Welcome to Our Home!

Hellloooo! So glad that you could visit....please come inside. 

Would you like something to drink? 
Let me just run to the kitchen. 

We can sit here with our beverages of choice....

...And enjoy the view.

On second thought, let's sip our drinks on our huge, comfy couch. 

And, if the mood strikes us, we can grab a guitar, banjo, drum, or flute from our music corner.

Or maybe you would prefer to peruse our bookshelf. 

...And check out our taste in art (if you like this, check out the artist's totally cool blog).

Or our souvenirs from places near and dear to our hearts ...

Feeling a little tired, guest? Fancying a nap? 

Well, that's too bad. Because our guest bedroom...

...is under construction.

But feel free to take a nap in our room.

Which is slightly more put together.

What? Leaving so soon?

Make sure to visit the little boy/girl's room on the way out.

Thanks for stopping by! Come visit us again soon!

Love,

Nicole and Matt

Working Hard to Settle In

After unpacking everything from the moving truck, Matt and I hightailed it out of the apartment to celebrate Christmas a second time with my parents, brother, and grandparents and then to ring in the New Year with dear family friends.


After the weekend was over, it was time for us to head back to our new home...where we had a lot of unpacking, painting, and decorating to do.

Some people say that you develop a sense of husband/wife roles based on what you observed in your home (i.e. what your parents did). My dad was always (in my memory) pretty laid back about how things were decorated and seemed to let my mom make most of the decisions about paint colors, bathroom fixtures, couches, etc.

I am sure that my dad would have spoken up if my mom was contemplating something that he utterly detested but I don't think I can recall him ever having an extremely strong opinion on, say, the color or pattern of a duvet cover.


I expected that my husband would also be this way. That whoever I married would have more of a laissez-faire attitude...which would conveniently enable me to decorate any way that I saw fit.

Was I ever wrong! Matt has an opinion on everything. And his own vision of what our home should look like. And his own criteria for deciding on kitchen appliances, couches, wall paint colors....the list goes on.


He can deny it all he wants but, I assure you, I speak the truth. 

This drove me absolutely crazy when we were engaged and registering for our wedding gifts. 


But after 2.5 years of marriage, I have come to really appreciate that Matt cares about our home. 


Now, when I look around our apartment, I love that it is more "our" style rather than just my style. 

Check in a few days to see what "our" style looks like!

The Move to California, Part II: Moving In

Although I felt as though Matt and I had accomplished something of epic proportions by trekking across the country with all of our possessions in tow (go here if you want to read about it), and believed that we had earned the right to celebrate our achievement by lounging around in pajamas until noon for a few days, this is not how moving works. Alas. 


Fortunately for us, we had some help. Look at these muscle men!

My dad, brother, good friend David, and Matt did all of the heavy lifting. Between the four guys, the unloading went quickly and smoothly. Thanks so much, you guys! Meanwhile, my mom and I supervised. :)




Once we got everything into the apartment, we realized how much work was ahead of us, in terms of unpacking and setting up our apartment. This is what we saw:

 Entry

Kitchen

Living Room

Dining area

Guest bedroom

Our bedroom

As you can tell, these are the "before" pictures of the apartment. I will be posting the "during" and "after" photos within the next few days. 


Can you stand the suspense?! 

The Move to California, Part I: Road Trip Across the U.S. of A.

For those of you who don't already know, Matt and I drove across the country in a giant, 16 foot Penske moving truck. With his Jeep Cherokee in tow behind us. It looked something like this:

The moving truck was even longer in person than it looks in the photo, I assure you.


Matt and I left Princeton on December 21st, around 11:00 AM. Matt took the first driving shift and we blasted John Denver on the stereo (Country Roads, if you are curious).  I overcame my initial fear of the monstrous truck/Jeep in tow and we alternated driving every four hours or so, which corresponded to when we needed to gas up (you don't even want to know how much we supported the oil and gas industry on this road trip). 


It was pretty much a non-stop drive to Louisiana, where we were headed to spend Christmas with Matt's family. Matt was determined NOT to spend money on a motel and I decided that if Matt could be that hardcore, so could I. So we slept in the cab of the moving truck...in the parking lot of the Alabama welcome center. It was the first but not the last time we would sleep in the truck over the course of our journey. 


After spending glorious and refreshing days with Matt's family, we headed out to California, by way of Texas....or as I like to call it, the Land That Does Not End. I felt like we spent an eternity driving through the Lone Star State.


However, our drive through Texas did have its perks. First, we were able to spend time with good friends in Austin, Texas. After 8 hours on the road, it was so lovely to walk into the house of friends, enjoy a delicious meal, and hear anecdotes about their adorable toddler. 


We also discovered a restaurant called Chrome Cactus. It was there that I had one of the best burgers EVER. If you are passing through the middle of Texas, I highly recommend it. Be on the look out for this sign:

My burger had: a thin beef patty, bacon, onion rings, cheddar cheese, and lettuce with ranch dressing. Di-vine. (Jonny, if you are reading this, I think you would have rated this burger in the near vicinity of Hoagie Haven. A bold claim, I know, but it was that good.)


Over the course of our trip, we relied on one smart phone application called "Gas Buddy." As its name might suggest, it helps you locate gas along your route and advertises the prices. This is particularly important when your vehicle gets 6 to 10 miles a gallon. Yes, you read that correctly. 6 to 10 miles. Per. Gallon. 

However, we learned that it is important to refrain from putting all of your road trip eggs in the Gas Buddy basket. Why, you may ask? Because this is what happens:

You run out of gas on a deserted Texas highway because the gas station shown on Gas Buddy is out of business. 


