Giving In...and feeling relieved!

So I'm giving in!

I have been resisting the serious urge to go buy a bike because we really don't have anywhere to put it...except for the dining room.

But here's the reality: we rarely sit at the dining table.  And although it looks nice, if we're not using it for the time being, and need the space, why not just use the space for what we need?

So we're going to push the table to the side of the room and use it more as counter space (with chairs around it still for seating if we need it)

Dining Room as it is now

And then we can use the other side to hold our bikes! Woo!  I haven't been biking in such a long time, and have been really wanting to do so.  I am really looking forward to doing that!

We still haven't fully decided whether or not we will be moving in October or not, but for now I'm glad that we can make better use of the space that we have.

:)

What you learn living together...

from here

You can't really anticipate what it will be like to live with a significant other until actually doing it...

Here's what I THOUGHT would be a challenge:

• Laundry - we both do this very differently
• Seeing too much of each other
• Learning gross/weird facts about each other that we didn't know before
• Having issues sharing the bathroom in the morning
• Grocery shopping - we eat very differently from each other (different foods and different portions)

Here's what has actually happened (so far, since it's only been a little over a month)

• Laundry - we do laundry separately and it's fine.  I usually do mine randomly throughout the week and sometimes on the weekend.  He does his on the weekend.  No problem!
• Turns out our schedules don't match up really well, so with the exception of bedtime we actually haven't been seeing enough of each other!  We actually miss seeing each other sometimes, because our schedules are so busy/opposite. Weird!
• We haven't learned anything crazy that we didn't already know!
• We have a few shared food items that we can get together, and in the mean time we just keep a running list on the fridge so that when one person goes, they can get what the other wants too.  And then it's the other person's turn next time. 

Things that I have learned...

• My time frame of putting things away is very skewed from his time frame... I like to have things put away right when I see it or think about it...he's more of a I'll put it away sometime this week kinda guy.  Which is probably not too far from other guys' habits.
• We use alarm clocks in very different ways!  I set 6 alarms and turn them off each time so I can get a few more minutes of sleep in between each alarm.  For some reason it's gratifying for me to fall back asleep each time.  I always think of Steve Byrne talking about how he loves sleep so much.  D is a two alarm kinda guy.  One at a really early time.  And then an hour later, another.  He gets up right away on the second.  Way different than me waking up every 7-10 minutes six times!
• Our t.v. preferences could not be more different!  With the exception of Storage Wars, anything food related, and anything on the Home channel we pretty much don't have anything in common, t.v. wise.  He is all about sports, sports, and sports!  I love watching college football from time to time, but after a while, I get tired of it.  He could watch it all day, every day...and pretty much does (and not just college...professional too! and other sports)  I wholeheartedly admit that I'm addicted to reality t.v.  I enjoy the ridiculous drama of the housewives shows, the Kardashians, and True Life.  I watch Grey's anatomy every Thursday (and have been since college) and I also watch Glee when it's on.  I have just recently gotten into "Once Upon a Time" too on abc. 

It's amazing what you learn in a month!  Although there have been (and will be) some challenges, I know that we made the right choice with taking this big step.  I do look forward to coming home every day, and even on days where I don't see him much it's nice to know that he's next to me at night and there in the morning when I wake up...well, when I wake up the first time of my six alarms that is! :)

Have you learned anything crazy or surprising after first living with a significant other?

We Moved!

*Pictures of our house and moving process to come...

This past weekend, we moved into our new house. :) With the help of some awesome friends/family and a U-HAUL truck we were able to move the majority of our belongings to the new place.  We had to get some more the next day too.  Oh man, the amount of steps I got this weekend was insane! I am kicking my step competition's butt this week!

Dan's mom was a huge help on Sunday by helping me get the kitchen all together.  I took off Monday and got my closet/clothes all organized and together.  Since then, I have been trying to do a little bit each night.  I still have three boxes or so to unpack and put away.  Then it's just deciding where to put the boxes.... (a lot of them we recycled, but some of them are the plastic kind that you keep).

