Throwback Thursday: Our First Picture

I think a Throwback Thursday theme on here will be a great way to track the memories pre-blog!

 

 

This is the first picture Shane and I ever took together. Our friend, Stephen Tran, was on the other side of this camera. The picture was taken at Stephen’s graduation party in Gwinnett over 3 years ago. I still remember how delicious the food was that his family made! I guess this would have been our first "outing" as a couple aside from taking Rocky and Polly to the intramural fields, working out at Ramsey and going to the pool and bars with friends. We weren’t “facebook official” until later that summer (July 3^rd, 2010 to be exact). That summer was the most fun I have ever had by far! I miss college so much... but certainly don't miss those extra 30 lbs. that are pretty obvious in this picture. Yikes!

XoXo,

The Reminiscer

This Weekend...

This weekend was the perfect combination of relaxing and being productive. We were off to an early start on Saturday because we went to both houses for an inspection. We dropped my car off on the way for an oil change, and then grabbed some breakfast at McDonald's! Yum!

You may remember that we put an offer on two houses, and we were going to let fate run its course. Well, we were approved for both, and God turned the decision back over to us. We decided to let the final inspection be the determining factor. Mr. Bill was kind enough to do the inspection. It was so good to see Shane's mom, too! We are officially Under Contract with the house in Acworth and should be closing the 3rd week in July!!

After the inspection, we picked up my car and then went to Best Buy. I recently cracked my phone, so we traded it in for a new one (This is the reason I don't have any pictures from this weekend). We looked at some refrigerators there and got a pretty good idea of what we want for the new house.

That night we enjoyed spending time with my Dad and my brother's family. We had a cookout to celebrate my brothers birthday! His friends were all so down-to-earth and fun, and of course I loved being able to spend time with Rowan and Isaiah.

Shane cut the grass on Sunday morning before we went to church. After our church service, we made some lunch to take to the pool and relax. Mac N' Cheese is one of my favorites! Shane never thinks I can eat all my food (which is most often the case), but he challenged me and said if I ate all of my Mac N' Cheese that we could get pizza for dinner (Pizza is also one of my favorites). 1500 calories later, I won the bet and forced down the last bite of food. By the time dinner came around, I wasn't even hungry! We went grocery shopping together, and it was Shane's turn to pick the movie at RedBox. I fell asleep during it, which is exactly what he will do tonight while I watch Keeping Up With The Kardashian's and The Bachelorette after our weekly date night to Moe's.

XoXo!

Daddy's Little Girl

In honor of Father's Day... I wanted to take the time to give my Daddy some much deserved love. He is an AMAZING person, and I am so blessed to have such a dedicated and loyal man to call my father! He has always put others before himself, and I am in awe of his heart and compassion.

One of my favorite memories with him is when I told him I was accepted to UGA. He is a die hard Tech fan, and had just returned from a mission trip in Honduras. His reaction was priceless. I gave him a picture of me in a UGA frame, and he said "I leave the country for one week and this is what happens?!".

Another priceless conversation with my dad is when I was about 17 years old. I called him on the way home from buying my very first car. I saved up all of my money from working at Circuit City, and bought a Camry. Unfortunately, I got in an accident on the way home :( The first thing I did was call my Dad... go figure! I cried out, "Dad!! I got in an accident!!" At first he thought it was a joke (after all, I only had the car for 30 minutes). Once he realized I was being serious he assured me everything would be fine. He said "Your mom is there with you, and you aren't hurt so everything will be fine." I quickly responded, "But Dad... I rear-ended MOM!!" Bless his heart.. he was shocked at this stroke of bad luck, but he was just as sweet and understanding as ever.

When I was 13 he took me on my first date to The Spaghetti Factory. It was a tradition in my family, and I think it is just about the sweetest thing ever. He taught me how a man should treat a woman, and gave me some advice that still rings true.

On my wedding day, he made me his world-famous oatmeal. Below are some pictures of his first look at me as a bride. He had never seen my wedding dress and knew nothing about my hair or veil. The reveal was a complete surprise. His reaction touched my heart, and I will never forget the sweet look on his face when he saw me for the first time.

One last kiss before he gave his baby girl away.

He always knows just how to make me smile.

Sweet Daddy Rabbit!

This is him putting on my "something old". It was a cross necklace he gave me when I was confirmed that holds one of his mother's diamonds inside.

My sisters held my train and presented me to him.

This was his first reaction when he turned the corner.

He wiped a few sweet tears with a hankie that I gave him. I had it embroidered to say

"Daddy, You will always be the first man I loved"

This was our father daughter dance.

 

I LOVE YOU, DADDY!!

XoXo,

Your little girl



 

Let Go & Let God

Shane and I have spent countless hours researching houses in the Cobb county area. We have very high expectations for the school zone and the location in relation to both of our offices. We have certain features that we are looking for as far as the size and quality of the house, and after visiting a dozen houses yesterday we narrowed it down to 2 houses. Each one is GORGEOUS and has a majority of the qualities we are looking for in our future abode.  

The pros of one outweigh the cons of the other, and we would be beyond blessed to call either one of them our home. We literally could not decide which one was the best fit because it was such a close call, so we decided to depend on our mantra, “Let go and let God”. We put an offer on both houses, and we are going to let fate run its course.  

God-willing, one of these houses will be our home in just 6 short weeks! Let the packing begin!

XoXo,
The Contingent Contractors

New Job = New House

This is my new office building. I am the Client Relations Coordinator at a firm in Cobb County. I do all marketing and event planning, and I could not be happier!

This is where I used to work in Midtown. I learned so much here at my first "big girl job" and I will always be forever grateful for the friendships that I made. 

Now that I accepted an incredible position at a new firm, Shane and I are no longer able to carpool. This has jump started our desire to move closer to the city. We commute 35 miles one way every day, and we spend SO much time in the car. It wasn't as bad when we had the company of one another (and the HOV lane), but now we are excited to begin looking for houses with our realtor. 

We put our house up for sale this past week, and predicted December would be a reasonable timeline. However, much to our surprise, our beautiful starter home is under contract. It took less than 2 days to receive an incredible offer that we couldn't resist and we have 'till July 31 to be out! Yikes! 

Today we are meeting with Mo Sanford, the same man who sold us our starter home. We are so excited to begin looking for the house that we will raise a family in! We have so much more to consider in this next investment such as school zones and location, but I know that God has the perfect house for us in our plans! We feel so very blessed to have this incredible opportunity to move! Cobb county... here we come!!

XoXo,

The House Hunter