Not Good at Documenting

A lot of my peeps have been asking me to post pictures of my new house...but I am a negligent blogger b/c I have taken almost none! This is mostly due to the fact that there is no decorating done and there are still boxes everywhere! You may be asking yourself "self why are there still unpacked boxes when she has had two full days of help unpacking them, plus the rest of the week to quietly decorate her new surroundings," and the answer is simply this- we have too much stuff! (If I had thought of it, I would have all caps locked that last statement.) So, since I lack pictures and probably wont take any until it looks the way I want it around here, I will describe...

-Our neighborhood is called Slash Cottage...doesn't that name make you feel like we live in a really scary movie? To be honest I don't think that anything bad happens here because as the name suggest all the houses look like cottages and most have beautiful,well kept, flower garden yards.
-According to our Ashland neighbors, we live on the best street in town. (we could never afford this house if we weren't renting)
-We have a great back yard with pretty trees, you should come over for a picnic on the lawn!
- We have a front porch, perfect for seasonal decorations, a deck in the back for bbq's and a screened in porch with a green wooden floor...very cottagy! I have to say that our Florida "lani" furniture does not match it!
-We have a spacious downstairs floor with living room /dining area, office(complete with fireplace), and an eat in kitchen which we can't eat in b/c our only eating table is in the dinning room! There is also a 1/2 bath downstairs, a laundry room, and a large pantry....a woohoo!
-Upstairs and boy do we have stairs, we have a three bedrooms and two bathrooms! The upstairs even though it is a rental will undergo some redecorating...nothing major just some paint so our stuff will match!
So that's it, I can not emphasize enough how much stuff we have. We have more knick knacks than any one person should own. Bless Kevin's heart for he alone with intermittent help was in charge of carrying every heavy box of them in from the POD. I and my protruding belly am in charge of cleaning and unpacking...as long as it's not too heavy!

Does Anyone Really Live In Florida?

We've been in our new house for 4 days now. The last two I have been flying solo, since Kev started his new job. Both days in the afternoon I have ventured out so that I can start to learn my way around the new area. Yesterday I went grocery shopping and today I went to a shopping center that had all the important shops, you know like Petsmart, Michael's, Pier 1, Barnes and Noble, plus some delicious chain restaurants. As I was taking in my new surroundings, waiting for my Grande, Iced, Vanilla, 1/2 non fat, 1/2 breve, decaf, latte, I started thinking about how much I liked going out to places like this in FL. I loved going to Gulf Coast Town Center or Coconut Point to wait for a nice dinner out at say Ted Montana's or PF Cheng's. Here's the thing, until today I never truly realized the people who were there waiting for dinner with me were mostly people on vacation. When you people watch in these places, you always see 4somes of 50-60 somethings waiting for their tables, holding there glass of Pinot Grigio, wearing their brand new crisp vacation clothes, and their freshly acquired Florida tan either from pool, beach, or golf coarse. Here no one looks like they're vacation, they just look like they live here. Don't get me wrong, no one looked liked this is some kind of decrepit area, but no one had that "I'm on vacation in the sunshine state" look. It made me a little sad though, and I realized that I would miss those vacationers and there perfectly coiffed hair, freshly painted French pedi's, crisp white capri pants, and watermelon colored tops plus the satisfaction of knowing that when the season was over they would go home and I was a local girl who got to stay in the place where everyone else vacations!

Hodge Podge Of Creativity

Decorating my daughters room is proving to be more challenging them I thought. I have a picture in my head of what I want it to look like, basically Anthropolgie, but on my budget. So my newest challenge is the furniture. This is the dresser I registered for from Target, plus the crib to match...

However, my mom is planning on making this purchase for us and is not so sure about the quality of it! So last night we went to look at this, which is what my friend Erin bought for her daughter baby Hope, which by the way I love...

