aside from that, Ross & I have been trying to find a church. We started our hunt last week with a church that meets in a school (aka starter church). Today, we're trying a Presbyterian Church. The hardest part for me is figuring out what religion to go with. I grew up Lutheran, then switched to Presby, then attended non-denominational, then lastly (and my favorite due to the people & the pastor) Ross & I really enjoyed his friends church which was loosely based on Baptist. Oi! OH, and on top of that, Ross was raised in a Catholic school...but luckily we can rule that out b/c neither of us are Catholic and the nuns scarred him for life! Of course I know that Presby, Methodist, Lutheran, etc. are all Christian based, I just don't know how to choose (and really don't know how they differ from eachother!). I think it will come down to being a small church so we get to know people, but also enough people so that have a chance to make friends. I just wish I had more guidance in which religion to choose. I guess as long as we like the people and the pastor, we'll find a winner. So let the hunt continue :)

*Kristin*

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*