House Photos

I realized I never posted pictures of our home since we owned it. The pictures I posted were ones that were taken before purchasing and moving into the home, so here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Master Bedroom

Fireplace

Great Room

Kitchen

Another View of Kitchen

Master Bathroom

Hall Bathroom

1st Bedroom

Another View of 1st Bedroom

Backyard

Marlowe peeping out of the fence

Our Home

Our E Flag

Marlowe sleeping

Us

- Christie

Home Alone

The title of this entry is for two reasons:

1.) I am home alone because Christopher is in Baltimore.

2.) I am currently watching the greatest movie of all time (with a little exaggeration), Home Alone.

I guess you could say I'm getting in the Christmas spirit. Christopher already put up our lights, and it looks amazing! And today I began watching my Christmas movies. I will probably watch all of them about 3 times each before Christmas. I'm one of those people that gets excited way too early, and then when it gets close to being Christmas, I'm kind of tired of the music and decorations, but never the lights or movies. I'm going to start doing my Christmas baking because it's fun and it tastes good. Gingerbread is next on my list.

Since I rarely update this blog, I better make up for the lost time. I love my 1st graders! They are hilarious! I have a lot of funny quotes from them. I made a list of them that I will post at a later date. They are a lot of work, but at the end of the day, I'm making a difference in these children's lives, and I know it's worth all of the stress and hard work.

Chris is still enjoying his job. He hasn't had to travel much, though he is traveling this week.

We've been busy going to the football games and working. I'm just trying to keep my head above the water, but I know in a few weeks, it will be a little easier. I'll have Christmas break and free weekends.

We're still enjoying our home, though it's a bit cluttered. Today I cleaned, and hopefully tomorrow I'll clean the clutter. Once I clean the clutter up, it reappears the next day, but I suppose that's what happens when you're busy. We also have uninvited guests - mice. If you're a member of PETA, I encourage you to stop reading. We've been using sticky pads to trap the little boogers. Well, once it worked, and once a mouse got away. All in all, we have disposed of two mice so far and suspect a dead one to be under the fridge. Last weekend, I woke up and went to the kitchen to brew some coffee. Well, unfortunately that didn't happen because I found blood on the floor on my way to the pantry. There were bloody mouse prints all over the floor. I cleaned it all up, but it was leading to the refrigerator, so I assume it's under there. There has been no blood since then. I used to think it was cruel to "get rid" of sweet, innocent rodents. But they're not sweet or innocent. They have pooped all over the house and ate our food. So now I've declared war, and I will win.

I hope everyone has a good November!! And since I'm watching Home Alone, I have to put a great quote in the post..."When I grow up and get married, I'm living alone!"

-Christie

God Is Good!

It has been a while, and I'm sorry for that! Things have been busy around here. We have settled into the house. The only thing left to do is eliminate the ridiculous amount of boxes in the middle bedroom. It's one of those things that will take quite a while though, so I have no idea when it will happen. Christopher will be working on that.

Christopher's job is going well. He has traveled a total of two weeks and will probably travel a little bit in the future. He's busy, but he loves his job.

Well, since I'm talking about jobs...I now have a job! I am now a first grade teacher! I am really excited about it. I have been going to the school a few times the last two weeks to get acclimated to the routine. I feel pretty prepared now to teach in my own classroom. I love the students, the faculty and staff, and everything else about the school. I even have my own smartboard, document projector, and a microphone that goes around my neck. I'm excited about integrating technology into the teaching material. I spent an hour today just playing with the smartboard.

We've also been busy traveling for football. With jobs and football, there's really not much time for anything else. Maybe one day we'll figure out how to work and have free time, but that time probably won't be coming any time soon...

Christie

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Livin' the Life

We have finally moved into our new home in Huntsville, AL (actually Harvest). We've actually been here for about 3 weeks, but it's been busy, so please excuse our absence. We're so grateful to have a place of our own as we begin our lives together. We're still not completely settled in since it takes so long to unpack boxes. We're close, but we had over 200 boxes and not enough space to put anything. I guess we didn't realize that we have accumulated too much stuff. Luckily, our parents have helped us settle into our new home. Christopher's mom came to help us paint the week after we moved in. We finished painting the kitchen and great room, which make a world of difference. I can't wait to have the whole house completely painted! I already bought new paint for our bedroom, which needs it badly. My parents came last week and helped unpack boxes, get rid of clutter, and complete some projects. We now have lots of shelving in our closets, so Christopher can actually put his clothes up! Hopefully, by the end of this week, we will look like we're settled in (minus the paint). And maybe I can paint our bedroom as a surprise to Christopher, who is currently in New Mexico. I'll put inside pictures up after the house looks clean, but for now, enjoy the outside of our house. Keep in mind, these pictures were all taken before we owned the house, therefore, it looks much better now.