Now, after she saw this she decided that she loved the quality but would like the pieces to be something that will grow with our daughter and the drawers from these pieces are just too small! So after searching today I found this on Craig's List. These ladies actually have there own furniture website called Primitive and Proper. This isn't the only thing that I like, there are about four that I hoping to see in real life!!!!!

I don't know about growing with her through life, but I really love most of the stuff that they make! I hope that mom likes the quality!

Two Things

If you were wondering how the strawberry pie tasted, the one piece that we all had was scrumptious. If you have 4oz of berries laying around I recommend trying it! However, that one piece piece was all that we got because a certain Old English Sheepdog ate the rest! Bad dog or smart dog?????

Secondly, this whole blogging thing is getting wonderful!!!!! All of my friends are getting blogs. Here are two new ones to check out from my favorites Jenn and Teri's. Two lovely gals that I worked with and miss dearly, but are now keeping me, and the rest of the world who have nothing better to do with there time, updated by writing things and posting pictures!

Wahoo!

Pictures All Around

My sweet sister and her family had some pitures taken by a lady they know who enjoys photography...They turned out great, but made me a little sad b/c I can't believe how my little sweeties have grown up so much! Never the less it makes me so excited to see them later this summer!

Sidney looks just like Amy

Allison call her Dad, "my Buddy"

Beautiful brown eyes

So pretty and so big! I feel like they should still be little babies! Time flies when you're having fun!

I Made A Pie!

Yesterday my mom and I went to a Strawberry Festival at the Benson Hammond House here in Anne Arundel County. We bought half a flat of strawberries and since I didn't know what to give my Dad(the greatest Dad in the whole world) for Father's Day, I decided to bake him a pie. It turned out very pretty, seeing that it is my first pie to ever make. Now all we have to do is taste it!!!!!

For some reason I got it in my head that I wanted to bake the pie, not make a strawberry glace pie in the fridge, which is what my mom had a recipe for. I scoured the Internet for a recipe and here is the one I found. It is called "The Old Boy's Strawberry Pie" and here are some pics from the festival.

My mom bought this hand made Raggedy Anne doll for Libby's room. We also bought some local honey, some home made strawberry preserves, and some hair bows for my sweet nieces. It was fun place to go, but it was too hot for a pregnant woman!

Oh the Places We Will Go

I have been trying to post this for two days! I had some really sentimental things that I had written, but believe it or not I lost it all. So here with no artistic words are the pics from our big move. Lets just say that we don't feel like moving for a long time!!!! It was hard but we made it!

Here is our sick puppy. He got into the trash and ate two very old pound cakes. He was disgustingly sick...I can't really discuss it, this isn't the place!Empty house Kevin and Trouble equally annoyed with their circumstances. in Kevin's defense, he worked so hard! He is taking a break right now and is visiting Europe and England!

Partially packed POD

Very full car
Gus and I all ready to go!

Gus in his special harness

The POD with no more room at all

Home sweet home! See Ya!

Pleasent Little Picnic

Instead of stopping and having lunch at a fast food restraunt or something less healthy, I made us a picnic lunch at rest stops both days we were on the road...doesn't it look nice!

Happy cat

Happy Dog

Happy Car, with happy pets

Camping. Santee State Park. Cozy.

My first real experiance camping...I liked it and I'm ready to do it again at a less stressful time in life. We pulled into the camp ground right at dusk, so we didn't have a lot of time to enjoy our surroundings! It was a really nice place, to my surprise, seeing that I was pretty nervous about camping. Kevin started getting all of our gear out and setting up camp and I fed Gus and Trouble(please read what happened next in below entry). Gus and I went on a walk down to the lake and I realized that there were swarms of these giant flying bugs. They looked like worms with wings. They didn't bite but I still didn't like them b/c they landed on everything. When we finally got everything set up (including Trouble cozily tucked into the car) we could see a lot of lightning in the distance. Adventure Kevin wanted to walk down to the lake to check in out, which we did. I tolerated it for a while, but the winds started blowing so hard that I thought we were going to blow away. I convinced my adventurous husband to take me back to camp and we watched the storm roll by in the safty? of our tent. It was really hot, but by the morning we were both snug under the sheet listening to the birds sing to the morning. Waking up in nature was really great except for the fact that I'm pregnant and had to use the bathroom immediately which meant walking there! We took a walk down to the lake, took some more picture, then packed up camp and got back on the road.

