5 on Friday....

1. Our house closing got pushed back to Friday. I am strangely OK with it - it doesn't change much, actually works out better for Justin's work schedule.

2. My best friend left for St. Maarten last Sunday. I miss her. She will be spending the next 21 months there for Med School. A little over 3 months till we visit her!

3. College Football has started...For those of you who know me, know how big of a deal this is! I have waited since January for college football to be back! WVU has a couple of easy games the first few games, but then...well... I am hoping for a miracle :)  .

And I am hoping this easy on the eyes guy does great at our QB

4. FALL is here. Need I show you more reason I am excited??








5. A few years back Kelly's Korner was doing a Your Team/Tailgate link up this time of year (4?? years ago)... I met this girl through that link up...Rebecca helped introduce Justin and I three years ago September 1st... So had it not been for football and blogs I would have never met my husband nor would have I made a great friend! So this time of year is extra special to me... Let's GOOOOOOO!!!

5 on Friday

1. I for one, love, Shark Week. I haven't been as years in the past about watching but one of our classrooms at school devoted this weeks to sharks (FYI I wanted to be either a teacher or marine biologist growing up) so I have been learning all kinds of new facts. One of the neatest things we have been looking at is the Live Shark Finder...it is really neat and I promise it won't disappoint... well at least science geeks like me will love it.





2. It is moving weekend. My house is in chaos, I am tired but the Uhaul comes tomorrow and movers will be there at 11. No rest this weekend :) I am totally ok with it though!! We have a little over a week in our current house, Shacking with friends for the rest of August and then our very first house. 

3. Speaking of house, our yard now has sod. Our house is the only house on the street with grass. Our neighbors are calling our house The Augusta - ha, I will take it. So will my OCD yard lovin' hubby.

If this is sideways, sorry - sometimes it shows up OK sometimes not

4. I am a TV  DVR junkie - I am excited for the new season of some of my favorite shows to come back on. Some of the ones I am most excited for - Modern Family, How I Met Your Mother, Mike and Molly, Big Bang Theory, Biggest Loser - Some of the ones I most excited to see Dads,  Friends with Better Lives, The Goldburgs, Michael J Fox Show, Mixoloogy, The Millers, Mom, Sean Saves the World, Super Fun Day, Trophy Wives, Undateable, Welcome to the Family and We are Men... just to name a few...
Now, I know that list looks long and it is...but half or 3/4 of these shows won't make it in our household past the first few minutes. TV shows have to be espically good, funny and quick humored to make it  - especially during Football season. I don't have a ton of extra TV time so I want to devote the time to something good. What are you excited for?

5. Football. It has started (preseason) and I am so excited. I am ready for some Mountaineer, Bengal, Rams football. Are you?

Our first...

Today is our first anniversary....



I can still remembering counting down the minutes... I was so excited to marry Justin I couldn't wait. Seeing his handsome face at the end of the aisle was absolutely perfect. It was the moment that every little girl dreams of.

This year has been the best year of my life. Hands down. Justin is so good to me and makes me be a better person that being married to him is the easiest job in the world. Now, don't get me wrong, he may want to tape my mouth with duct tape sometimes because of the whining crabbiness that comes from me but he never does.

I never thought an only child could be so selfless and giving, but he is. He is the best care giver, provider and friend I could have ever asked for. I always thought I was good at taking care of people until I met him.

He keeps me grounded, allows me to dream, holds my hand and even cleans out the bathtub when I have a horrible stomach virus.

He  can make me laugh like no other. And his grin, it gets me every time.

I am so blessed to be his wife, honored to have him as my best friend and humbled at how much he truly loves me.

A year full of new jobs, family issues, building a house, learning to give and compromise, learning to be married, sharing the good and bad and waking up next to him every day are just a few of the many reasons this year has been the best. I know I am the lucky one, I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you.

Thank you babe, thank you for loving me the way you do....Happy first Anniversary, The first of many....

Five on Friday....

I am back for another fabulous 5 on Friday. Is it bad that I thought yesterday was Friday all day and was extremely disappointed at bedtime to find it was only Thursday. None the less I am excited for our Anniversary weekend and excited it is finally the weekend - well in 6.5 hours :)

1. It is our anniversary weekend :) I am excited for some quiet and relaxing time with the hubs. I would show you his gift but he reads the blog and I have kept it a secret this long! I did keep with the tradition and did something along the paper lines...

