Happy Halloween

Halloween is nearly here and Matt and I ventured out to the local pumpkin patch to find ourselves a perfect pumpkin for carving. We walked through rows of pumpkins to pick out the one that we wanted.




And well, pumpkin carving would not be complete without first utilizing the pumpkin as a workout device.

The finished product!!! bOO- scary, huh?

UNPACKING!

I have heard horror stories of movers and how your belongings are never quite the same after the move. WELL, I haven't gotten through all of the boxes, but at least in the kitchen the packers took NO chances that anything would break and here are pictures to prove it. All this stuffing came from this small box and the second picture is me trying to put the stuffing back into the box after I unwrapped everything. I stood on that stuffing and couldn't get it back in there. It was overflowing. I couldn't figure out how they had gotten it all packed in there much along with kitchen items. I even found myself laughing at times as to how I would unroll layers and layers of stuffing to uncover tupperware or pens. Can't say it is environmentally friendly but I am sure when it comes to that or broken china, they error on the side of the china.

Our New Home

This is our new home. We absolutely love it. Below is a little tour of what it looks like inside...without furniture. The furniture will be coming tomorrow.


This is the foyer. to the left is the dining room and to the right is the formal living room and den.The room below will hold my piano, the bookshelves and some seating. The room in the back will be Matt's office.
This is the living room which looks out to the backyard and a side entrance to the deck.

This is our kitchen that is going to be one of our first projects. It needs remodeling...if you couldn't tell from the island put in backwards by the original owner!

All the bedrooms are upstairs. I am standing with the master bedroom to my back, a room to the left at top of stairs and bathroom directly across from it. The washer and dryer are upstairs as well as 3 other rooms down the hallway.

This is Matt's garage that he is very excited about. The high ceilings are perfect for hanging rings and ropes for his CrossFit workouts.

The deck overlooks the wooded backyard. It is so quiet and serene. It goes a little while back into the woods so one of our projects will be to clean up some of the "natural" setting by picking up tree limbs, leaves, etc. The wooded part of the yard has some boulders that make for some great landscaping. I am planning for gardens and hammocks while Matt is going to be busy chopping wood for the fireplace.


We have plenty of room for visitors so we are looking fwd to friends and family coming by to say hello. We miss you all, but God has been good and we have been blessed above and beyond anything we deserve through this entire process. Thank you for your prayers.

Marcia came to visit

Marcia came to visit this past weekend for a twofold purpose. The first being, to transport my remaining plants from Florida to North Carolina. In the move, we had to leave a few of my plants behind and I couldn't bear to part with them. Secondly, she came to hang out and do some hiking. We definitely did both and below are pictures of our hike at Pilot Mountain State Park. Notice I didn't say our hike OF Pilot Mountain b/c as you can see below, getting to the top of Pilot Mountain will be more than an novice hiker such as us could attain to. Don't get us wrong, The hefty hike to the top to view this spectacle was quite challenging.






As you can see- hiking, yet again, brought out our most photogenic sides- notice the sweat drenched tank tops.

We were able to climb a trail to the base of Pilot Mountain and walk around it. The above two pictures are standing at the base of Pilot Mountain looking up at it. Quite impressive.

Overall we hiked over 7 miles and did it at a pretty hefty pace. I have tried out 3 parks in North Carolina so far- only a couple hundred more to go.

It was nice to have Marcia come to visit as with Matt gone, the weekends can drag by. Visitors make it much more exciting.

Our First Hike in NC

On Saturday, Matt and I went to Crowders Mountain State Park for our first hike here in North Carolina. we wanted to take advantage of our time together before Matt's training up in Massachusetts. The hike was in the "strenuous" category which of course was right up our alley. I was definitely struggling to catch my breath by the time we got to the top. I successfully ruined the serene environment with my huffing and puffing. Matt raced up the hill and he seemed as calm as ever, while I was keeled over trying to catch my breath.

Despite all that- the weather was absolutely perfect for our trek and the rocky trails helped with my agility and coordination- which most of you know- needs a lot of work.

Of course, I can't be blamed for all the lack of serenity, while people were meditating on the top of the rocks, Matt's water bottle full of ice rattled in rhythm with our step- just in case anyone wanted to know we were coming.






This is us at the top- Matt looks somewhat refreshed after his run up the steep trail to the top...and I on the other hand, as seen below, look like I have been bowled over by a semi.

Moving Day

The 18 wheeler looks kinda daunting outside the house, but they insisted we didn't have that much stuff! They were a great company that boxed up everything including our mattresses and shrink wrapped all our furniture and took a lot of time putting things into the trailer meticulously.





We are in our apartment (temporary housing) in Charlotte. Matt will be leaving for Massachusetts on Sunday afternoon for 2.5 weeks and I am on the job trail interviewing and sending out resumes. We hope to close on the house the latter part of October and then we will be EXPECTING visitors!

Settling into Temporary Housing

With the cat's sufficiently drugged up, so I thought, I took off for Charlotte with my car weighted down to capacity with only a little room for the cats. They managed to climb me like a tree for the entire 5 hour drive and had to explore every inch of the car despite their unsteady footing, elevated third eye lids, and drooling mouths thanks to the sedation they were given. At one point, Abby fell asleep on my lap with her tongue sticking WAY out. I wish I could have taken a picture.

As you can see, they were feeling plenty awake enough to explore the apt and the third story balcony. I think Jack would jump up on the railing if it wasn't for me babysitting him. He tried a couple of times, but I am not up for a trip to the ER.



Our living room.... the apt was comletely furnished, washer and dryer included!



The office...which hasn't been much of an office since it has been like pulling teeth to get the internet to work. But we are working to make it feel like "home" at least for now.