Fortunately, some kind people took pity on Matt and me (as we ran down a highway towards the gas station 1 mile in the distance) and gave us a lift. Thank you, kind strangers! 

We ultimately got to California safe and sound (although we did have a brush with the seedy underbelly of El Paso, Texas). Praise God for protecting us.

Me in the seat of power.

Stay tuned for before and after pics of our new apartment!

New apartment!

So, again, I must apologize for the long absence. School, work, commuting, moving, and planning to move across the country really cut into one's free time. 


Anyway, let's just skip the preamble and cut right to the chase. Although we are going to continue looking (in the event that we discover a rent-free townhouse), Matt and I think that we have found our new apartment! Thanks to my parents- they were the boots-on-the-ground reason we were able to find a place at all. Thanks so much for your help, guys!


Although I won't feel like it is completely ours until I cross the threshold, I wanted to post photos so that everyone (who am I kidding? So that Matt's mom and my grandparents) could see what will very likely be our new digs.


So here it is...

Our apartment is the on the second floor, right behind the palm branches (just follow the graceful arm gestures of our lovely realtor).


Next, the pool:

And the koi pond!

Moving inside- the (tiny) dining area....

The kitchen...

The bathroom (or, as the French say, la salle de bain)...

The shower...

And one of the two bedrooms (you're seeing a reflection in the sliding doors):

Also, while it is not included in the photos, there is a large living room with two big windows- yay for natural light!


Although it is not quite as glamorous as, say, Versailles, or the Taj Mahal, I think Matt and I will be quite happy here. And, with our extra bedroom, we can't wait to have visitors. 


Because who doesn't want to visit southern California?!

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil...

Has anyone else seen this movie? It is based on a book of the same title, written by John Berendt (Hey! This would be a perfect opportunity for me to use the word 'eponymous.' How could I have missed that?). 


Anyway, I saw it for the first time about twelve years ago and have wanted to visit Savannah ever since.


The book was based on actual events that took place in Savannah- with a fair amount of Georgia/Savannah flavor thrown into the movie for good measure. There were a lot of scenes featuring oak trees covered with spanish moss. Kind of like this.

Sooo, when Matt and I started talking about taking a road trip to celebrate our birthdays (we are both June babies), my thoughts immediately went to Savannah.


Matt, who is much more ambitious than I am when it comes to planning trips, thought our itinerary should include Alabama (to visit friends), Georgia (to see Savannah), South Carolina (to visit Charleston and the beach), and North Carolina (to visit Duke, friends, and the Outer Banks). 


Like I said, he is much more ambitious than me. I would have been content to visit Savannah. Why, you ask?


Well, for starters, the FOOD! Anyone who knows me well knows that I am a sucker for good food. And there was plenty of that to be found. We visited Paula Deen's flagship restaurant, Lady and Sons, where we feasted upon; fried chicken, collared greens, macaroni and cheese, grits, green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy, and more. 

I was very excited, to say the least. 

We also decided to stay in a bed and breakfast while in Savannah- Park Avenue Manor. We had a wonderful time staying there. It was such a different experience from a hotel. We actually felt like we had our own home in Savannah. 

The two gentlemen who run the bed and breakfast, Maurice and Glen, were delightful hosts and make good on their advertised promise to always have sherry and brownies on hand. 

I discovered that I am not a big fan of sherry myself but how cute are those glasses?

Savannah is a beautiful city, and the downtown is made up of about twenty squares. Although we had our car with us, much of the charm of Savannah is experienced by sauntering through all of these squares.

However, as you southerners are well aware, Savannah is hot and humid in the summer. Emphasis on the humid...and the hot, come to think of it. 


Because of the heat, I found myself very grateful for those of the twenty squares that had fountains. 

Very grateful. 

Nothing like dipping your feet in cold water on a hot day. Unless it's getting the rest of yourself wet, too. 


But one of the highlights of the trip to Savannah, for me at least, was visiting the Mercer Williams House. 

It was built for Johnny Mercer's great-grandfather and later restored by Jim Williams (one of the main subjects in John Berendt's book) in the 1960s. 


Although this history behind its recent notoriety is sad (you have to read the book or see the movie), its current restored state and the interior is a lovely testament to Savannah's rich architectural history. 


I will most likely post additional photos from other parts of our trip but the Savannah portion was by far the most well-documented. 


We were too busy being apprehended by park rangers to take photos on later parts of our journey (I wish I was kidding). 

The Prodigal Blogger

Well, perhaps the title above is a bit misleading. I haven't exactly been off squandering my inheritance while living the wild life.


Actually, that latter part of that description might be rather accurate. Things have been pretty hectic for Matt and me until this past week. Starting in April, these are the things that have prevented me from posting updates of any kind:


1) Matt submitted and successfully defended his thesis. 
You may now refer to him as Doctor E. Which means that you should refer to me as Mrs. Doctor E...thank you in advance for remembering this. 


2) I finished my first year of graduate school. 
Booyah! I am officially 50 percent done. 


3) Matt officially graduated from Princeton University.
Why only have graduation festivities on one day when you can spread it over FIVE days? That is the question that Princeton University must have asked itself at some point. However, the graduation was wonderful in that both our families were able to attend. Yes, we called in all of our visits at one time. 


4) I started a full-time summer position in NYC.
This involves commuting 5 days a week into the city, a step up from my student schedule (which required commuting 3 days). 


5) We took a 7 day road trip to the south (more on this later), making stops in Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. 


6) We moved from our home of two years.
The packing and moving process started almost immediately upon returning from our epic road trip. We have great timing. 


Anyway, this is to explain my absence...sorry to all you who were waiting with baited breath to learn more about our lives...I am sure there are dozens of you, right?  <Crickets chirping> Right?


Be on the lookout for some posts in the near future!