 2. With the upcoming move hanging over our heads and the house almost being done I have been doing a lot of pinning.  Dreaming of linen closets... Here are a few of my favs, share if you have any pinned you like...

                      
3. Our master bedroom is yellow and grey... Pinning has came in handy there too - (again please share your fav master bedroom pins)

   


4. I really want to do a gallery wall as well - do you have one in your house? Ideas, thoughts, suggestions? Here are a few of my favorites...





5. I didn't mean for this to turn into a Pinterest post, but it kinda did :) Oh well - I guess for #5 I will leave you with a few of my favorite new house ideas, totally random. If you are on Pinterest make sure to come find me, Cassiewvu,  I would love to see what you are into and making!

Drool over this closet


I need the hubs to build me this sewing table




We will have one of these at the new house :)

Moving Monday.....

We spent the weekend moving a lot of our stuff into storage. Our wonderful friends gave up a beautiful Sunday to help knock a majority of the move. We are supposed to close in September but we need to be out of our rental by the end of August so we are storing our stuff and bunking with our friends until our house is done.

In the bottom of my cedar armorior I bought second hand a few years ago there was old newspapers from the 50s. One was a Catholic Newspaper from this area and another was just the regular paper. It was neat reading about what was going on 60+ years ago.

The local goodwill has become our second home it seems, not complaining we need to get rid of this crap! It is funny how much stuff you actually accumulate in a short amount of time!!

However the good thing about moving is sometimes you get to pick out new stuff and while we can't buy it all at once, here are some things that are on my home wish list....

This is the only furniture we have found, agreed on and both said the price wasn't bad... I think I can do better though. 

This beautiful peice will have to be a goodwill re-do, I am not paying the sticker on this bad boy. 

these lamp shades to update our lamps...

Have you moved recently? If so any tips? Did you splurge on new stuff? 

Five on Friday..

1. Our first wedding anniversary is next week.  We are also in the process of moving, packing up our house and watching the building process come to an end on our new home. I am excited to take a break, eat our cake and open our advice box and just take a minute to reconnect with each other :) 

Mr & Mrs

Our perfect but hot barn setting. 

Yep, I love Batman... I love it even more that Batman is my husband. 

2. Our new house...we have a closing date. I am not sure I am ready to put it out there yet, but if you our on Instagram, remember to follow us at #Mfamilymove

3. This weekend, this weekend is the last weekend of the year something isn't schedule. Just thinking about the rest of the year's schedule makes me a tad nervous. But at least we will be making memories. 

4. The weather has been fantastic the last 48 hours. It has been a breath of fresh air, literally, not to have 90+ degree heat in your face.

5. Friday, it is here! WHOHOOOOO. I have 64 minutes left in my work week. I am trying to talk hubs into some furniture shopping... Hear that babe.....

Part 2, Our Story

Part 1, for those of you who need a back story...


Oh my word, he just kissed me. Like really, really kissed me. I didn't want the kiss to be over but I did so I could call everyone who was waiting on the kiss to happen. We finally stopped kissing ( I am sure my neighbors were glad) and I ran up all 18 stairs to get to my apartment, went out on my deck and called my best friend. The kiss was perfect, I knew at that moment that would be my last first kiss. I really think I floated up the stairs that night. When he drove away in his yellow jeep wrangler, my heart was all his.

A few weeks had passed and while he had kissed me, he had't made me his yet. Each day that passed I wondered what we were doing. We hung out every night, if not every other. Gmail chatted daily while we were supposed to work, talking way late into the night about nothing and everything, snuggling on the couch watching True Blood, How I met Your Mother and Big Bang Theory.  Anytime I would bring up the whole girlfriend/boyfriend thing he'd smile and say you aren't my girlfriend. I would always smile back and say something funny but inside I wanted to scream, No shit, asshole - that's the point I want to be. But I didn't.

Fast forward to October 14th. Football Thursday in Motown. Justin was coming with me. Along with my brother and good friend Jim. I made food at my apartment, hung out with Justin all day and made a few cocktails to keep me from screaming I want to be your girlfriend....

