Aloha!

We did it! We actually went to Hawaii in 2012 to celebrate our 5 year anniversary!

The trip took us 16 hours to get there. We enjoyed 5 wonderful days in lovely Maui. Then, the trip back started ... it was long and took more than 16 hours due to storms in Dallas, TX but we eventually made it home. It was a fantastic beautiful trip that I will remember forever. I am so thankful that I was able to spend this time with my wonderful Trophyhus! Thank You Lord for putting us together and blessing us with these memories!

Ok, so here are some pictures. We took over 1800 but no worries, I didn't share them all!

Boarding the plane in Richmond on our long trip to Maui - so excited and fresh!

Josh loved driving the convertible all week ...

I enjoyed playing with my Father-in-Law's fancy camera. I'd love to have one of these, hint, hint.

The landscapes were gorgeous!

  The aquarium was very cool. I'm sitting in a tunnel and there are fish right over my head!

 We enjoyed some Hawaiin Shaved ice :)

 This is a picture of the resort we stayed at - three pools with ocean views. Very nice!

It's not too hard to wake up to this view everyday.

 The coast line was amazing!

 I felt like the Litte Mermaid ...without the fins ...

Even the McDonald's trash cans were Hawaain - Mahalo! 

 Even the restroom signs were cute (not at McD's).

 Palm trees everywhere!

 The sunsets ..

Fun in the hammock.

 Josh was afraid he'd get a little burnt so he wanted to cover up.

 One of the bays within the resort.

Luau 

 It took a while to get this picture right but it was fun trying. 

We saw a rainbow every day that we were on the island. They were just hard to capture.

Ahh ... paradise!

 

I was reminded this week that I am supposed to be running ... so tonight, I ran! I ran to get out som frustration and for a York Peppermint Patty ice cream bar. It was delish!

Aloha!

Making our house a home - Kitchen Reno

We bought our new house in September 2011 but where not able to get together (both me and Josh permanently) until February 2012. Since then, we've been working hard to make this house a home. Selling the NC house in May really helped with that and now more than ever, we want to get settled in. We've done a few things to get started such as some landscaping, painting, buying furniture, etc but we are just now starting to really "complete" rooms in the house. The first room we have "completed" is the kitchen. It didn't need much in our opinion but we wanted to spruce it up a little bit. We thought new counter tops and a little back splash would do it. I am so not good at visualizing! When we went to the store to pick out the stone, I was totally lost. So, we picked one we thought would look good and went from there.

A big unexpected thanks to Amber R for her help! Thankfully, she got a concussion and had to drink from a straw. When she posted a picture of this, I noticed her counter tops in the background and realized that our kitchens (cabinets and granite) were very similar and since it looked good in her house, it would look good in mine. All my fears eased up then, so Amber, your concussion had a great outcome! I hope that makes you feel better :) I know that probably makes no sense, but in my weird thinking, it's perfect - sorry it was painful for you Amber. Just know your pain was not in vain!

Ok, I know, enough already! Here are the pictures:

Before

Originally, the house was regular builder grade paint - you know the slightly off white paint - everywhere. We picked a neutral tan color. For the life of me, I can't remember the name but you'll clearly see that's tan (how exciting, I know! I promise as these "Making our house a home" sessions continue, you'll see pops of color!)

It wasn't a bad kitchen. We just weren't excited about the dark counter tops. They weren't dark enough to pull off the dark look so we changed it ... I think this stone we picked out looks like cookies and cream. There are several different specs of color in it: browns, blacks, purple/reds, golds/silvers, etc. It's so cool what people are digging up these days! If you have never walked through a "stone yard," it's very interesting.

Josh added the back splash himself. He did a great job! The title is a brown glass tile. It looks darker/lighter depending on the lighting.

After

So, what have I been running for this summer? It's so hot! But I did just discover this delish treat that might make me run a bit more ... Magnum ice cream bars ... below is a picture of the Carmel one. It's a an expensive treat but well worth it (I found mine on sale at Kroger for $2.99 for 3 bars). It's a layer chocolate, then a layer of caramel, then another layer of chocolate, then vanilla bean ice cream in the middle - pretty ridic!