I'm most excited about our kitchen right now, because we put up all of our fun kitchen art...again, I have pictures to come soon.  I'm exciting about what the living room will be like soon...a good friend is giving us a loveseat for free! Woo! We just need to get a cover for it and I think it'll match our room perfectly!  We needed some more seating, so I'm really pleased about it, and thankful for such generous friends!

Here's what the loveseat looks like:

We already have a big couch that has a dark brown cover on it.  So a beige loveseat would go great with the color scheme that we want.  :)

So it's October...here's my list of why it's such a fantastic month:

1. My birthday is this month!  It's the 7th, which is this Friday :)
2. It's the month of our anniversary!  The 21st :)  In 16 days it will be 4 years for us! 
3. I love dressing up for Halloween, both at school and with friends at home
4. Although I am not a fan of cold weather, I love to watch the leaves change.  I also love those perfect fall days...cool outside with the sun shining down still.  Beautiful!
5. If it's October, that means we're getting closer to my other favorite holidays...Thanksgiving and Christmas! Woo! (and breaks off of school, of course!)

Is anyone else excited that it's October??

Getting There

I got some packing done today!  I am feeling productive, despite the fact that I still have a long way to go! I'm trying to do some packing each night, and hopefully I'll be ready by Saturday! :)

It's a Pricey Season!

So here is where my money has been going/will be going:

• Deposit for the new place
• First month's rent up front
• Stuff needed to move in - decoration items, some furniture, rugs, silverware, and other random things in the house
• Paying off my car
• Two trips to Philly 
• Renter's Insurance
• Materials to paint the bedroom

Plus add in all my regular bills!  Oh my goodness my poor, poor bank account!  I have been purposely saving up for this time, so it has been expected, but it's still pretty devastating! Ugh!

I still think about getting a second job all the time, but since I'm already tutoring and babysitting on the side of teaching, I'm not sure there's much time to do that unless I want to give up my weekends.  I'm not really sure I'm willing to do that.

I know it will all work out, and one day I'll actually be able to have a substantial savings account, but for right now I'll just revel in the fact that I am not in crazy debt despite the mass majority of people my age who are right now, and that I will have my car paid off.

Sometimes you just have to keep reminding yourself of the positives! :)

13 days to go!

We move in 13 days!  I could not be more thrilled!  I'm not very excited about the actual moving process: packing, carrying heavy boxes up and down flights of stairs, pivoting the right way for furniture to fit through the door, unpacking, etc.  BUT I am soooo excited to live with Dan!  We are so ready for this step and I really do think it's the best thing for us.  I'm really looking forward to spending a lot of time with him and Codden (the puppy). 

I guess I should start packing pretty soon, huh?

Long time, no blog

Ok so here are some updates:

*My school system has this pedometer program that is free and can give you gift cards/prizes based on how many steps you take during the day.  This program + my natural competitiveness has really kick started my working out this week.  My first day logging, I had 7,000 steps.  The second day, I had over 20,000!  Yesterday I had over 16,000.  It's awesome because it's great motivation and it's nice to see my progress throughout the day.

*School has started and so far I love my class.  I have two "nudges" that can be annoying, but I knew that going into this year, so not a huge deal.  I have at least one of those kids every year, so it's nothing new for me.

*Dan and I move into our new place on October 1st! I can't wait! We have been shopping a lot for it, trying to find decorative pieces (like art for the wall) as well as some furniture.  We haven't had much luck with the furniture, unless you count this sweet wine rack we got from IKEA. 

*I tried some cupcakes from Kupcakes & Co. in Elkridge during my lunch break last week and they were AWESOME.  A close second to Georgetown cupcake!  My favorite was the snickerdoodle cupcake that was cinnamon flavored with a buttercream frosting! YUM!

*I splurged and bought myself a Chi hair straightener as an early birthday gift.  I have wanted one for a long time! I had been using my roommates for a year, and when hers finally died, we found a great deal online so I took it and got one.  To top it off, it came with free gifts!  Elf makeup, a cool-down cover for the straightener, and a round hairbrush! Sweet!

*Here's one of the art pieces that I just bought for our house:

:)

Apparently the one thing we always agree on: Wine! ...and wine related products.  Gotta start somewhere, right?

Have a great weekend!