We get to our then tailgate spot, start having a few Yunglings and enjoy the atmosphere of a Morgantown night game. Everything was going really well until my brother (innocently enough) was on the phone trying to coordinate location with his friends and he said he was at a certain place with his sister and her boyfriend. For some reason it him referring to Justin as my boyfriend sent me over the edge. Justin teases me still to this day about the look on my face, and me stomping off - but if he wasn't going to call me his girlfriend ain't no way in hell I was going to call him my boyfriend. I politely told Zach Justin was not my boyfriend and walked away from the group. Justin thought I was crazy, I kinda thought the same thing about myself but I just needed to make my point. We were boyfriend and girlfriend, we were a couple, we belonged together... everyone could see it - why couldn't he?

Our first picture 

Eventually I cooled off, rejoined the group and enjoyed the football took our first picture together and enjoyed our night. When we got back to my apartment we had ordered food from a late night greasy diner, sat on my deck and just watched the stars.... it was just the perfect night... later that night when we were canoodling on the couch he said it in his most adorable loving voice... if you want to be my girlfriend I would really like that... Yeah, I went to bed that night grinning! Stay tuned for part 3 ;)

Five on Friday

                                               

Friday, don't we all love Fridays? In an effort to keep blogging more I am doing a link up. 5 on Friday. Let me know if you decide to do it too, I would love to read about your 5.

1. Hubs and I are going to visit friends over the weekend. We are going a few hours south to Charleston, WV. We are only going for one night but it will still be fun to just get away from our to do list, our cleaning list and just breath. 



2. We are less than 60 days from closing on our first home. Remember you can follow me on Instagram #Mfamilymove (http://instagram.com/p/bMG6WoRrxZ/) - we haven't been over this week to check on the progress. It seems that things have really started to move slower because it is the much more detailed work. However, the daily delivery of boxes full of new bedding, curtains, house decor still leaves me happy.

3. Running has worked out great this week! We beat the bad storms by seconds, got a small break from the humidity and I got to play with my new toy. It was nice trying to keep my heart rate in the zone and keep my heart rate in check, it really did make pacing myself easier and I wasn't as exhausted at the end.
 

4. We booked our trip to St. Maarten!!! We leave Mid December. I have a countdown ap on my phone. The first thing I am counting down is our one year anniversary. (8/4) Next, our house then I am putting our vacation date in there. We have already secured care for our fur babies, started the passport paper work ( I have to get another one since I changed my name) and I am mentally packed! While I am sad that my BFF is moving there for awhile I can NOT wait to visit her!
 

5. Some really big an awesome changes could be going on with the Hubs job, if you could could you us in your thoughts/prayers. He works extremely hard, busted his rump through Grad School (Mr 4.0) and is so dedicated to his career, he deserves every bit of the good things possibly coming!

Happy Sunday

We have completed Week 1 of C25k. It was a pretty awesome week of running. I felt good, the weather was hot but we managed to catch a break during run days and get them in. Hubs currently has egg white muffins  (similar but we tweak it no cheese, we add turkey bacon, peppers..)  in the oven (house smells like delish turkey bacon), we   he makes them and we eat them for breakfast all week. Super yummy, super healthy and EASY!

We have been trying to be healthier in our actions, exercise and eating habits. Scouring Pinterest, health magazines and blogs trying to create healthy menus and better yet, inexpensive. Do you have any favorites?

In house news we are going back to Target to pick out some more stuff for the house. I am at my wits end with curtains, bedding, house decor and etc. It is fun but I guess I never knew exactly how hard it was going to be. We really haven't bought new bedding or curtains for years so we are splurging on our master bedding. I am having a hard time with some in budget, not to teenish and still the color scheme we want. (#Mfamilymoves on Instagram for pics)

Weigh in is tomorrow, I am hoping for 1lb gone, if you weighed in this weekend how'd it go?

Quick Takes...

Happy July 3rd! It is hard to believe that we are already into July. I hope you are having a fantastic summer!
There are some pretty exciting things going on in our world. We are building are first house! We are expected to be moved in September! WE are beyond excited. It has been so much picking out flooring, wood, cabinets, light fixtures and all the stuff that goes into a house. The only thing we have left to pick out is  counter tops. This is has been the hardest choice for me, I don't know why? You can follow our move, house building and choices on Instagram, #Mfamilymoves

I am trying to get our passport paper work together, we are heading to St. Maarten for the New Year. My best friend is moving there for school so we are going to visit. I am slightly annoyed that I have to pay for a completely new passport instead of a name change because my passport is older than 1 year. Oh well, small price to pay to travel. Well, I guess it is a big price heheh

On our last weigh in Justin and I both reached a high point! 25lbs gone for both of us! We are doing weight watchers, trying to do C25K (when the rain stops) and even signed up for our first race in September. We are doing the Color Me Rad run - Justin picked our team name - the Vincent Van Goes... Don't worry he isn't quitting his day job!

