R is for Ronnebeck!

I'm blissfully buried in cardboard. My body aches and my eyes are heavy but my heart is full. For the first time since the end of September Eric, Aquaman, Gracie, Me and all of our STUFF is under one roof again. It feels great! I found myself sitting amidst all the boxes this morning grinning like a 5 year old who just peaked at her Christmas gift and saw just what she wanted to see! Eric pointed out that we've been in some type of "Transition" for half a year now, and it's been challenging to say the least. I have never been so excited to get home and unpack a box ever before! But... if you want to SEE our place... you'll have to wait... because right now - I can barley see the walls, or the carpet! Oh, and if you're not sure who to cheer for in the Super Bowl this weekend - the answer is SEA HAWKS!

Our landlords are pretty awesome - hey, they let us get married in their back yard for craps sake! But even better than that, they allowed us to live in this house while we were homeless, and now, we are on the brink of moving in.  John had a "Vision" for Eric's upstairs "nerd room" and so they decided to paint the floor instead of installing carpet. And John wanted it to be special for Eric, so we've kept him downstairs while we all work on the floor in the evenings. John & Kerri did most of it, I only helped here and there, but they finally revealed the floor to Eric yesterday, so I'm free to post these pictures now!   Here's the FULL floor! Here's what's at the center!! A little "Before / After" action! I anticipate better photos of this being taken this weekend - before we move furniture up there! He LOVES it! And it truly is now, a nerd cave!

Our "Pre painted" flooring upstairs - I can't reveal the finished product YET, but, SOON!! I picked up my actual camera  last night for the first time since New Years Day. It felt like an old friend, a sense of familiar in a world of chaos right now. I will hopefully get those shots up for you soon, but here's a little view of what life's been like in our house! Eric and I laid on our new carpet in our extra bedroom last night and talked about the visions of our new place. How excited we are, and how it felt like these days would never come!  We spent Eric's Birthday hanging out in the house, eating delicious food, and started a new TV Series on Netflix - The Killing. Which, by the way was a HUGE mistake because now I don't want to do ANYTHING around the house, I just want to find out who killed Rosie Larson - if you watch the show at all, you know what I mean by that! Sorry for the blurry - this is Aquaman in our NEWLY CARPE...

Today is Eric's 37th Birthday!   He is the absolute light of my life. Happy Birthday Sweetheart, You mean the world to me, and I'm so glad you're mine. Photo Credit : Jimmy Bazaan Photography Here's to 100 More Happy Birthdays!!!!!!

1| Yep, three day weekends - they're awesome because I'm one full day into work for the week, and I'm already at the "Mid Week" happy. 2| Sunday night as I was cleaning up the kitchen disaster area, I slammed my finger in one of our kitchen drawers - I hopped up and down and cried. It hurt! A lot! Still does. 3| This weekend was FULL of projects - We Painted the bedroom, finished up my craft room, tore apart the upstairs, and laid new flooring! 4| I am thankful today that I am not a homeowner. I know there are several perks, but I'm learning what old(er) houses do when they need maintenance, and it's a never ending project, especially since I love old(er) houses! 5| Speaking of #4, on Saturday night when Eric was in the shower upstairs, I noticed a dripping sound in our bathroom downstairs, so I walked in the room only to find a steady drip of water coming from our ceiling. No Bueno! 6| Have I mentioned the SEAHAWKS ARE GOING TO THE SUPERBOWL! Wh...

HAWKS!!! In this house, we celebrated, we hugged, kissed, ran outside down the street *well... one of us did. It was fun! I love my new found team (for better or for worse). Here we go - SUPERBOWL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My Fitness Pal .com is my friend - it helped me shed the much needed weight last year. This year, to "Inspire me" they sent me a graph of what my weight loss looked like last year. And you know what, it totally DID inspire me! Look at that! Weighing in at 265 I started making choices, albeit small ones to cut a calorie here and there. I started out eating 1,700 calories a day, and then slowly, My Fitness Pal cut them to help me drop more pounds. And no, I didn't really drop 15 pounds right off the bat, I actually just didn't really know how to record my weight, but you can see I got the hang of it and now I'm right around 208. I would make excuses for the "flat line" in August, and then the gain in December, but if your a regular reader here, you can totally tell that I'm a stress eater and August - December was stressful! Either way, I adorned the graph with a couple photos that really tell the whole story. The photo on the left was taken i...

Having spent a chunk of time in Vienna, my dear friend Megan is a worldly, cultured lady. Yep, that's the same "lady" that kicks the crap out of girls on the Roller Derby Track.  Nonetheless, she has great taste in classical music, and other things that I would NEVER try in a million years by myself. That's how I found myself meeting her at this fancy little tappas place on Queen Anne (the Sitting Room), and heading to the Seattle Opera on a Saturday night.  The Opera was Rigoletto - the famous song can be heard in the video below. The company was wonderful, the people watching was top notch, and the Opera is one thing I'm glad I've checked off my bucket list. It made me feel fancy, but it got a little long near the end. All in all, I had an enjoyable experience! The Sitting Room - Queen Anne The Seahawk Space Needle! Beautiful McCaw Hall They gave us masquerade masks for the night... YES! Inside McCaw Hall We ar...

 Growing up a Vikings fan is a slow, painful, heartbreaking experience. I grew up learning of the "Glory Days" Of Alan Page and the Purple People Eaters, my Brother and Dad were both die hard fans, so on Sunday, there was no other choice than to sit and watch Vikings football. I'll admit, I donned a jersey more than once and made a trip to the Metrodome in hope (and prayers) that our boys would pull it out.  But, if you know anything about football (at all) you know that the Vikings stink. They have had 4 Superbowl appearances without a win, and have lost their last 5 NFC Championship Games.  So, when I moved to Seattle, I vowed to not fall in love with the Seahawks, as I had already had enough heartache in my football loving life. Also, after having been "encouraged" to watch football every Sunday always and forever, I was ready to give up the tradition. In 2006 the Seahawks even went to the Superbowl, but I refused the bandwagon and went on my merry way...

Our first visitors in our new place in March!!!! Ha! Got you on that one didn’t I?! Erica wrote a very compelling letter to Shannon as to why she should get to bring her BFF with her to visit Seattle, and so In March, Shannon, Erica and Miranda are hopping on a plane to come and stay with us for a few days, and I’m ecstatic!!!   This will be a super fun visit! I’m excited to celebrate Erica’s 16 th birthday with her (a few days late)! YAAAY! Visitors!!!