Over all camping was fun, next time we'll do it with out a cat, and not while we're moving!

Kevin working hard

It was warm...I actually took a cold shower

This is one of our lights. I took this pictur so you could see one of the worms with wings

Gus on our morning walk, he's such a good looking dog

Gus and I after we made it through the night!

The Escape Convict

This how we set Trouble up on the trip when we would stop and when were camping. The first time we did it he did great. He laid down and relaxed and waited to get back in the car. When I set him up at the camp ground he seemed like he was doing okay but something must have spooked him b/c all of a sudden he just started running. Well, if you look at the picture you can see that he is conected to his crate and he is wearing a harness- so when he started running the crate followed him, bouncing over roots, and rocks, and everytime it would bounce Trouble would jump strait up in the air. With each jump he got fluffier and fluffier and by the time we caught him he was so stressed that I thought he was going to loose all of his hair. He had his claws permently attachedto Kevin's shoulder! Very interesting.

So the next day at our rest stop picnic lunch , I decided to try kitty cat set up again, thinking that I would just keep Trouble close to us. He did great all through lunch, laid down peacefully, but towards the end when we were cleaning up I could see him getting a little skiddish. So I decided to hold on to the crate. As soon as I touched the crate it spooked him and he started running, which I thought I had under control this time. Not so much, he squeezed his little body out of his harness and he was off into the North Carolina woods. I chased him as far as I could until I realized that the woods were thicker than my liking so I called on Kevin to go fish him out. You can imagine his annoyance, when he looked up through the trees to see me photographing the whole thing!

A rare sighting. If you look closely you can see an angry English man in the woods!

Focus on the bottom right hand side of the photo and you'll see a giant spider web, which Kev said he was covered in when he came out. I also saw a snake slither out from under a log when my cat and husband dissturbed him! Nice!

They emerge safe and sound, but I think that Kevin wanted to leave Troubs in NC

Trouble is looking away b/c he can feel Kevin giving him the death look!

See Why I Wanted To Pack Them...

Perfect.....

By the Way...UPDATE

HEY! I KNOW THAT I MOVED AND I AM SUPPOSSED TO KEEP UP MY BLOG, BUT ALL YOU FAVORITES OF MINE (excluding Kari, thank you for posting!)BETTER UPDATE SOON, B/C I NEED TO KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON SINCE I DON'T LIVE THERE ANYMORE! THANK YOU!
CJ

Three Years Ago Today

"Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me." Ruth 1:16-17


That's us down front in the fancy duds,
joining hands forever in front of God and man.
Pledging to walk with each other through thick and thin.
These 3 years have had some very thin, thins,
but some hearty and blessed thicks!
It's funny the places that you go in this life, b/c 3 years ago at this very moment(moment being 1/4 past midnight) I couldn't sleep either. I was laying in bed anticipating how wonderful our wedding was going to be and what our life was going to be like. Tonight, I find myself lying in bed, at first thought, anticipating what it's going to be like to camp with Gus and Trouble in a tent, then I start to think about all the other stuff that I have been fighting thinking about for the last two weeks. Things like will we ever find a church like Summit, and will we ever make friends as great as the ones we have here, and what will our baby be like!
It's so, so, so much.
So many changes all at once...
The truth is that God has all those things under control and I have been forcing myself to think on that rather then all the worries, but quarter past 12 can bring out the doubts and fears like no other time can.
Every night since the packing of the house commenced, I have tried to articulate how I feel right now and I really can't do it. There are no words that I can type. However, here is how I will try to SUM(if it's possible) up the last three years up until today.
I am thankful for:
Marrying my hero
Teaching art
Finally getting my life right with my Jesus
Meeting Laura
Our wonderful Floridian friends
Buying our first house
Knowing my Father-in-law
Living near my Grams
Having really great neighbors
Our church
The constant support from both our families
Buying our first dog
Getting pregnant
Knowing people who will help you pack, and bring you food, and clean your bathroom.