Overall life is going well, I really can't complain :) Hope you have a safe and Happy 4th!

I have to start somewhere...

Instead of the boring recap that promises to post more often, I am taking a page (is that a correct term?) from Ree's Blog and highlighting things that make The Hubs and I different.

1. He loves to hunt (animals)
I love to hunt good deals.

2. He is an only child.
I have a brother.

3. He has an engineer brain.
My brain teaches preschool.

4. He is practical and thinks things through carefully.
I, on the other hand, do things in whim. My emotions often get the best of me.

5.  He loves the snow, cold and mountains.
I need sand, ocean and sun.

6. He keeps his car organized.
My car may have french fries in it...from years ago.

7. He likes to watch hunting/fishing shows.
I like Gretchen, Tamra, Kyle, NeNe, Kim,

8. He doesn't like fruit,
Fruit is what I live for

9. He loves coffee,
I love overpriced, non coffee drinks.

10. He picks up snakes, plays with them and then sets them free,
I cry, run and scream at him to behead them. He doesn't.

11. He likes to go to bed at a decent hour and wake up early.
I get hooked on NeNe, Gretchen and Bravo and go to bed as the sun comes up.

12. He has a physical and mental job.
Mine is all mental.

13. He is strong.
I am not.

14. He loves fish, sushi and things that live in the sea.
I like veggies.

15. Stolen from Ree, it fits us perfect -  He reads things slowly and carefully, and retains every word.

I read fast, skim, and retain 27% of the words.

The beginning of 2013....

Life is busy. Sadly, blogging took a back seat and a lot of the stuff that made this year one of the best of my life, isn't documented. Part of my 2013 resolution list is to start being a better blogger, to really take blogging more serious so I can have the written memory and ability to reflect.

I am excited to make some personal goals for the upcoming year and hopefully be held accountable here in the blog world.

One of my first big changes is going to be - BLOGGING. I want to be a better blogger. Let's be honest, I don't blog for any one but myself. This will never be a money maker or 1000 follower,  but I enjoy interacting with the you ladies who read and I enjoy sharing our life with you. I want to do a wedding recap and get that up so we don't forget (what we haven't already) and start posting at least 3 times a week.

I also want to take a look of my 101 list. See where I am at on it, see what I need to put over onto a 30 before 30 and re organize my goals and Bucket List.

I want to do Project 365. I WILL DO IT. No if, and or buts.


Health wise - I want to run in a 5k. I am going to start weight watchers and tracking and I will do a weekly recap after weigh ins each week. I need to get the weight off I gained and start being healthy. I want to get to a weight where I feel safe becoming pregnant.

Financially - we need to save, save, save more. We want to buy a house soon so we need more of a down payment  to make the payment easier. I think we have a pretty good system and hope we can stick to it.

We may look into purchasing me a new car this year. We will decided in the next 6 weeks or so and go from there. Car and house should be are two big purchases this year.

Career wise - I am happy where I am at. I am not sure what the next year will bring but as long as I keep moving ahead and continue having growth at my current position I will be happy.

Children - we are in no rush. We don't know if we will have an easy TTC process or have issues but we are content right now and whatever God has in store for us we will deal with at that time. To be honest, I am enjoying my husband and our newlywed status.

Marriage - Tomorrow marks the anniversary of Justin asking  me to marry him. Everyone says that the first year is the hardest. I can say that the past four months have been the best of my life. I can only pray our marriage is always this hard. I say it all the time, being married to Justin is the easy. He has the hard job. But with this year I am going to improve. I am going to try to be a little less stressed about laundry, cleaning and house hold chores and just enjoy our time.

I also want to take a vacation this year - just us. Our honeymoon was the best week. We relaxed, slept in and did whatever we wanted. We couldn't have asked for more and I think it is crucial for us to have the reconnecting period and time to just enjoy ourselves together.

I want to take a few more trips/small vacations - just to get away. If all works out we will be in Vegas the end of March!

Most of all, I want to enjoy this year as much as I did 2012. I want to spend quality family time, enjoy the ride and make the most of 2013! Happy New Year!