Our first piece of art!

"Virginia Tech Love" by ArtSharkDesigns at Etsy

So we picked out a piece of art together! For the first time EVER! Yes! Our first buy for our house that we will be moving into in October.

I'm going to get a black frame for it.  I'm SO excited!  If you didn't know, it's a picture of a couple walking on the campus of Virginia Tech.  I love how the picture is mostly black and white with just a splash of color and I love that it incorporates Vtech since we spent a large part of our relationship in Blacksburg when Dan was going to school there.  I'm so excited about this and can't wait to hang it up! :)

New Home!

So we finally found a home that we are definitely going to move into! It's a rental, it's in Columbia and it has (almost) all of the things that we were looking for:

*In Columbia
*Close to work for me
*Close to main roads for Dan
*2 bedrooms
*1.5 bathrooms
*Safe and friendly neighborhood
*Pet-friendly

Extra Bonuses:
*The lady who is renting it to us is a teacher and favored us because I am one too!  She even went down in price by $100 a month! Woo!
*She pays Columbia taxes on the house, so we get a huge discount on the Columbia Association! This is awesome, because I'm already a member and love it, and now we can even go to the pools with the new membership.  Sweet!
*Walking distance to the mall...this could be dangerous for me!  (But it's still awesome!)

This is the front of the house :)

So our move in date is October 1st.  It's a little farther away than I wanted, but it'll be worth the wait! Plus, Dan will save a lot of money by staying with his parents for two months, which is great.

I'm so excited!! :)

Finally, we're not on pause!

So for just about four years, Dan and I have been in a long distance relationship.  Recently, he found out that he got a job in DC and will be moving back to Maryland very soon.

WOOOOOHOOOOOOO

I finally feel like my life is not on pause anymore, waiting for him to come back! Yessss!

So since the minute he found out (and to be honest before then because I'm a planner) we've been looking for places to live.  We started out looking everywhere and then narrowed it down to Laurel or Columbia, for the simple fact that they're both near major highways for commuting and they're both places that we're familiar with and know very well. 

We've mostly been looking in Columbia the past couple of days.  Yesterday I went to 3 house showings.  The first one was a no-go right off the bat, because it was set up like an apartment with people above which is what we really don't want.  The agent who showed it to me was my old boss from the gym when I worked there in highschool. RANDOM!

The second place looked good on the outside, but had dirty walls, really outdated carpet, and a not very impressive layout.  I was a bit grossed out by it, to be honest.

The third place I liked a lot.  With the exception of the pink carpet (whatup B and J! does that remind you of your place at all??) in the basement, it had what we were looking for: at least 1.5 bathrooms, 2 bedrooms, a lot of space, an outdoor space for Codden, and it was within our budget.  I asked for an application and quickly sent all the pictures I had taken to Dan when I got home.  When I mentioned the street name to my father, he said he had heard about a lot of crime there.  Well I was curious, and checked online. YUP!  There was a shooting there in April of this year, where someone got murdered!  HOLY crap.  Many reviews said that people in the neighborhood didn't feel safe and that there were robberies all the time.  There was a car stolen recently too! Um, NO THANKS! So needless to say, we gave up on that one.

Today, Dan emailed me a listing he had found on craigslist of a cute town house in Columbia.  I emailed the girl and booked a showing.  It was AWESOME!  Minus the lack of extra storage, it has multiple bathrooms, it's in a great and safe neighborhood, and dun dun dun....LOTS OF CLOSET SPACE! Yessssssssss.

I emailed that girl about the house, so we shall see what happens.  I really hope we get it.  It's a tad bit over what we originally wanted to pay, but I really think it's been the best one that we've seen/read about/looked at and it's in such a good spot. 

Either way, I'm just thrilled about the notion of living with Dan!  Although living with a boy is a bit daunting because I've never done it before, I'm excited to have boyfriend time every day instead of just a couple weekends a month!  I'm excited to have Codden all the time too! (Dan's dog)  So no matter what happens, I'm just happy that we're moving forward (and in!) with our lives and although the next month is going to be hectic and crazy with the moving and unpacking, I couldn't be more happier about it all!