...and that my friends is the sum up, but it barely scrapes the surface on all the things I have loved about these three years of life in Florida with the man I bound myself to three years ago today.
Three years ago when I woke up on the tenth of June, I got married. Today, on the tenth of June I will move from our first home in Florida to our new home in Virginia-
Isn't that significant and we didn't even mean for that to happen.
So here's to us Mr. Jones, may we always be right we're supposed to be...together.

With Great Love, CJ

Right Now

Right now I just read this blog that gave me the idea to write the top ten things I'm loving write now or liking a lot b/c they are mostly superficial things. So here goes...

1. Our maternity pics. I may be talking about them too much, but I really love them b/c they capture a precious time in our lives, in the midst of all the chaos.

2. Our rose bushes in the front garden. They bloom all year here and when they bloom it's never just one, it's a bunch. I wish that I could pack them, but I think they like the sun.

3. Dainty, girly, patterns. I'm using lots of different textures and fabrics to decorate Liberty's nursery, like this, but better, b/c I'm going to use the time spent with my mother over the next two weeks to make it myself. I found these letters at Anthropologie today and if Liberty's name were Ed I would buy them. However at $14 a letter I might try to make some myself.

4. Blueberries: Blueberry Kashi cereal, blueberries in my cereal, Kari's blueberry cookies, blueberry pie and especially blueberry peach tea from Teavanna. Three times now have a driven out of my way to go to Coconut Point to buy one glass of this tea at $3.something a glass. I don't care, I'm leaving this place and I have to get it while I can!

5. Summer time showers. The rainy season is taking it's time starting this year in Florida. However, we have had some pretty good storms and the best part is that b/c it's normally sunny and rainy all at once you almost always get a rainbow. They remind me that God promises!

6. Havaianas. My mom got Laura to buy me a new brown pair b/c Gus ate my olds ones and now I'm wearing them everywhere and I think that brown matches everything. I hope that people in Virginia don't think that I'm weird for wearing them everyday.
7. Compliments. I really love when people encourage me by saying things like "you look great," or "you don't even look pregnant from behind." These comments come mostly from other woman who have been pregnant before and know and understand how sensitive I am feeling. Unlike my male neighbor across the street, who I have probably talked to three times including today, who said "September? You look like you could have that baby today!" We will not be sending him a Christmas card!

8. Pillows. I can't get enough of them. Please look at Erin's blog to read her description of sleeping at night b/c I can totally relate. I sleep in a cocoon of pillows and sometimes I still feel like I need this:
9. 100% Coco Butter. My friend from work gave me a tub of this when she found out I was expecting a stretch mark maker. The brand she gave me is made by Bath 'n Body Works, but it was a seasonal item and the don't make it anymore. I'm almost out and I need to find an alternative that will continue to keep the strechies away. Maybe I should try this kind.10. Skip One's Key Lime Pie!!!! When I moved to Florida 4 years ago I made it my personal mission to find the best key lime pie in sw Florida since sw FL is famous for it. I am here to tell you that at a little dive on highway 41 is served the most deliscious key lime pie. From the ghram cracker crust, the perfect sweet but tart filling, or the dollop of whipped cream on top, it's the best and I have tried a lot. So, I beseech you, if ever you find yourself heading towards a crowded chain resteraunt, change your mind and go to Skip One, if not for their fantastic sea food collection, then for the best piece of key lime pie in SW Florida.!

Maternity Shoot

Go here, and can see some really cool pics that Ashley Danielle took of Kevin and I! I love them!

P.S. My husband is really, really hot! But I should be more appropriate and say handsome!