Looking back at 2012

We thought it might be nice to take a minute and reflect on some of the big events that happened for us in 2012. What better way to do this than on the blog, where we can share it with all of you! So, without further ado, here are some of our 2012 highlights:

• Caroline took 4 trips to Seattle and 4 trips to Champaign-Urbana
• We skied 2 times
• We purchased a Dodge Dakota Sport truck (small enough for Caroline but powerful enough for David)
• David purchased TWO Toyota MR2s, and has since sold one of them

• We finished our hallway and hallway closet renovation (details to come)
• We spent a long weekend in London 

• We got engaged in March (yay!!!) 

• We completely renovated the bathroom

• We visited David's grandparents in Delaware
• David completed his first local go-karting season, with one first place finish, one second place finish, and three third place finishes. He finished the season in third for points.
• We learned that Ash loves to swim 

• David traveled to Iceland for a Stroud training week
• Caroline attended her 5 year Cornell reunion 
• Caroline forayed into the world of grooming and hair cutting 
• We welcomed Pepper into our home as a foster dog 
• David installed lights in the garage, doors, the loft, lift, go-kart hoist, and tire rack in the garage (detailed post to come)

• We ran two 5K races! 
• David built our backyard patio (detailed post to come)

Looking forward to 2013, we will have another eventful year! Lists are fun, so here are some of our plans: 

• Get married in September! 
• Take a honeymoon in Hawaii
• We both have seasons passes for skiing this year and the snow is off to a good start, so we hope to vamp up our ski trip count! 
• Build a laundry room in our existing pantry 
• Completely renovate the kitchen 
• Paint the living room
• Remove wallpaper and paint the dining room 
• Remove paneling and paint the bedroom

Hope everyone had a great holiday and we wish you all a very Happy New Year! 

Merry Christmas everyone!

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope your holiday shopping is going well and you are looking forward to your respective celebrations! David and I love Christmas, and we especially love the family time and how the holidays always bring everyone together. David has been working from the office lately, so we've had even more time together to enjoy the festivities. Even Ash looks ready for Christmas with his holiday collar! Here is he looking confused/unhappy because I told him to "stay" while I snapped a photo.

Our upstairs tenants hung a wreathe, and so on his way home David picked up one for our door as well. In hindsight, we should have chosen the bright red bow for visibility. Still, our very first wreath! 

When I went up to Vermont for Pepper's vet appointment I enlisted my dad to help me find a Christmas tree that was fresh, beautiful, and smelled great. We tried one place first and weren't super happy with what we found, but at the second place we found the beauty pictured below! David begrudgingly strung the lights (I like a lot of lights, this tree could have even used a third strand!) and then we decorated it together while Ash watched hesitatingly from afar. Since then we've been slowly adding presents! 

 

We hope you all have a wonderful holiday season. We will be beginning our celebrations on Saturday with my baby brother's wedding (crazy!) and then splitting our time between each of our families. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

The roof, the roof, the roof is..... gone?

For those of you who know the Bloodhound Gang song that the title of this post refers to, nothing is actually on fire. But, for some reason, that song came to mind while I watched the drycleaner across the street being demolished this morning. We have known for awhile now that the very unsightly drycleaner across the street from our house would eventually be torn down and converted into 6 condos, but we didn't know when. This morning I wake up to a backhoe tearing into the roof of the building with a vengeance  Woopee! We are really excited to have this eye sore out of our lives. We are a bit concerned that with 6 condos on the lot instead of a small little business, we may lose some of the sunlight in our dining room. Not much we can do about that though, so for now I'm enjoying my front seat view of this demo process while working at my desk. Here are a few pictures! 

And one video titled "backhoe vs. steel beam". I think the beam is winning...