Our home before we owned it

The neighborhood and cul de sac

The creek behind our house

May

So it's been a little busy for us. May has been absolutely crazy but very memorable. So, we graduated on May 9th. Christopher graduated with his bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering, while I graduated with my master of arts in elementary education. We went home the following week to prepare for our wedding. 

Our wedding was May 16, 2009. Our photographers were amazing, and we can't wait to see the proofs! There was a little rain during the ceremony. I decided that it probably wouldn't rain during the ceremony, so we began outside. The key word is began. Before we took our vows, we moved inside due to the monsoon affecting 1/3 of the guests. We didn't notice because we were covered by a humongous oak tree. We went to Boston that night for our honeymoon.

When we arrived at Hotel Marlowe, complimentary truffles and champagne was awaiting us. It's an awesome hotel that's very service oriented! They have free kayak rentals as well. We named our puppy after this hotel, so our Boston Terrier has a Boston related name.

We went whale watching and were so close to Humpback whales. I love pictures of whale tails.

We ate at Larsen's Seafood Market in Menemsha, and the owner of the market offered to take a picture of us. We had wonderful lobster rolls, lobster bisque, and clam chowder!

He wore his groom hat the whole time in hopes of getting a free upgrade, but only got some congrats and a, "Why'd you do it?!" Notice how happy he is. It's not because he's on his honeymoon, but because he's driving a Mini Cooper convertible.

At Fenway Park. Of course his eyes are shut!

We had so much fun in Boston and Martha's Vineyard! We would love to go back sometime soon. The highlights of the trip were the food, whale watching, historical sights and sightseeing, kayaking, shopping, my massage, and Fenway Park. We stayed in Boston for two days before going to Martha's Vineyard. We didn't see much while we were there, but we did eat in the North End and go kayaking. Hotel Marlowe in Cambridge is so nice! We loved Martha's Vineyard! We stayed in Edgartown, but had time to see the whole island while we were there for two days. We went back to Boston for our final two days and were able to travel on the Freedom Trail and go to a game at Fenway Park. We wish we had more time, but we had to come back for Blake & Kristine's wedding.

Their wedding was so sweet and fun! I know they had a wonderful honeymoon, as long as they didn't get the swine flu...haha. They did go to Mexico though...

The Tuesday after their wedding (the day after Memorial Day), we packed and moved out of the house. It was a two day process. And we got Marlowe, our Boston Terrier, on wednesday as well. 

Marlowe didn't want us to sleep for two days straight, so she whined and attempted to bark throughout the night. She is now sleeping through the night, but unfortunately, Kona does not like Marlowe at all. She is now much sweeter to her. She hasn't bit her in three days, so everything is getting better.

We also put an offer on a house this week and has the house inspected yesterday. There were a couple problems, so we're not sure what we're doing at this point. Please pray for us as we make so many huge life decisions in such a short time. We definitely need prayer and guidance. I'm also looking for a job. I'm still interviewing, but I know that God will put me where I need to be. 

Well, Christopher is about to come home (to the hotel) from work. He started work last week as well. We're pretty busy, but we're enjoying our new lives. 

-Christie Elm

Marlowe

A couple hours ago, we found out that Marlowe was put to sleep due to a congenital heart defect. The breeder noticed that she was breathing heavier than normal after playing. She was only 4 1/2 weeks old. We are both pretty sad about it and have to decide whether we want a new puppy from this breeder, whether we want to look elsewhere, or whether we will get one at all. We were really looking forward to the new puppy, but at least this didn't happen while she was in our care. We were going to visit her this Saturday, but we don't know what we're going to do now. We're still in shock and sad at the same time. To some people it sounds silly to be sad about a puppy we never met, but we've been preparing for her arrival. If it's this hard to lose a puppy before meeting her, we can only imagine what it would be like to lose a child. We're sure there's another puppy out there for us, but for now, we're just grieving. We appreciate your prayers and support.