SOLD!

We sold our NC house today! I thought this day would never come! Papers are signed and the house is no longer ours! We are so thankful and so thrilled to no longer have that debt hoovering over our head! It's sad to let go of your first home, but in this case, we couldn't be happier! We put the house on the market the end of July 2011 when we knew that we were moving to Mechanicsville, VA. Josh didn't move up here and join me until February so the house was only "empty" for about 3 months. You can read a little about all that in some of my previous blogs including this one. We got a real offer on the house (April) and closing was set for today May 31.

Here's a look at our first house:

Front View of House



Back View of House

First Floor:


Tiny Kitchen :)



Yep, it was small!

Living Room

Additional view of Living Room

 

Formal Living Room



Formal Dining Room

Second Floor:

Game/Exercise Room

Master Bedroom

Guest Room

Office

I'm only missing pictures of the three bathrooms (well, 2 full, 1 1/2 bath) but who really wants pictures of that anyway?



It was a great first home and I hope the new homeowners have a great time there. We had awesome neighbors beside us. We will greatly miss Constance and Jerome. We couldn't have asked for sweeter neighbors! Jerome even mowed our lawn for FREE this spring. I wish them the best!

Our Realtor was awesome too. Cathy answered so many of our questions and never got impatient or fed up with us, even when we asked the same question over and over and over again!

Thank You Lord for putting this great home and these great people in our lives. Thank You for helping us turn this page of our lives together! What an awesome God we serve!

What have I been running for these days? I am loving some Nutty Buddys! Maybe it's summer time calling my name? I don't know and frankly, I don't care. They are so good! Especially those that have the chocolate in the bottom tip :)

Monument 10k - Welcome to Richmond!

Yesterday was the 13th Annual Monument 10k here in Richmond. I have wanted to do this race for years but it never worked out timing-wise. Since we lived in NC and usually visited Richmond for Easter, it never made sense to come up twice at the same time of year. So, this is our "Welcome to Richmond" 10k! It's an out and back down Monument Avenue which is one of the biggest streets in Richmond. It's such a beautiful street lined with Monuments (duh) and beautiful homes. It was a rainy day and I was running so I didn't get too many shots. However, this race is on the "Must Do" list for all things Richmond.

Here's how it got started:

Night before carb load with spaghetti (been eating this same meal almost every Friday for years ...)

Pre race photo in the Park

Hard to get a serious picture with these two :)

That's better ...

This race was rather large and started in waves. Josh was the first in our group to go so we made him stand with the volunteer of his corral. That's what happens when you go first!

It started raining on us. Good thing I came prepared with my rubber ducky socks.

That's my number. I really like the running belt Josh got me for Christmas. It easily attaches your race bib and has a small pocket for you to hold stuff. My Blackberry fit in the pocket so I could take these great pictures on the run :)

Finally made it to the starting line. The race started at 8:30am but my wave didn't start until 9:21am.

Spiderman ran with us today.

That's a bunch of people running!

Superman is faster than a speeding bullet, right? And I'm right there behind him!

I actually passed a roller coaster. Very cute idea for a group that wants to run together.

That's Sam right there in the blue shirt with gray shorts and no head. I pulled over to take this picture and thought I had it perfect ... but I missed his head .... ugh that makes me mad! However, glad I got a glimpse of him in action!

With all the costumes and people today, this was the WORST thing I saw. This was not part of a costume. She paid a lot of money for the tights ...

Post race picture. So glad to be sitting and on our way to pizza!

Overall, the day was a huge success. Josh, Sam, and I all completed the race injury free. What more can you ask for?

Currently, I am running to store up a bank of calories! We will be celebrating a special little boy's 6th birthday next weekend as Ingrid and Samson visit from Maine. We usually go to all their favorite places to eat since they don't get to do that much in Maine. Next week's food blog will probably be blown out of the water ... but it isn't not every week they come to visit! They are worth every calorie too. 

Samson lost his front two teeth. Ingrid sent us a picture but I can't wait to see the little cutie in person!

Now off to Mom's for Sunday dinner after watching Rhinestone. I love living so close to my family!